Author: Garry

The other day I mentioned that I got the boat into the water and farted around on the Elk River between Hwy 72 and the Wheeler Reservoir. What I didn’t mention is that as I was pulling my boat from the water an old man, maybe 75 or 80 was bringing his flat bottom boat into the dock. I pulled out and he backed his truck and trailer down the ramp and then went back to his boat. I figured it would probably be easier for me to help him load his boat than it would be to make a statement to the po-po or emergency responders when the old man fell off his boat/trailer/truck set-up (each component of which appeared to be of questionable serviceability) and cracked his skull. So I gave the guy a hand.

A short while later, after he had pulled off of the ramp and I was stowing gear on my own boat, he walked up to me and, as God is my witness, looked like a drug dealer that was marketing his wares. He pushed his shoulder up against mine and then looked quickly around to make sure no one was watching before opening his hand and showing me this:

Now, I’m a pretty poor fisherman. I’ve kinda fallen into that cycle where every time I go bass fishing I do so poorly that it’s followed by 4 or 5 trips out to catch catfish (something that requires less skill than dropping rocks). Having someone share what lure to use and both where and how to fish it is rare. I had to listen to another 15 minutes of fish stories about all of the fish (size, location where they were caught, time of year, weather, etc) he had caught with it, but I was willing to pay that price.

Anyway, I picked up one of these at Cabela’s today and another that is similar but with slightly different markings. It sure would be great to go bass fishing and actually catch bass. I’m optimistic. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Still way behind the curve here at my place and it seems that small problems have a way of cascading into more and increasingly challenging issues. Earlier last week I was mowing a filed near the cabin and the tractor went limp. Three alerts flashed up on the instrument cluster at the same time; the dreaded red “STOP” indicator, a contaminated Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) warning, and the engine de-rated symbol.

After running through the fault troubleshooting/clearing decision tree in the owners manual, the fault cleared for roughly 2 seconds and came immediately back on. Damn.

When a New Holland tractor gets ‘de-rated’, the computer will not allow the engine to rev beyond idle. Once de-rated, the pencil-necks that designed the electronics figured they would give an owner three attempts at fixing the problem. Once you use up your three tries, the entire system, including engine, shuts completely down. The trouble is that what it counts as an attempt may not actually be one. For instance; turning the key ‘on’ without starting the tractor, then off again and waiting 15 seconds before turning the key on again and starting the tractor counts as an attempt. Being the conservative that I am, I was unwilling to risk attempting another reset on the off chance that it would be read as the third.

After chatting with the son-in-law we agree that we get the pro’s involved. For a small nominal fee (normally your first born male child) they will travel the 60 or so miles out to our place, pick up the tractor, and off they go to both their facilities and the bank. So far so good.

On Friday they bring the tractor back and while pulling onto the property the driver takes the corner to tight coming in the front gate….the trailer that the tractor is riding on catches the gate and not only bends the two mounting bolts that attaches the gate to the 8″ by 8″ post, but also “tilts” the post so that it is no longer perpendicular to the ground. Just for clarity, I now have a 14 foot gate hanging on a post that wants to wiggle when the gate is moved. No way to keep the free end of the heavy gate from plowing into the ground.

The worker unloads the tractor by the barn and he and I return to assess the damage to the gate: It’s pretty hosed up but in my estimation fixable with some bracing and ingenuity. I send him off. As I go to hook the tractor back up to the brush-hog, I notice that while the stop light had cleared and the engine de-rated symbol was off, the contaminated DEF warning was still on. WTF? Apparently the dealer determined that it was a bad DEF sensor that caused the engine to de-rate, but did nothing about the other sensor that was indicating contaminated DEF. In other words, fix the fucking problem

Bottom line on the tractor is that I do not know if the DEF is good or bad and so now need to drain and refill that system. I spent a good part of Saturday, pausing for the Alabama/Duke football game (Roll Tide), bracing and adjusting the front gate. It turns out that the mechanical/physics related portions of the repair were easier, but not easy, to execute than the electronic adjustments. It took me three attempts to set the mast and close limits for the gate, but finally got it so that it does not try and rip itself apart as it opens and closes. Given my experience with this gate, that’s a wonder all into itself.

So everything is all good—mo better (I suppose). My beloved tractor works well enough for me to perform corrective maintenance, Alabama topped Duke, and wifey can get in and out of the gate without getting in and out of her car.

Life on the farm is nothing but sweetness and light!

It’s been damn busy around here for the last couple of days and tomorrow is shot finishing up on work I started today.

I set out Wednesday AM to the bank and the road between my place and the ‘real road’ was blocked by a downed tree. There’s maybe 10 cars a day that use the road and everyone knows that if you backtrack there are two other ways to get out of this rural area. All ten of those cars also know that if they leave the tree in the road long enough someone else will clear it.

So I backtracked, detoured, did the bank thingy and returned about 2 hours later and the tree is still down. I guess it was my turn to be that someone else..

So I detoured again and worked my way around to my place gathered the chainsaw and some strapping and headed back out to clear the road. Job done. Wednesday morning gone.

Wednesday PM I pulled the last of the jalapeno’s, 5 more pints worth, and canned them and since I had the canner out and working I put up two types of ‘triple berry’ jam. One was strawberry, raspberry, and blueberry, and the other was strawberry, raspberry and blackberry. I was able to put up 18 half pint jars. Man that stuff is good. Anyway, Wednesday PM was shot. Come to think of it, between football (Roll Tide) and putting the canner to work on more jams, this coming Saturday looks like it’s toast as well.

Today I decided that the yard work I need to get to (we’ve had 4 days of wet weather) could wait until I put the boat into the water and relaxed some. I farted around on the bottom reaches of the Elk River and followed it out to the Tennessee River (Wheeler Reservoir) and back up to the launch point. Thursday morning…..gone.

This afternoon I powered up the zero turn and got about half of the weeds mowed before the light began to dim. PM gone.

I’m no psychic, but I can see what my Friday looks like: mowers and trimmers. Any open time I can manage to create will be spent on harvesting seeds from what remains of my garden.

All of this, dear reader, is my long winded explanation of why (as the Soup Nazi would say) NO POSTS FOR YOU !

Y’all enjoy the balance of the week and I’ll see you again on Sunday or Monday.