Posts Tagged ‘ATV’
Rain Delivered
They promised snow, but we received freezing rain for most of the day yesterday. I really dislike rain in the winter. The day will not go down in our history as one of the better ones around here. On top of the weather being lousy, Cyndie is suffering greatly from a sinus infection that has walloped her a good one. When momma’s not happy, nobody’s happy.
The horses are being good sports about the lousy weather. We put them in the barn on Tuesday night, and decided to leave them inside, sheltered from the freezing rain, for the entire day yesterday. This is the longest we have yet to confine them in those stalls. It seems like a bit much to ask of them, but I think maybe they sense the benefit and are accepting the situation without complaint.
Delilah didn’t seem to mind the wetness one bit, and ran all over the place, playing in the slushy mess. I let her roam off-leash for a bit, and she stayed in contact with me for the entire distance down the driveway to get the mail, and back again. I hadn’t intended to stay out and get wet, but once you are wet, you don’t really get any wetter, so I scraped the freezing slush off the upper part of the driveway. While I was out, our tractor was delivered on a flatbed truck from the local dealer who performed a full set of routine maintenance steps. Yep, I got out of having to change the oil this time.
The driver dropped it off at the flat spot of the driveway near the barn. Since it doesn’t have chains on yet (the weather was nice when they picked it up last week), I worried I might not get it up the hill to the shop garage. Well, I made it up the hill, no problem, but then spun my wheels when I tried to back it up the tiniest of an incline into the garage. No worry, I have a loader on the front, and people tell me to use that to push myself whenever I get stuck. It worked like a charm. The tractor was a frozen mess of ice, but it is back in the garage with all new fluids, a repaired leaking front tire, and no more dripping from the hydraulic line quick-connect fitting.
Since I was out in the garage, already wet, I decided it was a good time to get the plow re-attached to the Grizzly ATV. Knowing we will have frigid Arctic air settling in for a few days, I figured I should try to clear as much of the slush off the driveway as possible before it gets locked in place for good. I can’t call my first try at plowing with the Griz a smashing success, but I was able to do a fair job and I completed it in a fraction of the time I spent last year trying to use the big diesel tractor. I feel optimistic about my chances of becoming proficient at maneuvering the ATV and moving snow to clear the pavement to a degree that meets my exacting standards. I think it will be a bit easier to plow snow in the future when it isn’t raining at the same time.
Just to top off this first significant, and lousy, snow event day, I needed to reattach the mailbox after the township plow went by. We are picking up right where we left off last year, in that regard.
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Grizzly Arrival
I had a great day yesterday with Delilah as my off-leash companion for a variety of tasks and activities. We finally got the “Chuckit” device to save my arm and shoulder when tossing balls for Delilah to find. I was testing the distances and trying to give her a spread of different areas to search, and then the delivery of our Grizzly ATV arrived. I hoped to leave her searching, while I headed down the driveway to direct the driver to pull his trailer onto the loop around the hay shed.
She saw me walk away and followed, without the ball in her mouth. By the time I got done helping to unload everything (came with a spare set of tires/rims and the plow blade), I discovered I couldn’t recall which direction I had last thrown the ball. Off and on for the rest of the day, I urged her to use her nose to go find her ball, but it never turned up. I even walked the woods in the areas I had been throwing into, but found nothing.
Do some people clean the underside of their lawn mowers more than once a year? What a mess ours was. It surprises me it even works when there is that much gunk accumulated. Delilah was happy to wander off with chunks of the stinkiest pieces. I think she believes she is being helpful.
I mowed the grass on Sunday, hopefully for the last time this season, and yesterday got the mower deck dismantled from the tractor. Now there is enough ground clearance for that tractor to go places it usually gets stuck. There is also plenty of room for changing the oil.
Of course, we don’t need to drive that lawn tractor into the fields now, because we have an ATV that is made to do that, and much more. It’s a big one. I’m thinking we should call it, “Griz.”
Oil Averse
Those of you who know me are likely aware of my past aversions to gas-powered engines. My favorite tool of all time has been my trusty Scotts 20-inch reel mower. I couldn’t part with it when we moved, and now we have found it to be the perfect tool for mowing the path of our labyrinth. But, alas, a 20 acre ranch with horses, that has a quarter-mile-long driveway, in a region that gets significant snow accumulations, calls for the power of an engine.
We do have some engines here. We bought the New Holland diesel tractor with a front loader and a back blade, plus the brush cutter. Then we have a Craftsman riding lawn mower tractor. We even added a back up generator that has a motor that requires periodic oil changes. It came with a spare filter, thank you very much. The classic reminder that I have another device that will require occasional oil changes.
Long, long ago, I gave up changing the oil in my cars. I pay someone else to do that for me, and I find it worth every penny, …oops, make that dollar. But how do you get someone to change the oil/fluids in your tractor? Drive it to a Jiffy Lube? That might be possible for the diesel. It’s got a gear for driving on the highway. But the lawn mower? I think not. And our generator is a permanent installation here, so that’s not going anywhere. I’m going to have to start servicing my own engines.
So, as long as I’ve got to start servicing fuel-burning engines, what’s one more?
That Craftsman lawn mower is the machine Cyndie has taken to for all manner of bushwhacking our fields, doing heavy mowing, and hauling with our pull-behind trailer. It has performed admirably, but she is frequently trying to coerce it to do things beyond the scope of its intended use. If she hadn’t gotten that pickup, I think she would be driving the lawn mower to Fleet Farm to fill the trailer with merchandise.
Well, now she won’t have a reason to get that tractor stuck in our fields anymore. Last night we made a deal on a used ATV with a plow blade. It will become the primary workhorse for navigating the far reaches of our woods and fields, hauling firewood, raking the paddocks, dragging the round pen, and even plowing snow in winter.
Now the poor old Craftsman can go back to just being a lawn mower for our yard.
Luckily, our new ATV came with an aftermarket service manual, so I can learn how to do all of the maintenance myself. Is changing oil anything like doing a software update? The time is coming for me to make peace with getting my hands dirty with oil.
Relative Something 