It’s so cute and little!

Okay, here’s a cedar rat logistics puzzle: I want to borrow my neighbor’s backhoe. I could drive to his place and leave the Jeep there, but then I’d have to be completely done before dark today. I’m probably not going to be that ambitious: I’ve got six neat holes to dig at the Lair, and then a trench for irrigation line at Landlady’s. I could walk the road to his place, but no. It’s miles away, and I’m not feeling it.

Or! I could leave the Jeep halfway down Ian’s ridge road, to where (as I recall) there’s an easy way down the cliff on the west side of the ridge and a helluva shortcut.

I used to do cross-country stuff all the time, the first few years I was here. But as the dogs and I aged and I got too stump-sore, I got out of the habit. This was the time to get back to it. Yeah, I’m a little lame but there’s work to do.

So that’s what I did: I drove to the turn in the ridge, walked along the cliff till I found the easy way down, then hoofed it cross country and across the wash till I got to where the tractor has been parked for years.

It’s about one size up on a respectable lawn tractor, with a 25 hp 3-cyl diesel that – after sitting out in the sun for years – started on the first kick after I reconditioned the battery. I couldn’t believe it. Air up one tire, check all the fluids, and then…figure out the very confusing controls. I kept looking and looking for the shift lever. There’s a lever for fast and slow but it didn’t make the tractor go. Finally, embarrassingly, I noticed one pedal with an arrow pointing forward and one pointing behind. Step on one…and the tractor lurched in that direction. Ah! Me mighty tractor operator.

Then I got in this comical low-speed race with a thunderstorm. Which I won. Then LB and I took a nice walky and recovered the Jeep. That part of the job is done, until it’s time to reverse the process and return the tractor.

And now for lunch. I’m still undecided about trying any actual work with it today. Already noon, and I really should do my baking.