Neighbor L wants to use her tractor, which hasn’t been touched since D’s accident almost a full year ago. Wait, that’s not true: She got rid of the horses in early December so it hasn’t been used since then. Anyway: It was going to need some work before she could use it.
So yesterday I went over and pulled out the battery, put it on their charger then came back this morning to see if it was any good. That meant I got to play with this toy…
…which mostly hangs on a hook in the powershed because even when I have reason to test an old battery I usually forget I own a load tester*. But this time I remembered. Anyway the battery tested good, to my surprise, and so I put it back in this morning. Then she worried about tire pressure, which meant I got to play with another toy that’s always in the Jeep…
Boy, portable power tools have entered a new generation since small lithium batteries became affordable. I’ve kept a tire inflator in the Jeep for over ten years but it was always kind of a pain to set up and take down. This one is entirely handheld – and programmable! Set and forget.
The tractor started right up, then Tobie and I came home and I got to work on what I was supposed to be doing this morning…
…rebuilding my old sawbuck, which in the years since I last used it had pretty much fallen to pieces. I had to completely replace half of it.
And when you’re 2-by lumber in Joel’s yard at woodcutting season, and you’re not part of a tool or a structure…
…you’re going to find yourself cut to stove lengths and consigned to the woodshed.
When that was done, and since I already had the generator out…
May as well do the annual maintenance. Which in this case only consists of changing the oil, cleaning the air filter, and looking to see how the spark plug is getting along. Used to be I’d do this in early December or whenever I was definitely done cutting wood, then drain the fuel and put it to bed for the winter. But now that I have a good system-sized battery charger the generator won’t get mothballed – in fact it’ll move into the cabin once it gets cold. So may as well do the maintenance while it was on my mind.
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*The reason for my usual Freudian slip is that battery testers used to be terrifying desk-sized things with big carbon resistors that hummed menacingly in use and I half expected the one in the dealership I worked at to be the cause of my demise. This one doesn’t do anything more scary than move a meter needle so I really ought to get over it.
Hopefully you won’t be using that generator INSIDE the cabin.
Hate to have your neighbors eventually find you and Tobie dead inside from carbon monoxide fumes!
No of course not. But (probably because of the oil sensor) the Honda doesn’t want to start when it’s cold. So I’ve made an indoor place for it in winter.