Hey look! Titles!

I found the checkbox that puts titles on my posts. In the words of Homer Simpson, "I am smart! S-M-R-T!"

In other news....

Success!

After three weeks of studying a cryptic shop manual, taking things apart and putting them back together, tracing the paths of various tubes and wires, and consulting with a friend on the far side of the world, I finally got the tractor running!

What bit of mechanical wizardry was it that got the engine to start, and the wheels to turn? Filling up the fuel tank.

You're laughing.

It's really not as bad as it sounds.

Okay, you can stop now.

No really.

When the tractor would turn over but not start, I started at the spark plugs and worked my way backwards. Well, that's not entirely true. I tried to start at the spark plugs, but I didn't have the right kind of socket wrench, so I started at the carburator and worked my way backwards. The carb was dry. The fuel line was dry. The fuel wasn't flowing through the line, or even the filter. I finally opened up the tank and it was empty.

Why it was empty is a mystery. I had put quite a bit of gas in the tank late last fall, along with some fuel stabilizer. So I mistakenly assumed it would still be there this spring. I've come up with some possible explanations:

* Gasoline evaporates much faster than I ever knew.

* I didn't put nearly as much gas in the tank as I thought last fall.

* There's a leak somewhere.

* The kids have been sneaking out for rides when I wasn't looking.

* Somebody decided that siphoning fuel from an old tractor was more appealing than going to the gas station

* My wife has been providing hay rides to the neighborhood and forgot to tell me.

I'm sure there are some other possibilities.

So my next few tractor-related tasks are: Find out if there's a leak in the fuel tank; get a new alternator so the battery will stop going dead; and get a mowing deck for the tractor so I can cut down some of the weeds and grass all over our property. We have lovely pastures, but without any grazing animals, they get overgrown pretty quickly. Even the clover is about two feet tall at this point. That's despite a very dry spring so far.

At least now I can do something about the encroaching wild greenery. Some of it anyway. I think I may go for a "meadow" look for some areas. And if I have any more tractor problems, at least I know my way around the fuel system now.