The mower decided to stop working again. It was a Sunday, so Laura and Amy were doing the main chores. Carrie was rolling by me with a cart full of poop and POP! It spluttered and died.
The poop wasn't going to spread itself, so we 'hooked up' the gator.
Carrie discovered the stretch of grass past the fence is wide enough to receive fertilizer donations.
She may or may not have driven down the highway for a few yards cackling all the way.
Unfortunately, the piece of twine she used to attach the spreader to the gator snapped. It disconnected and spilled a pile of poop.
Which was how I found myself shoveling shit by the side of the rode in Mountain Dew pajamas and galoshes.
I normally use several pieces of twine when tying the spreader to the hopper to avoid one snapping and ruining my day. Then I check after each run to see if anything frayed.
It's a solution that's worked well for me, but it's not the only solution.
Carrie upgraded the twine to chain!
Swapping something that will break with something that won't break seems obvious in retrospect. Carrie creatively sourced the chain by pulling it from the open stall and using twine to replace it!
I think it's brilliant as long as the non-breaking chain doesn't cause the plastic hopper connector to break instead of the twine. I don't think it will, but it pays to think "What could go wrong?" ahead of time.
Carrie figured out what was wrong with the mower later on. She called the dealership. They told her they'd heard of many similar problems lately and blamed the weather for water/condensate collecting where it shouldn't.
They told Carrie to use a screwdriver to loosen a screw a few times to push the water through.
It was in a weird spot, but I loosened it and water started to drip. Carrie hopped on the mower to "help it along" as the dealership said to.
The drips turned to a clear stream. It took me longer than it should have and a smell test to realize it was gasoline! Carrie shut the mower down, so I could re-tighten everything and the mower's worked fine since.
Carrie made room in the garage earlier in the week, so we can store the mower inside to try and prevent the issue from recurring. I need to replace the grommet on one of the fuel lines at some point. I did it on the other side and I should have another in the work bench....should.
Ellie surprised us by hanging Christmas decorations when she evening chores.
Micayla surprised us again when she stuffed Ellie's decorations with horse treats!
Carrie surprised everyone again when she bought M&M's and candy canes for people treats....or she will when she does it. I don't have pictures yet!
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