It’s only Tuesday

It’s only Tuesday and already the week has been full of excitement.  Yesterday evening Randy was mowing on Old Blue, the older of our two LS tractors.  The newer tractor, the 357, is awaiting repairs for a bad crankshaft sensor.  Well, one of the power steering lines blew.  When Randy went to turn the wheel hydraulic fluid spewed everywhere.  The the wheels did not turn at all.

Randy was stranded in the field, only able to go forward or backward in a gentle arc that would drive him right into our crop field either way.  There was no way to get the tractor back to the lift so that Randy could get off the tractor.  As strong as I may be I wouldn’t have been able to get Randy off the tractor safely without help.

We called the sheriff’s department and after about ten minutes two friendly and burly deputies, a father and son, arrived.   A few minutes later and Randy was down and we were both massively relieved.  By the time we got home, Randy’s mom had put Cooper to bed and he was already fast asleep.

The most amazing part of this story as far as I am concerned is the fact that, in all his years of tractoring, this is the first time Randy has needed assistance to get off the tractor without the help of the lift.

But still, both tractors were down.  And we need to start digging sweet potatoes this week!

Today, Randy and Robin spent the whole morning working on the tractor while Skylar and I handled harvest and our moms Guin and Connie weighed and bagged vegetables.  First they had to remove the very hard to reach hydraulic line.  We may not have every amenity here in Ashland, Mississippi, but we do have an auto parts store.  The owner of the store was able to cut out the worn part of the line and machine the fittings on to splice the line back together.  (Yeah, “machine” is a verb, who knew?)  They were successful, and the tractor appears to be operational again.   It’s still got a leaking oil cooler but that’s another story….

And tomorrow, the 357 is getting a lift to Booneville to be fixed.  It’s a quick fix and it should be coming back immediately.  So we will be two tractors strong again.  Hopefully that’s the extent of the excitement this week, and the rest of the week is nice and boring.