In keeping with my news boycott, I won’t be looking at who the talking heads are today. And, as I feared yesterday, there is now a sports boycott in effect. I guess the only things left are the weather, and tractors. As for the weather, if was kind of cold yesterday. Not horrible, but a high not much more than 40, and kind of damp and snowy/sleety. It’s supposed to get up into the 60’s this coming week (which would be great if I didn’t have to work), but you can definitely feel winter in the air around here, and it’s nice to know that when the snow really starts to fly, I’ll be able to plow the driveway with my Kubota. Or so I thought.

Yesterday, however, was a bad day for all things orange, and the Kubota was no exception. When I went to put a load of fence posts in the shed for winter, the damn thing wouldn’t start (the Kubota, that is – not the shed; if I could start up the shed and drive it around, that would be really cool). It seemed like there was a safety that wasn’t made and, as I have been known to forget to put it in neutral or disengage the PTO or whatever (while mastering the “I did that on purpose” look, just in case anybody happens to be watching), I figured I was just doing something stupid (or, perhaps more accurately, stupidly not doing something). Fortunately, my friend John was around, and he took a look. Sadly, it wouldn’t start for him, either.

To make a long story short, we looked at all the switches we could find, but since I’m existing in two places (where, if I need shit at one place, it’s all but guaranteed to be at the other one), I didn’t have access to my meter (I actually have a couple of them, neither of which are over here), battery charger/jumper, and assortment of wire and cable – except Cat 5 and coax; I don’t leave home without that. Since it was getting neigh on dark, we stopped short of gutting the wiring completely, and opted to regroup again in the morning.

A bit later, I had a look at the owners manual (not a huge help; I guess I need to shell out the bucks for a service manual for this thing), and sat on the tractor, wiggling levers and looking at the pictures describing what position everything should be in when starting the thing up (mind you, while I’m not genius, I have started this goddamn thing once or twice before), and, whatever it was I did, it started for me.

Not wanting to shut it down just yet, and determining that succumbing to diesel fumes wouldn’t be a good idea (not on Saturday night; Monday morning maybe), I opened the garage door. And then I figured I might as well go dump the posts off by the shed (which, as it was quite dark by this point, gave me the opportunity to use the headlights for the first time. Very nice). So, I did that, and then, not knowing what else to do, decided I’d better go park it in the garage again before I shut it off.

So, that’s where things are at this point. Hopefully it was all just the culmination of a bad day, and all will be well from here on out. At least until I’m out in the middle of the woods one day and it won’t start for me.

Damn inscrutable Japanese tractor.

Oh well, lots-o-laundry to do, furniture to move, and shopping to, um, shop, so I’ll need to hitch up the wagon and and go all the way in to Pixley today (normally, I’d just go Drucker’s in Hooterville, but for the big stuff, I have to go to the Piggly-Wiggly).

Have a good Sunday, and don’t forget – unless you’re in Arizona or Hawaii or something – it may not be as late as you think out there.