It’s the little things…

Is it plugged in?

“Do you hear that?” my neighbor asked as he walked out of the south aisle of the barn.

Then I heard it. The chug-chug-chug of a diesel tractor running. A good sound. The sound of metal muscle getting ready to help get work done.

We used to joke that 80% of tech support calls were some variation of “is it plugged in?” This last glitch with the tractor was a variation on that.

I was picking manure into the bucket in the south aisle (love that metal muscle!). The drill is, turn the engine off, pick whatever’s close into the bucket, then fire the tractor back up again and move a little further down. Raise the bucket as you go so you get a full load.

Went to start it and heard a click and a phhht like a spark. Then nothing. No click, no start, nothing.

Tractor was in the aisle which is pretty dark. Neighbor came up, nothing obvious. (Remember Rule #2 Bank Time? In those moments you see everything that isn’t done yet)

This was on Friday. Neighbor called the shop on Monday, came over Monday after work to check on it, brought his sharp-eyed son. Dad was wiggling wires, son saw the dashboard flicker.

Loose corroded battery connection.

Morel here: check the simple things first. I’m still so intimidated by machinery that I don’t even look.

Fall task: Have neighbor go through “get ready for winter” maintenance with me and have me create a checklist.

It’s the little things. When I heard the chug-chug-chug of the diesel, I knew it was going to be a better day. There’s a story there about the siege winter, but that’s for another post.

Til next time…