Trying to catch up

We've missed a few days but we'll try to do better.  Just hang with us.

Today was another one of those days.   On our way back from Cedar Rapids yesterday, we had   picked up a replacement belt for our lawn mower.  I even had the help of one of the clerks to make sure I got the right belt.  But it was wasted effort.  When I pulled the belt out of the holder and compared it to the original belt, the new belt was about 12 to18 inches too short.  Plus it was a half inch belt (the broken belt was a 5/8 belt.)  Needless to say, I was not happy.

So back to plan B, which was to use the belt that I had bought locally on Monday.   But since it was being shredded on one side, I decided to remove the mower deck and see what the problem was.  To my dismay, there was a reason for the problem.  Apparently sometime ago when I had re-mounted the belt, it ended up on the wrong side of a guard to keep the belt on an idler pulley.  Thus the guard was pulled into the pulley and acted like  a knife to shred the belt.  With that problem resolved and the mower back together, we again attempted to mow the lawn.   We made about 5 rounds and the belt decided that it had seen enough and broke.

So another trip into town to get a replacement.  As expected, they didn't have it in stock, but it will be here tomorrow morning.

Back at the farm, we decided that it was time for a little siesta.  But shortly, the sky became dark, the winds came up and then the rains came.  We hunkered down in the motorhome for a while and then decided that it was a rocking a bit too much.  So we pulled the slides in, hoping that it would be more stable.  We looked at the radar map online and eventually, it was past us and all was well.

Tomorrow is another trip into Cedar Rapids so that Sandy can get her annual physical.  Also, we can return the short belt and get our weekly allotment of groceries from Walmart.  On the return we'll stop in to see my mother at the Amana care center.  Perhaps we'll get a belt locally so that we can mow the lawn, maybe!

Gene