Have you ever had one of those days that it seems nothing can go right? Well that's how my month of May feels.
May started as a promising month. Our water storage tank was ready to be installed - we need a storage tank because our well only has ~70 gallons and only produces 1.5 gallons per minute, so trying to flush a softener system would run the well dry and not actually do what it needs. With the help of Daniela's sister we got the tank downstairs - just barely as there was less than 3/4" clearance. I got it all plumbed in, got the pump hooked up and started filling it Sunday the 2nd. The first night I didn't trust the float valve since I hadn't hooked up the overflow; so before I went to bed I turned the fill valve off - leaving the tank about half full and the house using water directly from the well. Monday morning I turned the fill valve back on and switched the house to use water from the tank. Around noon the tank was full and the float valve was properly functioning so I didn't need to worry as much about the overflow. I was ecstatic, this was a project that started over 6 months ago when we ordered the tank.
Well the good times weren't to last. As Daniela was getting ready to go to bed and put her dog out one last time she heard running water. At first she thought I was just taking a shower, but then she realized it was coming from the basement. It was total luck that the basement door was open, as the majority of the day I had been keeping the basement door closed since the pump noise is a bit of a nuisance in the kitchen when it runs. She goes down stairs and one of the rivets holding the tank together has failed and there is a stream of water shooting from the tank!
I was already in bed, but she runs to get me and I quickly throw on a pair of shorts and go downstairs to try and figure out the problem. While I was thinking of a faster way to empty the tank, I grabbed a hose and ran it to the sump pit; then I went outside and started another hose; then I added a third hose from the utility tub to the front of the house. Mind you I'm also trying put the water somewhere it won't just pool in the yard. I gave Daniela some duct tape to try and cover the leaks as I was worked to drain the thank; at some point another rivet failed and yet more water was fountaining out.
The duct tape was working a bit, but water was continuing to escape. After the tank was half empty - but still not holding water - I decided that I could use the tee I put in line between the pump and the tank to drain the rest into the sump pit. Let me tell you - that was a lot of water that drained fast. I'm pretty sure both sump pumps were working to get the water out. The night ended with cleaning up 30 gallons of water from the floor and going to bed upset and exhausted.
We reached out to the tank company and they are going to make it right, but now we're back to waiting on tank production once again as the tank needs to be replaced.
Sadly we didn't even get a week reprieve before the next thing went wrong. This time it was with my car. I was working on hooking up the trailer the following Saturday (10th) as we were going to get a load of manure for Daniela's garden on Mother's Day morning (her mother's day gift - it's what she wanted). I put the car into reverse and backed out of the parking spot and went to put the car into drive ... and it wouldn't actually go anywhere. I tried shifting around and nothing.. I texted my parents to see if I could borrow their truck (have to get the manure ya' know) but also decided to try and figure out what was wrong. Daniela suggested a fuse, so we checked but none were blown. I was upset since we just put $6000 into rebuilding the transmission last year. As we were troubleshooting I thought maybe the shift cable broke. So I looked up some videos on where the cable hooked to the transmission. Of course none of the videos were for my exact year - so I ended up taking the tire off for no reason. Eventually I found the cable and luckily it wasn't broken - it just fell off the pin in the transmission. So overall an easy fix but still another thing that went wrong.
Of course that wasn't all Saturday held in store for us. We were settling down on the couch to relax a bit before bed and I smelled something burning. Daniela had just finished cooking some food so I figured it was something that fell off the pan in the oven. I had gone outside to feed Borgy (our "barn" cat) and when I came back in Daniela was opening all the windows saying she can't handle the smell. Well that's when I realized what was happening.
At some point during the previous week we were making fried Onions. Daniela was using a small pot but didn't realize how much it was going to bubble when the onions went in. The pot wasn't big enough and the oil bubbled over - luckily I was there and turned the gas off before it could catch fire; but it was a mess to clean up. At the time I thought the stove top captured it all and none leaked under the burners. Well I was wrong. The oil that bubbled over was now smoking us out of our house!
I took the top off the stove and was able to see that indeed the oil leaked under the burners and saturated the oven insulation. I started pulling the oil soaked insulation off and at as I got close to the actual oven wall I found the part that was smoking. I quickly covered it back up and then disconnected the gas line so I could drag the stove outside so it would stop smoking the house. Outside I was able to remove all the oil soaked insulation - including the stuff that was completely burned. Once I brought the stove back in, it hooked it back to the gas and gave it a test run without the stove top - but with a fire extinguisher in hand - just in case. Luckily there was no fire and I was able to put the top back on. Still need to replace the insulation but at least we still have a stove.
Daniela decided that the carpet in the nursery needed to be replaced with hardwood flooring because the carpet smelled - so to save cost she found some used hardwood flooring on facebook marketplace. The flooring wasn't originally installed the best way and was definitely not cleanly removed, so it needed a significant amount of work. The following weekend (15th) I was roped into helping with some of this work - mainly routing new tongues and grooves in the ends of the boards.
Well with only a handful of boards left my router decided to die. I knew the router wasn't the best to use in a router table and now I know why - it was completely seized and wouldn't rotate. Luckily I'm not afraid to take it apart, especially since it was already broken. It turned out that the bottom bearing (which would be the top when mounted in a router table) was full of crud and not rotating. Eventually I was able to remove it and clean it out. I put some grease in to hopefully make it last a bit longer and put it all back together and was able to finish the routing.
Since Daniela found a source of manure we've gone to get multiple trailer loads, of course; I found an efficient way to unload using the tractor - no way are either of us unloading a trailer full by hand.
However while unloading one load I managed to break the loader stick on the tractor. The stick is an aftermarket part since it has a cable run up it for the 3rd function diverter valve (for a grapple instead of the bucket). It broke because of a bad interaction with the wider stick and the loader stick lock on the tractor - the stick would hit the lock while attempting to curl or dump while in float or lowering the loader. Naturally I didn't realize this when we first got the tractor so I would push the stick sideways while in float and it would sort of work if I pushed hard - but what I didn't realize was I was bending the loader stick. I realized this issue back toward the end of winter and removed the lock. But apparently the bending weakened the stick enough that after a bunch more usage it broke! Luckily we had the original stick as we were given it with the tractor and I was able to put it back on and continue my projects for the weekend.
Last weekend (22nd/23rd) was really nice, so I decided to bush hog the fields. Well after spending about 7 hours on the tractor, when I get off I realize the seat broke! Thankfully it's still usable - though it can't be used in the raised position so when using the backhoe it's like sitting on the floor. The tractor is still very much under warranty and since we've just hit 50 hours it will be going into the shop for service where they will replace the seat!
Also while bush-hogging I thought I would tie my water bottle to the tractor so it didn't fall off.. Well it fell off but got into a fight with the tractor wheel and fender. But the tractor won :-( I've since got a new cap but it doesn't work the same way and makes noise while drinking.
Blessedly May is almost over and hopefully June will be joyous and not jarring.
Some less detrimental projects that we did this month and the end of lat month.
