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Finding the positive

The day was Saturday, January 23, 2016.  It was the day after “snowmageddon 2016” (I find it interesting how people hype of a little bit of snowfall, but that’s a different topic all together).  The snow had mostly stopped, so I decided it was time to get out the tractor and clear the driveway, little did I imagine such a simple task would turn into such an adventure.

I went outside to start the tractor, swapped the brush hog for the back blade so I could clear the snow off the driveway. I start working and one of the tires must have been low because it came completely off the rim.

20160123_121546Not to be defeated (and because I was relatively close to the garage) I get the air hose out… only to fine out it will reach to within about 12 inches of the tire.

20160123_122309Bound not to be defeated, I reconfigure things to add a few inches to the hose! And wouldn’t ya know, I couldn’t get the tire to take air. So, out comes the air wrench and off comes the wheel. Thanks to a few things taught to me growing up, I know a few tricks when it comes to getting tires to take air (thanks Dad!). I finally get the tire to take air just in time for the belt to start slipping on the air compressor (guess it’s time to buy a new belt for the air compressor). Luckily, I have enough air left in the air compressor to fully air up the tire.  Tire aired up and ready to go, I start rolling it back out to the tractor to be greeted by the neighbor and his son on their four wheelers clearing my driveway.

Moral of the story? Well, from my perspective, it’s simply this: if you look for defeat and bad times you can find them easily enough, but if you do that, you can miss the good. In this case, having great neighbors that jump in and help without asking and the fact that the tractor is back together. All that other stuff, it’s simply noise.

By Mark

I work in IT and ride Motorcycles. I do one to support the other.