Some Blood Was Shed

I had such good luck taking off and remounting the tire on my Kubota tractor on Friday that I decided to tackle a similar but much smaller job yesterday. One of the rear tires on the Husqvarna riding lawn mower had a slow leak and would go down between uses. If I can handle a tractor tire, that should be a piece of cake, right? Well, yes and no. I got the job done, but not before some blood was shed.

My first thought was that I would have to take the tire off the mower, but then I decided I would just see if I could plug it without bothering to do that. So I got out my new handy dandy heavy duty tire plug kit, and set to work.

The first step was to air up the flat tire, and rather than take one of our Honda portable generators and my air compressor down to the carport,  I used the 11-gallon portable air tank. This thing is pretty cool because you can fill it up with the air compressor and then take it anywhere you need to fill up a tire, and it even works on tractor tires without needing power.

After I inflated the tire, I spread some soap bubble solution on it and quickly found the leak bubbling on the top edge of the sidewall. Using the valve stem removal tool that came in the tire plug kit, I took out the tire’s valve stem, then used the kit’s reamer tool to enlarge and clean out the hole.

Then I used one of the sticky rubber plugs that comes with the kit, and the tool designed to hold it, to push it into the hole. After that I cut off the excess rubber from the plug that was sticking out the sidewall. Of course, in the process I had to stab my finger, and as I said, some blood was shed. But Nurse Terry was quick to put a couple of bandaids on it and send me back to finish the job, with no Purple Heart or anything. ☹

It was a simple job to replace the valve stem and air the tire back up. My JACO ElitePro digital tire pressure gauge showed it right at 22 pounds, as the owner’s manual indicated. The instructions with the plug kit said to then drive the mower for about 15 minutes to make sure everything was sealed well. I mowed some grass with it and then parked it back under the carport and checked the tire pressure once again. It was still exactly on the money. Just to be sure I’ll check it again today, but hopefully, that will have solved the problem.

Once I was inside and cleaned up a bit, I gave the kittens and Alli their afternoon treats. But from the way she was looking at me, almost like she was saying “Come on, Dad, give me the damn treat!” I wasn’t doing it fast enough to suit her. Sorry about that Alli. I was recently wounded and just not myself.

Today is your last chance to enter our Free Drawing for an audiobook of my friend USA Today bestselling author Suzie O’Connell’s Starlight Magic, from her popular Northstar romance series. Can the magic of the stars heal a tormented soul? Single father Brodie Dunn aims to find out by putting his heart on the line. Recently widowed artist Celeste Dawson desperately needs a tranquil place where she can rebuild herself. Two months after her husband’s violent death her career is in jeopardy and she can’t engage in the art that was once her escape from the world. She hopes a trip to Northstar will help her find peace. There’s no place better for healing, especially after she meets her charming new neighbor, ski hill owner Brodie. He suspects Celeste is going to be trouble right from the start, but he can’t ignore the pain in her eyes. On the saddest night of his life, he made a promise under the stars to laugh instead of cry and to help any wounded heart he comes across. He’s sure that philosophy and maybe a little starlight magic will do wonders for Celeste…if his apparent inability to take anything seriously doesn’t drive her mad first. A tale of forgiveness and hope, Starlight Magic will grab you by the heart.

To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn this evening. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books and audiobooks to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed. After 90 days, unclaimed prizes revert back to the drawing pool for a future contest.

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – Some people swear they’re fighting demons when the whole time they’re actually fighting the consequences of their choices.