BAD DAY GOOD DAY

SATURDAY:

Ever have one of those days where nothing seems to go right?  That was Saturday at the farm...

Overslept.  Was going to be on the road by 8am, slept until 10am.  Oops.  

Went down to the car, realized I forgot my wallet.  Went back to the apartment for that.  

Finally started out of the parking garage, realized I forgot my cell phone.  Parked and went back for that.

Then there was a festival going on in Houston and roads were closed all around the apartment.  Took me 20 minutes just to get out of downtown.

Needless to say, I got to the farm much later than I had originally planned for.

Got there and got all ready to mow and...flat tire on the mower!

So I drove back into the nearby town, went to the feed store and got a bottle of "Slime".  This stuff works miracles on flat tires (we have mesquite thorns, every tire on the mower has had slime in it at one point or another).  I poured it all in, screwed the valve stem back on, got out the portable air compressor and...it didn't work!  Wouldn't put out air.  I carried it to the house and plugged it in.  Waited for it to charge.  It wouldn't take a charge.  Dead (it was over 10 years old anyway).  I had to drive back into town again to try and buy a new one.  

Over the last few years, we have driven to the farm on pretty much every day of the week and at all different times of the day and night. There is a train track that we cross that has never had a train on it. Never once.  We even kind of figured it was an old track that wasn't in use anymore.  Nope.  Saturday there was a train.

A long train.

Going about 3mph.

I sat in a line of traffic for about 20 minutes without moving a single inch.  

I know when to fold 'em.  I made a u-turn, drove back to the farm, closed/locked things up and headed back into Houston.  

On the way back in, I stopped at the local big box store and bought this.  We don't have electricity in the barn or shed so for now, it's all rechargeable and cordless items.  The nice thing about this one is that it is not only a 180psi rechargeable air compressor, it's also a jump starter in case the mower (or one of our cars) doesn't start and I can plug in a drill or saw if I needed to quickly use something "corded" in the barn.  Oh and we can plug in our cell phones and bluetooth speakers to charge them away from the house.  Win/win/win!

Came back to the apartment and took a nap.  Later we had a great dinner...2nd Man made turmeric chicken with peppers and garbanzo beans.  Yum.

SUNDAY:

Got up EARLY for a change.  7:30am.  Was on the road by 8:00am. Got to the farm, aired up the tire with the new compressor and it worked like a charm.

While mowing, I had an audience on one side of the property...

And on the other side...

And even on the property that is behind the farm, though I think this bull was more interested in the grass clippings than me.

When I was finally done, it all looked good once again.  This is the driveway, looking toward 2nd Family's house.

Here's an angle we haven't always shown, this is, for all practical purposes, the front yard.  You can see the corner of the house on the right, the cleared tree shaded area in the middle, and the mower shed.  The barn is just out of range of the camera on the right.  

Dinner Sunday night was simple, red beans and rice with sausage.  One of my favorites.

So after starting out on the wrong foot, it was a good weekend in the end.  Garden update tomorrow!