Tired tires

 

Last month Kris and I were on the way to see an MSU basketball game.  Woo hoo!  We were excited.  But as soon as we pulled on to the highway ... our tire blew. 

Oh, how unfortunate, I thought.  We're going to be late.

It was 20 degrees, it was night, and it was dark.  Kris got out to change the tire in his not-warm-enough-for-this coat. 

The cars on the highway seem to be going really fast when you're inches from them!  But Kris had to pull even closer to the road in order to get on the pavement, or we wouldn't be able to use the jack.

(When I say 'we' I mean 'Kris.'  Beyond yelling words of encouragement, my participation in the 'we' part of the tire changing was minimal.)

As he worked on it, I began to get the idea we were only going to be able to see the second half.

He checked the spare - I looked too - and started putting it on.  We thought maybe if we drove home and went in another car we'd be able to make it.

He got it on and let down the jack.  We watched as it hissed flat.  The spare wasn't able to hold the weight of the car.  You can imagine how happy we were. 

I was pretty sure that now we definitely weren't going to the game.  I called a tow truck and it arrived in just five minutes.  (How unheard of is that?  He happened to be just down the road!)

We got towed home, watched the game on TV with our kids - we only missed five minutes of it - and sold that car as soon as possible.

So I'd call that tire incident number one. 

Just this week, a tire tractor went flat.  It's the tractor we use to spread manure.  We're currently looking for a used tire to replace it.

Yesterday, the skid steer tire was flat.  It needed a tube, which we got locally.

And, our chopper is getting fixed up for the season.  They called and it needs - YES!  New tires!  Again, we're looking for used tires, which apparently aren't available everywhere. 

Recently I told my friend Aimee that something had broken on the farm, and she said, "It seems like there's always something breaking.  It sounds exhausting."

I kind of laughed, because it's true.  Something is always breaking, because we have so many things to break!  Tractors, trucks, complex machinery, feeding machines, pumps, motors ... all of them like to take turns being broken.  Or sometimes they all break at once!

So, you just fix as you go and control what you can.  With new tires on everything we own ... we've got our pick of vehicles.  Even if we have to drive the chopper, we're not going to miss another MSU game.