Getting new battery for the John Deere 5400 Tractor.

Getting new battery for the John Deere 5400 Tractor., originally uploaded by Don Campbell Models.

TWO-HUNDRED DOLLAR BATTERY- Deb and I will drive to the John Deere Dealer this morning and pick up the new strongbox battery for my 5400 tractor. Two-Hundred dollars seems pricey for a battery, but everything seems pricey these days like paying $200.00 to fill the motorhome gas tank, ha,ha.
But the battery was the original battery and has lasted 10 years so I knew it had to be getting close to dying.
I was trying to see the positive and I am just glad it didn’t quit on me in the middle of a major snowstorm in the middle of the winter, ha,ha.
CLEANED BACK SHED- I made great progress cleaning the back shed. It’s surprising how we tend to save things we know we will never use again. It feels good to get done cleaning and see everything nice and neat for about 10 minutes, ha,ha.
TRACTORS PICTURE- Today’s picture shows me pulling the tractors and the motorhome out of the shed after putting the snowblower in summer storage. I have to pull out the motorhome and the two small lawn tractors to get the snowblower and the front blade back in the corner.
NASTY THUNDERSTORM LAST NIGHT – About midnight it started storming something fierce!!  We thought we may have to head to the basement it was blowing and pouring and lightning really bad. But after a hour it settled down and we went back to bed. Sure makes us see the positive about the few storms we get compared to down south and those folks who get them all the time.
GOLF BALL FOX STORY- I forgot to mention that the worse part of the fox stealing the golfball yesterday as Bill’s brother was golfing was Bill’s brother said it looked like the golf ball was rolling right towards the hole for a hole in one when the pesky fox grabbed it in it’s mouth, (:>). umm !
TOY BUILDING PROGRESS THIS WEEK – Zip, Zap , None !! Enjoyed being outside for the first week this year in a T-shirt . Oh Yea !!
Next week I should get back to work on the Berliet Dumptruck for Mike from Nebraska.
SAT. EATING HEALTHY PLAN – Probably not as we will be eating in a resturaunt and we will also be excited to be looking at new John Deeres, ha,ha. Should be a fun little road trip to the Dealer a hour away .
HAVE A NICE SATURDAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fox Steals Bill’s brothers Golf Ball yesterday on the golf course

Fox Steals Bill’s brothers Golf Ball yesterday on the golf course, originally uploaded by Don Campbell Models.

FOX STEALS GOLF BALL YESTERDAY AT GAYLORD GOLF COURSE- Nicole’s husband Bill said he talked to his brother last night who lives in Gaylord. He said his brother was golfing yesterday and they saw a fox down near the green . They yelled thinking the fox would run away . After he hit the ball it rolled very close to the fox. They tried yelling more at it as they were a little nervous it might attack them. But instead it ran to the golf ball and picked it up with it’s mouth and started running . As they yelled more the fox took off with the golf ball to hide in the woods, ha,ha. So that is a pretty funny and unique golf story for the family to share. Bills brother is big into rules and was unsure of the legal way to bring a new ball back into play after the fox ran off with it, (:>).
RAINY DAY IN GAYLORD- We got a much needed rainy day in Northern Michigan today . Forest fires have been a big concern in our area after having two already this spring.
CLEANING BACK SHED- I cleaned the back shed last summer and got 3/4 of the junk out of it. Well, today I decided to organize the shelves and I got more than I bargained for, ha,ha. The whole back shed is a total disaster as I am really cleaning it this time. (:>).
DUMPTRUCK PICTURE- Here is a picture of a old IH dumptruck sitting at the IH Dealer in Gaylord the other day . Many of you know I love things with big tires. So when I saw the big tires on it , I just had to take a picture of it , (:>).
EATING HEALTHY- Not so Good ?, Deb just returned from KFC with a couple three piece chicken dinners for us and it looks very shiny and greasy, UMM.
TRACTOR BLADE MISHAP YESTERDAY- After I got the rear blade all repainted that I built 10 years ago and never used , I finally got to try it out , LOL !!
I took off down the road yesterday with the tractor and blade and I hit a big bump on the next street over. The center link that supports the blade in the air suddenly broke slamming the heavy duty blade down on the pavement. With no way to raise it, I figured I better not go to the shoulder in the dirt. So I waited for clear traffic and made a quick u-turn in the road and gave it full throttle and headed for home full speed down our nice new blacktop with the sparks just a flying , ha,ha. Luckily I was only 2 blocks from the house and luckily I didn’t hit any manhole covers, ha,ha,. . So now I can say I have officially used the blade for the first time, LOL.
GAS PRICES- It seems good to have the gas prices at $4.20.9 for a few days now. I think people are adjusting to it by not driving so fast . NOT !!!!, I think they are actually driving faster , ha,ha.
Have a nice Friday

Deb and her pre-schoolers this morning out in our backyard.

Deb and her pre-schoolers this morning out in our backyard., originally uploaded by Don Campbell Models.

TWO NICE DAYS IN A ROW THIS MONTH – Even though there was ice in the bucket yesterday morning with temps in the 20’s , it warmed up to 65 in the afternoon. This morning it was in the low thirties and it is supposed to warm up to 70 today .
Oh Yea !! Two nice days in a row for the first time this month !! (:>).
Last night I got the small trailer all painted and this morning I decided to paint the trailer floors in all three trailers. So I just got that done. Next I got to rebuild a support stand for the rear blade when it is not being used which is NEVER , ha,ha. I was loading it on the trailer a few years ago and the stand hit the side of the trailer and bent it So now the blade is all painted nice, I better make the stand look nice too.
NEW TRACTOR BATTERY- We found a John Deere battery for the tractor and will go get it on Sat.
After I get the stand done today, This afternoon I will get the post hole digger out and build a retaining wall in my back driveway from when I dug out the rear shed driveway last fall.
DEB AND THE DAYCARE KIDS- I just took this picture a few minutes ago of Deb and the four pre-schoolers she watches at our house. They are a nice bunch of little kids .
You can see in the picture part of the fort I built many years ago for Nicole , and ME , ha,ha.
One more week and Deb goes to summer hours and that means she gets a four day weekend all summer . So she is pretty excited about that. And the kids get to spend more time with their parents too so I’m sure the parents are excited about that too, ha,ha.
Well, some of the parents are excited , but others , not so much ,LOL
HEALTHY EATING – Not so much either !, but Deb did go pick some fresh reubarb out back and made a delicious dessert with it and that should have been healthy despite the fact it tasted mighty sweet , umm , (:>).
Have a nice Thurs.

Todays projects, repaint trailer and repaint blade

Todays projects, repaint trailer and repaint blade, originally uploaded by Don Campbell Models.

OUTSIDE WORK- We have had very few decent days this year so when the sun shines I find myself outside . Yesterday I spent the whole day cutting sod on the second half of the front lawn and laying the last 120 retaining wall blocks and filling in the raised areas with topsoil. It looks much nicer now.
Deb took this picture this morning after I went down and hooked on to my smallest trailer and brought it home. It has the rear blade I scratch built 10 years ago when I bought the new John Deere 5400. But I never used the rear blade even once. So over ten years of sitting in the shed and outdoors I figure today it is time for me to paint it up to look good again. I painted my other two larger trailers last fall but this smallest one is looking like it needs some new black paint so I will also be working on getting it looking better too.
DEAD TRACTOR BATTERY- After I shut the tractor off and Deb took this picture I tried to start the tractor to raise the blade out of the trailer and nothing happened . I figured the battery posts must need cleaning because I tried jump starting it and still no results.
After cleaning the posts and hooking it to the charger for a half hour, I tried again and nothing. So I think 10 years of use and many quick starts and stops without being charged caused the battery to finally die. So I grabbed the battery out of my dump box trailer and it fired right up. So it looks like it’s time to get a new tractor battery.
I try to see the positive in things and I’m glad this didn’t happen in the winter, ha,ha.
So I’m off to paint and enjoy the sunshine. It was 27 degrees this morning and the lawn was white with frost.
Have a nice Wed.