Something is Broken....

And that was our day yesterday, out here JOTOLR.  But instead of "something" it seemed more like "everything" was broken.  Blogger simply added to the soup.

The cows and steer-calf decided they wanted their winter rations during summer and finally figured out how to circumvent the electric fence, normally barring them from crossing from one field to another.  Admittedly, it was a sham.  But the sham had worked for several months with no battery.  But we knew a day of reckoning was in the offing.  Indeed, "offing" arrived yesterday.  Nothing would deter the bovines' recollection of succulent clover and new orchard grass-second cutting in the growth stage.  So, they were fixated on migration

Then, as luck would have it, the tractor decided to cough and sputter, and seems to have caught some kind of fuel-virus, and needs MM's attention to clear some sediment in the fuel tank.  Not a fun job, and one which required pretzelizing to reach various connections in the belly of the beast...

So yesterday morning, MM was in the bowels of the machinery, only to be called away to fix fence.  The resultant analysis on that front required two trips to town--something we DON'T take lightly in the high-fuel-cost era (we PLAN every trip and rarely "run to the store" without a huge list that has been accumulating for at least two weeks!)  But this was close to "emergency"...the fencer people were in one town JOTOLR and the battery people were in another, JOTOLR in the opposite direction.  Tightwads that we are, MM surmised (and gruffly announced--tight-lipped) at the end of the second trip that we had traveled some 75 miles for the fence affair, costing us I-don't-remember-how-much for the two trips which could only be spread over two items: clicker and battery. (This is the price I pay for being married to an armchair economist!)

Once home, we donned our nail belts with hammer, fencing pliers, all manner of insulators and other assorted wire, staples, and nails, and set to work with a vengeance on giving the cows a nice surprise.

I can't deny that I am gleefully looking forward to their surprise when they broach the fence this next time.  Ouch!  Having it tested at the fence company showed that it was HOT!

In the end, I admit, too, the fence repair was a job that needed doing.  It's just that we would rather not have had to do it just then, just yesterday...in the midst of an already "something's broken" kind of day!

One good thing:  Blogger seems to be repaired.  There were MANY "something's broken" questions regarding our ability to comment, and Blogger seems to have recognized that such is true. Keeping fingers crossed.  Don't need another "something is broken" situation. At least for a few days, anyway!