Audiobook finished

We Few by David Weber and John Ringo

Book 4 (last) in Empire of Man

That was pretty good. Weber managed to get his space battle in. This last book included his signature (somewhat boring) meetings and lectures, but they were actually pretty short and had a point to them.

Lawn tractors

So, the church has two lawn tractors, both in need of semi-serious repair, and no money for a new one. Everyone wants a new one but it's not going to happen, there simply isn't money to get one.

One is a Simplicity. It just needs a new steering wheel, general lubrication and cleaning, and between 2 and 6 new spindle bearings and a new arbor - because as far as I can tell, nobody's ever done any maintenance on it, and the spindles had not an ounce of grease in them - the were bone dry. One disintegrated and took the arbor out with it. I should probably buy a full set of spindle bearings and replace them all - but I don't know if that's the mower we'll use in the future - if not I should just barely get it running and then sell it.

So that one needs about 2 hours work and about $50 (it looks like I'm going to win a steering wheel for $5 on eBay). Seems easy enough. However, the carburetor's end plug fell out sometime last year, I didn't find out until this spring, and nobody knows how long it ran just sucking in completely unfiltered air - the top end could be badly worn. Also, the thing is kind of a brute - it needs to be dominated when using it and it has NO safeties. I have no problem driving it but the regular guy doesn't like it and never will.

The other is a Cub Cadet - it's POTENTIALLY a very nice tractor, but it has a blown rear main seal - needs to have the engine pulled and the seal replaced, which is a big damn job. AND it's set outside unused for over a year and the electrical system is pretty corroded, which could be a nightmare. Also the hood (all plastic) is broken in several places, so some cosmetic work there too. However, if I get the thing running, it's a heck of a nice tractor - 50" deck, nice Kohler Command engine, power steering, hydraulics, electric clutch PTO, etc.

The problem is that this evening I got the Cub Cadet running on gasoline (I got it to run for a few seconds on ether a few nights ago) - so I now have hope that it will maybe be worth working on. I was kind of hoping it would be a lost cause, but it looks like I'll have to work on that one.

Audiobook finished

Brothers by Ben Bova

I didn't finish it that fast, I started it a few weeks back and just lost interest, but finished it up after the last book this evening. I only had about 80 minutes left to go.