No good deed goes unpunished

I left my house Saturday headed North, went to a nice tractor pull.
Heading North rarely happens, I almost always leave going South.
So that sent me past a neighbor's house I haven't been by in a
while and I noticed their yard had not been mowed. All year.
Gentleman is getting older, mid 70's, but he always keeps his yard up.
So Sunday afternoon I stopped to see if he had been ill, and if I could help.
He was not ill, his mower is broke and he hadn't been able to get the part yet.
So I ran the mower down and mowed the grass. I should have taken
the rotary cutter! That stuff was 3 feet tall and wet in places.
My sister and nephew were around, so they went down too and
walked the yard picking up sticks that had fallen from the trees
etc ahead of the mower. Cleaned up the yard pretty well.
I thought his wife was going to cry over neighbors that still help neighbors.
Anyway, I got that finished up for them, came back home and thought I'd
had a pretty good weekend overall.
So with the few hours left in the day I figured I'd get one of my
tractors out of the barn and put it in the garage to get it ready
for this weekend's tractor show. Just clean it up, check all the fluids, etc.
Drove it out of the barn, running like a top! Backed it into the
garage forgetting that I needed to remove the muffler to clear
the lower garage doors.
Didn't hurt the muffler or the door any, but it snapped my exhaust manifold right in half!
Makes me wish there was someone else to blame! LOL
Hope ya'll had a good weekend!

Done lots of stuff worse than that. At least no one got hurt. You are to be commended for helping your neighbor out, so maybe replacing the manifold won't be too bad a job.

You getting a tad old? My son tells me that My heart is still gold, but my brains are turnin to mush!!
Good deed for you and really sorry for the manifold problem, you sure didn't deserve that.

Thanks Paul, small, rural, dirt road community here.
Neighbors don't bother one another, not even when they should.
Any of us would have helped if we had realized they needed it.
As bad as the skeeters are this year? Geez!
Manifold shouldn't be a bad job. New with gaskets and a new
"low clearance" muffler it would run about $200. I'll look for a used one.
I think I got it patched up enough to go to the show Thursday.

Larry, if I deny getting older will it make it stop? LOL
I'm still a fairly young guy, just forgetful I guess!
(It's my story, I can tell it anyway I want!)

I reciently parked my backhoe in the shed with the loader bucket at a 45% angle. I never put the parking brake on in the shed. It's a hydrostatic 4 wheel drive and the floor is level so it's not going to roll. There is just enough room lenthwise in the shed for it, the weight of the front loader gradullay pushed the bucket down flat and the tractor backward just enough to push the backhoe bucket through the flimsy roll-up door.

I almost always park my pu in the same place when at barn. Not today. had the 3point backhoe on today. later on back up, hit the tail gate. ole well at least it wasn't a door.jc

Just remember, life is like a roll of toilet paper, the closer you get to the end, the faster it goes.

Royse:

Congrats on helping out the neighbor. How good of a
welder are you, a few Nickle rods or better yet some
Castolin Eutectic rods and that broken manifold
would be almost good as new.

Doc

I'm no professional, that's for sure, but I have a bit of practice.
I've been leery of welding cast because I've always been told it
needs to be pre-heated in order to not crack next to the weld.
Either way, it has to come off the tractor to weld.
Too close to the gas tank.
A good thought though, once I have a replacement there's
nothing stopping me from trying out the welding on this one!
Just in case some bone head backs it into a garage door 3 working
days before the tractor show!

Royce, we need more people like you. Around here very few neighbors take time to help out. They're friendly but they just won't take the time from their supposedly busy lives to stop and help.


I've broken a couple of manifolds when I put an extension on the muffler and forgot about it going back into the shed. I welded both of them and they're still holding after many years of use. One was a two banger Deere where I broke the casting off the top of the radiator. I couldn't get nickel or brazing to work so out of desperation I got out the 6011 and it welded right up. This was when I still had the old shop and the new shop was built in 1982. I guess if it hasn't broken by now it never will, unless I go under another low door. LOL Jim

True true. Amazing how true.

Good man Royce. Makes you feel good to do for someone else.

Noticed some folks who take vacations. They don't spend it to have fun, they spend it helping others. Much more relaxing and memories are truly cherishable.

I totally agree and like to help others when I can.

Mark