rainy days

Cliff bought a very-well-used disc mower last spring.  It's much better for mowing hay than the old-time sickle mowers, but no way could we justify spending $5,000 or so for a new one.  After all, we only put up about five acres of hay, total.

So, the fellow who sold us the old mower said it was working fine when he parked it (those words always throw up a red flag to me).  Cliff got it home, started mowing our first alfalfa crop, and didn't even get across the field once before something-or-other broke on it. 

He got that fixed, and next time he used it, something else broke.  He'd had heart surgery and wasn't able to work on the thing; so he put that project on the back burner and used the trusty old sickle mower the rest of the hay season.

New parts for the old mower may as well been gold, judging by the prices.  So Cliff made some calls to tractor junk yards, looking for used parts.  Finally he found the parts he needed... a three-hour drive from here, near Nevada, Missouri.  He'd planned on going today; then he woke up to rain and couldn't decide whether he wanted to go in this kind of weather.  In fact, he didn't think he would go, and I settled in to watch "Dances With Wolves".  At 8:30, he suddenly decided we would go, and we had to leave quickly because the place closes at noon on Saturday.

I knew we'd be on the road at lunchtime, and since we're trying to lose a few pounds, eating out isn't a good option.  What could I grab quickly that would serve as lunch?

I recently read that sardines are a good choice of fish because they are low on the food chain.  So I bought a few cans, even though I've always considered them "hobo food".

I gathered up two cans of sardines, a stack of Ritz low-sodium crackers, a baggie of carrot sticks, a couple of apples and two bananas.  I iced up the small cooler and tossed in three Diet Cokes (caffeine-free, of course).  And I did this all in the space of five minutes.  With all this, PLUS putting Sadie in her  outside pen, I forgot my purse.  Thank  goodness Cliff had cash to pay for his mower parts.

I've had a cold, so I couldn't read "Cross" aloud to Cliff non-stop, but I got over halfway through it, just reading part-time.

I will tell you that sardines in mustard, on crackers, isnot a good food to eat when one is driving.  But we managed.

Cliff wants to go down to that junk yard again, just to look at stuff.  Some people get their kicks in strange ways, don't they?  However, it sounds like it might make a good motorcycle trip when the weather is nice.

Tags: tractor, junk yards, sardines, diet