And it’s so tiny and cute.

Just look at that little thing! I absolutely HAD to put it next to the big one before using it, to get a picture.

It’s a good thing I called ahead to see if any were in stock, and have it set aside, because there were only two left, and by the time we got to the store, in a small city about 45 minutes drive away, we got the only one left. I’d hoped to find one at a local (ish) hardware store but, not only were they out of stock, so was every other store the guy looked up for me! Thankfully, I was able to find one in another franchise, even if it meant an unplanned, longer drive.

But more on that later…

The plan had been to call the small engine shop yesterday, to see if they’d had any luck finding a carburetor yet. Instead, we ended up rearranging furniture the living room.

My husband spends most of his time in two places. One is the bedroom that used to be my office. It has room for his hospital bed, his tiny fridge for his medications and water bottles, an end table for his CPAP and a wardrobe for his clothes. That’s about all there is room for. Which means he spends the bulk of his time in the living room (at least until his back forces him to lie down again). There, he set up his laptop (we have yet to be able to replace his desktop, that died immediately after the move), hooked up to a monitor, plus the wide screen TV that was one of the things already here before we moved in, so he can switch from one to the other. The couch was set up close to the TV and monitor, so he could read either screen more easily. Adding in small table and shelf, he also has space to do things like sort his medications into their daily doses, work on a para-cord loom that I got for him, or just be able to adjust for his back pain, which he can’t do on a regular chair.

There was only one major problem with this setup.

The sun.

One of the things I love about living in such isolation is, no need for curtains to maintain privacy. However, this means that the morning sun, for about 6 or 7 months out of the year, shines through the window directly onto both the TV and monitor, making it impossible to use either. At one point, we did rig up a sheet to cover just part of the window, to shade the monitors, but he kept having to move it further and further out, until it was starting to block the camera on its tripod. Which didn’t matter in the end, because the cats pulled it down. With the way the furniture was set up, it was difficult to access the window to put it back

After thinking about it for a while, we decided the best way to solve the problem was to shift everything 90 degrees. With the TV in the corner against the same wall as the big picture windows, there is no way the sun can shine on it. The shelf with the monitor got moved against the wall the TV was at, but since the couch is now facing the wall with the windows, the monitor is now angled in such a way that the sun can’t hit the screen.

The down side is, the sun is now full in my husband’s face in the mornings, but he just wears a hat with a brim until it moves.

I’m not actually finished with the living room yet; just the corner my husband needs. Getting it done meant moving things in stages, until we could take the couch out completely. Which was good, really, since it allowed me to vacuum in areas I couldn’t get at, before – and pick up stuff the cats knocked over, that couldn’t be reached. The empty 90 gallon tank on its stand had to be moved, as did the big umbrella tree, which gave me the opportunity to give it a good pruning. It was getting very leggy.

We had to shift a few other things, too, and still need to figure out where to put some things. Even my crochet corner will need some re-arranging.

I’m rather liking the new set up. We’re able to move some plants closer to the window – sadly, it looks like my avocado has died, but I’ve got two more pits starting. The tripod got shifted a bit, too, and I think it’ll be a better angle now. When I finally finish with it, the whole room is going to feel much more open.

Finishing this was my tentative plan for today, but since rearranging furniture meant I completely forgot to call the small engine shop, I wanted to do that first.

He tells me the only places he’s been able to find such an old part is in the US. A new carburetor would normally put me about anywhere from $20-$35, normally. However, getting one shipped in from the US would end up costing me a total of around $150. That’s just for the part, not the installation.

So I told him we would wait on it, and get it fixed over the summer.

I still plan to eventually bring over some push mowers for them to look at and see if I can get at least one fixed and working! Then, at some point, there is a collection of tillers I’d like them to check out.

Hopefully, by then, we’ll have acquired a small trailer and gotten a trailer hitch installed on our van. I’ve been looking at some in the size that would be most useful for us – about 4’x5′ for the smallest I’d go for, to 5’x7′, at the largest. The ones I looked at have gates at the back that double as ramps. At that size, I could hook it up to the riding mower to tow around the yard, as well as to the van to haul things away. A new one in those sizes, however, will cost between $1200 – $1500. There are too many things higher on the priority list, so that will wait.

Anyhow.

Once we got the new snow blower home, I just had to go out and use it! I got most of the driveway done from the garage to the road before I had to trade off with one of my daughters. It doesn’t have anything close to the power the gas snow blower has, of course, but it does the job! To get the driveway cleared wider, though, we’ll have to break it up with a shovel. The drifts are just too high for the little thing to manage.

I’m really looking forward to getting parts of the yard cleared, so we can drive the van up to the house again. Not only does it make it easier for my husband, this time of year, but also for loading and unloading the van, whether it’s coming back from our monthly shop, or getting our garbage and recycling to the dump.

Now that we have the little snow blower, though, we can work on that, little by little.

(I have since been informed that my daughters traded off using it, and have started clearing the vehicle gate into the inner yard for me. They only stopped when it got hard to see. It actually has headlights, but my daughter using it at the time didn’t know that. Also, they have christened it “Spewie.”)

Meanwhile, it’s time to painkiller up, and warm up with some blossoming tea!

The Re-Farmer