A day of accomplishments...

[equusmaximus]

Despite my back being so sore I could barely move, I managed to get a lot of important things done today. To wit:

• Installed "illuminated switch" in garage/barn. It gets dark in there at night, and finding the light-switch isn't always easy. I bought one of type that glows in the dark (has a little neon light inside) so we can easily find the switch.
• Installed an "in-use cover" on the electrical outlet on the side of the garage. This special weather-proof cover allows you to have a cord (or cords) plugged in, yet still have a weather-proof cover over the outlet.
• Installed electric fuel-pump onto slip-tank on truck. This is a 12-Volt pump for the 100-gallon slip-tank on the back of my pickup truck. The slip-tank is full of fuel for the various farm machinery and vehicles; the tractor, the swather, the old grain-trucks, etc.
• Re-fuelled the 1953 Chevy 3-Ton grain truck, and moved it into the machinery-storage end of the quonset. It took me a while, since it would continuously stall after about 1 minute of running. I think the fuel-system is still pretty gummed up, and at a high RPM it's trying to suck up fuel faster than it can deliver it. At an idle, it will run without a problem.
• Cleared out part of the downstairs guest-room.
• Completed the online renewal of our liquor permit for the bowling-alley. With the Christmas-Party season about to hit us, we want to make sure we can legally sell booze!

That about sums it up. That list represents about eight hours worth of work, so it's nice to be able to sit down and relax again. Tomorrow, I'll have to make a trip to Swift Current to get another heated water-bucket for the horses. PoohBear and Dirk's bucket quit working last night, so it had frozen over by morning. I could have sworn I had an extra one, but I also seem to recall taking it out and using it last winter, and I can't seem to find the spare anywhere, so I think it must have been brought into service last year. This is why it's important to have a spare around; When you need it, you need it now, not whenever you can get to the store to get a new one.

I tried going most of the day without taking a pain-killer, but by the time I had completed all the stuff on the above list (except for the online renewal) I was hurting pretty badly. Could be worse, I guess; I called my friend who had gone in for colon-cancer surgery. He got home last night, and he's recovering now. The doctors believe that they got everything, but will have to wait for the lab results to tell for sure. The important thing is that he made it through the surgery itself, now it's a matter of healing and hoping. Somehow my back doesn't seem to hurt so much when I think of what other folks are going through.