Frustrations and satisfaction on the farm/homestead/ranch

[Alaskajohn]

Infernal combustion engines are my frustation. The older ones are much simpler without all the electronic junk. It is best in my opinion to kerp things simple and streamlined

In the old days before all the fancy electronics, working on engines were pretty straight forward as you had easy access to most everything. I recall in the early 1980s rebuilding an engine on a mid 70s Mazda car and it was a simple task. Looking at a modern engine compartment, I wouldn’t even know how to begin a correct disassembly, let alone a correct reassembly.

 

[Alaskajohn]

I made progress in removing a pain point in fixing things in the winter with a purchase of a Dewalt 68,000 btu forced air propane heater. Not having a heated garage has always been a barrier to making repairs easier. I used it for the first time yesterday to make a much needed repair on a winch. In no time I had the winch thawed out enough to fix it. At -3 below and windy, the job would have sucked. I have no idea why I put up with those limited and crappy portable electric heaters all this time.

 

[Meerkat]

Let's face it, stuff breaks and items are always needing fixing on the farm/homestead/ranch. Needed parts are often many hours away by vehicle or days away if you are lucky enough to source them online. Often times, what breaks is an odd piece of equipment where good parts or repair manuals are hard to find at best. In my parts, winters are brutal on man and equipment making in the field repairs challenging.

Being an extremely competitive person, it frustrates me to no end when a broken item has me stumped, but I also get great sense of satisfaction when I get it fixed. Most humbling is when you have to trailer a broken item back to civilization to get something fixed. I've had to do this more than once. There is a fellow old Alaskan homesteader residing near me who has a great knack for fixing oddball items, and he has been doing this for all his life. He has a great sense and a lifetime of experience allowing him to quickly diagnose and fix something using what he has available. Unfortunately, this isn't my gift. However, the wife and I have developed a nice little process that has allowed us to overcome challenges. This typically involves me working for a few hours trying to fix something, looking at manuals, etc. if available. When I am stumped, I get the wife and explain what isn't working and what I have tried. She will then offer her suggestion and I will then argue why her idea wouldn't work. We will then split a beer looking at the broken item, and more often than not, when we are done with the beer we've figured it out. Then, frustration turns into great satisfaction and pride. One of the biggest joys living this lifestyle is solving some big problem, and seeing project through from start to completion!

I have nothing but respect for those who were able to successfully homestead back in the days before Amazon prime, online manuals, or even roads that take you to a store. Today we have it easy compared to those who did it the hard way before road, amazon, etc. That said, the satisfaction you get from overcoming some huge challenge by yourself (with an occasional great assist from the wife), even with our modern resources, provides great deal of satisfaction!

Now that you know what brings me frustrations and joy on my little spread, what are the sources of your frustrations and joy on your place?

Weather! Down here we deal with heat and humidity most of the year including winter warm spells. Today the temp is 80, several days ago it was 23.