Fall Cleanup...Vehicle down

Woke to much cooler temperatures after all the rain Friday. We seem to have a cold front working it's way to our area. The morning temperature at 7:30 am was 61 degrees. We got almost two inches of rain Friday and overnight. The yard is back to standing water in several areas.

Hubby is going after a vehicle for a friend...he brought the tractor home Thursday night and took it to the back...even before the rain he left deep tracks in the yard as he drove to the back pasture. This morning, the standing water really showed the tracks as he pulled the trailer back out front.

Well, that didn't take long...just got a call from hubby...'I'm broke, bring the International'...yeah, ok...which one? Both are apart at the moment....LOL...his way of picking on me, since I broke his International the last time I brought it to rescue him. Snatched the driveshaft out of it that time. It seems his truck has popped several freeze plugs....he's known they were leaking and has been carrying water to make sure he has coolant after the truck sits. At the moment, he's letting it cool off and will be heading back to the house. Sure didn't make it very far, only about five miles from the house. Good thing he managed to get the truck and trailer back to the house...we don't have another vehicle together that will pull his trailer at the moment.

He got in and pulled the truck out back...another set of tracks across the soggy yard. We moved some other stuff around and got the truck in the 'dryer' area so he can pull the engine. Seems several of those freeze plugs are 'hidden' and a real pain to get to when the engine is still in the truck. They were just replaced about four years ago, right before he started driving that truck.
He'll be ready to pull the engine by Sunday.

While he's playing with the truck, I've been out front in the flower beds trying to get the Mexican Petunias under control again. They have just taken over everything in and around the very front of the house. The bushes that grow next to the walkway out front have gotten quite wild as well. Dragged the wheelbarrow to the front and started with the trimming of the bushes...lots of dead in all of them. Dumped two loads in the firepit and decided to start pulling the Mexican Petunias. Managed to pull two wheelbarrow loads of the petunias before dark...the front beds are looking much better. The petunias went to the firepit also. As invasive as they are, I sure don't want them in any type of compost pile.

Before I stopped for the day, I transplanted my lone tomato start over to the front bed. With the chickens being in the garden area, looks like any veggies I want over winter will be out front. The tomato was needing moved anyway as it was in too much shade under the Bottlebrush tree.

The day was pretty nice overall...the temperature hovered in the low 80's most of the day with lots of breezes to make the sunshine feel very nice.

Hubby waited til we came in and it was dark to ask about the two of us going out...seems he wanted to take me out to eat and then off to miniature golf...I declined. By the time we would have gotten cleaned up, got to a restaurant, eaten and headed on...it would have been 9 pm...just too much for me after spending the last part of the day pulling weeds. I was whipped. Besides, it's hard to justify spending so much for one meal when things are this tight. We could eat for three days on what that one meal would cost. I had made ham and potato soup Friday night and so we heated that and the cornbread for supper instead. Both of us were nodding off before the news came on at 11 pm.