I don't know why it is, but Jason and fuel tanks look for ways to not get along. On Tuesday he was putting more diesel in the lawnmower, using one of our brand new diesel cans that we just bought to replace our old, worn out fuel containers. I was standing there talking to him as he was pouring the diesel in the lawnmower.
We were having a friendly conversation about something unimportant when Jason suddenly started screaming expletives. Needless to say I was a bit taken aback by the abrupt change in topic and demeanor. He was screaming things out so fast it was hard for me to keep up with what he was saying but when I heard "bleeping fuel can" I looked down and realized that a vital part of the can appeared to be missing - the spout. It is now resting comfortably in the fuel tank of our lawnmower. It just fell off for no apparent reason.
Jason kept his diatribe up for quite awhile and made many interesting comments with creative uses of vocabulary. Without thinking I reminded him of the last time he had to take something apart to retrieve a foreign object from a fuel tank. Unsurprisingly the ranting continued.
The previous misadventure happened about four years ago. Jason and my dad completely dismantled the Kubota tractor so they could take the fuel tank to be professionally cleaned and sealed (this was necessitated by a bad load of diesel).
To remove the fuel tank they had to remove all the sheet metal on the front of the tractor, remove the canopy, and remove the entire dash board including the ignition assembly and lights. They got all of this done, had the tank cleaned and re-sealed, and then spent an entire day re-assembling the tractor. Amazingly they got it put back together, the tractor started on the first try and I walked up as they were telling each other how awesome they were.
At least they thought they were awesome and all done until Jason went to refuel the tractor. When he leaned over while fueling the tractor the ballpoint pen in his shirt pocket fell into the fuel tank. The mood changed in an instant and there was no more talk of awesomeness. In fact nothing much was said at all as they suddenly found themselves with a tractor that was going to have to be disassembled and reassembled again so the fuel tank could be drained and the pen fished out.
Now Jason gets to look forward to taking apart our lawnmower so he can drain the fuel tank and fish the spout out of it. Of course my dad is no longer here to help him. Which means that I am the one that will have to help. We haven't even started this project and I know one thing for certain: nothing good will come of this. Nothing.
The good news is the lawnmower has two fuel tanks so Jason turned the switch and the non-spout containing fuel tank is now in use. This means we can potentially put this off for a long time. Here's hoping.
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4 comments:
Oh boy. I'm sorry that this is somewhat funny (to me, who doesn't have to deal with any of it). They do make great blooper stories, farm style.
You have such gorgeous horses on your farm. Every one of them is a cut above :)
I've been known to get frustrated with all the new "spill-proof" contraptions on fuel cans these days!
Any way to fill the tank and "float" the spout to the top, then fish it out? Or if its steel, attach a string to a magnet? Just thinking out loud (by someone's not there)...
lol 'creative uses of vocabulary' ... fingers crossed that nothing happens to the other fuel tank!
I lost a cap down the fuel tank once too. A stream of cursing ensued.
Thought my Dad was going to be furious about having to empty and disassemble the tank to retrieve it.
Surprisingly, he said the cap wouldn't hurt anything just hanging around inside the tank.
The idea that it's rattling around in the there is pretty bothersome I guess... ;D
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