Cliff's latest project... and a project for me, if I'm capable

Since Cliff sold that tractor that went to Africa, his tractor fund bank account was looking much healthier, until he went looking for a bat-wing mower.  He told me his original plan was to sell that Ford tractor, then look for the kind of mower he wanted.  He found one for a reasonable price: one that worked, for the most part, but had seen better days.  I love how excited he gets when presented with a new project, and often wish I could be that enthusiastic about something.  Without further ado, here it is.  Please hold your applause.

Those wings will be let down in the pasture when it's time to mow.  Probably my readers knew that, since you'll see this type of mower at work along roads and highways.

I didn't ask, but I think he's sharpening the blade here.  After spending his usual two hours on the computer, he went straight to the shop and went to work.  That's probably where he'll spend most of today.  He intends to replace several seals that leak.  "It'll work the way it is," he said, "but I like to fix the leaks."

I think there is some potential for him to make money on this thing, although he says he plans to use it around here.  Notice I'm not mentioning what he paid for it.  Last time I did that, he was a little peeved, thinking it might make it harder to sell if people knew how little he paid for it.  I reminded him that it isn't usually readers of my blog who look for tractors and machinery on Craigslist.  

And now, my "project".  I used to write songs and poems all the time.  I think I lost interest when I realized I had nobody to sing with and nowhere to sing, so what's the use bothering?  You know, if a tree falls in the woods and nobody is around to hear it, did it make a sound?  It works the same with being a solitary singer.  

After a dry spell of many years, a gal who graduated with my daughter called saying she found a song her husband had written, and wondered if I could do something with it, maybe finish it.  Sherri recalled how I used to make up songs when she and Rachel were younger.  I told her I didn't write songs any more and was pretty sure I couldn't help her, but she was free to bring the words by so I could look at them.  

As it turns out, it really wasn't so much a song as just random lines written down by Jim's (her husband) longtime best friend:  Experiences they'd had together, etc.  There was no rhyme, no meter.  Out of practice as I was, I figured it was an impossible task.  But folks, I somehow got a pretty decent song out of it.  I don't even have a copy of the words, as far as I know, but he did get to sing the song for his friend.  

So yesterday Jim came by with more words written on a sheet of paper.  Once again, I don't see myself turning this thing into a song; not that anything is wrong with his words, but I've lost my mojo.  My give-a-darn's busted.  My guitar's out of tune and needs new strings put on, and I'm too lazy to even fix that!  I told him I hadn't written any songs since I did the other one for him four or five years ago.  He told me "That's fine.  If you can't, you can't."  

It makes me sort of sad to remember how I used to do poems and songs for people regularly.  One year I did two poems for graduating seniors here, and one turned into a song.  A lady I attended church with in the 90's asked me to write a poem for a friend who was moving away:  that became a song and provided lots of laughs for the people who would miss her (Edie was her name).  Usually I wrote these kinds of poems and songs about somebody I didn't personally know, so I'd tell the person making the request to write everything she could think of about that individual.  I'd tell them to write a lot, because I'd be sifting through, picking and choosing what rhymed and sounded best.  

Yeah.  I'll bet if I refused to allow myself any computer time until I finished a song, my Muse would suddenly appear.

So apparently I just don't WANT to write a song very much.  

Have yourself a great day out there!  Here in Missouri it was 50 degrees when I got up, and we're going for a high temperature of 74.  I love it!