Yesterday was a busy day for me.  The morning was quiet as I surfed the blogosphere and handled e-mail traffic.  A pot of Guatemalan coffee helped tremendously.  At least, it seemed to help.

Sylvia and I met our son for lunch in Grand Rapids.  We always look forward to those days and getting caught up on family news.

After we returned home, I donned my grubby jeans, an old sweat shirt and a work jacket then headed to the barn.  I had work to do on the generator.  For eight years whenever we lose commercial power, the generator in the barn automatically starts and cuts in.  When commercial is restored, the system switches back to it and the generator shuts down.  At least that the way it is supposed to work.

Recently, we had a power outage, which lasted about five hours.  The generator failed to function.  That was one long day.  One very long day.  On the plus side, it happened during the day, the weather was mild and Sylvia and I caught up on some reading. 🙂

The automotive battery that cranks the engine had failed.  Step one was to remove the now-dead battery.  Step two was to inspect the machine for any other parts I might need.  That done, step three was to start draining the oil from the engine.  It was time for the annual oil change.  Then Sylvia drove me into the village, and while she ran an errand, I purchased battery, oil and filter.  She arrived back at the auto parts supply emporium as I was leaving.  Perfect timing.

After returning home, I completed the oil change and started to install the new battery.  I checked the voltage before making the final connection.  It was a bit low.  I put the charger on the battery and went into the house seeking some rest for my then aching back.

After a bit of rest, it was clear that supper wouldn’t be ready for a while.  Great!  The battery had had time to charge to full level and I had time to complete the connections and wrap up the job.  I slipped the camera in my pocket and headed back to work.  Here’s what I saw as I approached the barn door.

That was interesting so I turned, and took a shot toward the setting sun.

We had enjoyed seeing blue in the sky all day long.  This week had passed for us beneath a lead-gray sky.

I stepped back in and completed the work on the generator.  This took a while, but everything worked perfectly and I took this shot just before closing the top cover.

It’s a big boy and powers our whole house.  Now that we are ready, it will probably be quite some time before there is another power outage.  And that’s okay with me.

As I returned to the house, the scene outside had changed.  The light was beginning to fail.

The smell of supper filled the house when I stepped inside.  There was time to scrub myself before we sat down to a wonderful evening meal.

It was a good day.  Sylvia had observed on our return from the village, “Living in the country like we do, it sure is good to have a reliable generator for power backup.”  I couldn’t agree more.