The Little Red Wagon

I remember several years ago driving to Camp Edgewood to pick up Benjamin from Boy Scout Camp.  It was hot.  We ate a meal in the un-air-conditioned mess hall and then the scouts swept and cleaned everything up.  Despite the heat and after sleeping in tents with mosquitoes for a week, the boys were all in great spirits.  I don't know if I ever saw Benjamin smile that much.  He had a blast at summer camp and learned a lot, too.

They began singing camp songs with hand motions with all joining in in unison. One of them was called "You can't ride in my little red wagon" and it went like this:

You can't ride in my little red wagon

The front wheel's broken and the axle's draggin'

You can't ride in my little red wagon anymore today HA HA HA!!

2nd verse same as the 1st but a whole lot louder and a whole lot worse!!

In fact, Miranda Lambert has a country song out right now that references that camp song.  Perhaps you've heard it or sang the song yourself at a summer camp.

Well, I had that camp song stuck in my head when the lyrics became reality this week.  We have a red utility wagon that was given to me by my neighbor about 12 years ago.  It has performed its job admirably over the years.  I cannot even begin to tell you how many loads of sticks, leaves, grass, hay and dirt this wagon has hauled.

The left front wheel finally gave out and broke on me.  It had been patched numerous times until no more patching would work.  I needed a new wheel and like the song the front wheel was broken and the axle, as you can see below, was dragging!

You can't ride in my little red wagon

It was a simple fix, though.  I pulled the cotter pin out with a pair of pliers, and pulled the wheel off.

A quick trip to Harbor Freight to purchase a new wheel, install it, grease it up, and I was back in business.

That enabled me to load it up with hay and get our job done.

The little red wagon's axle's not draggin' anymore.

We don't have much in the way of equipment, but little maintenance jobs to keep everything operating are always on-going.  So much so, that we must prioritize to determine which projects we'll undertake each week with limited time and budget. I'm sure you know how that goes!  Keeping things in good repair and running is very important.  You can't haul hay if your axle's dragging. 

Quick Fix for a Dragging Gate

Do you ever have a few annoying things that you keep meaning to get done, but they are low priority items and never get scratched off the list?  I do.  Today was a day for taking care of a few odds and ends like this that I wanted to fix.  The 12 foot gate leading into the pasture has sagged over the years.  Now when I open it to bring the round bales to the cows, it drags in the dirt.  I have to pick it up when pushing it or it digs a trench in the ground and is difficult to open.

Digging a trench

Should be an easy fix.  I had an old wheel in a box in the barn that was going to fix the dragging gate problem.

Wheel for the Gate

After putting the gate up on a brick and measuring exactly where the wheel needed to go, I used my drill to drill a hole in the pipe frame of the gate.

Drilling

For the gate wheel's axle, I used a long bolt with washers and a nut.  I ran the bolt through the wheel and then on through the hole I had drilled in the gate frame and tightened the nut.

Tightening it down

And that's all there is to it.  Now instead of lifting and pushing and struggling with the gate, all I have to to is give it a little kick and it glides open.

The new wheeled gate

Ah, the simple little things that make life easier.