Well, after an entire fall and winter (and part of the preceding summer, now that I think of it) in the barn doing nothing but collecting dust, I decided to move the tractor (it needs a good name).

For a while it just cranked. Then, suddenly, it continued to just crank. (At least I know my new battery and starter work. Finally, with some persuasion, coercion, some fancy work with the choke and only a small amount of grumbling, it reluctantly gave up the fight and fired up. It wasn't happy about it, though, and it told me so in no uncertain terms. It sputtered and coughed like it had emphysema for the first minute or so, but it finally got the cobwebs cleared out of it's system enough to run fairly smoothly. At least I was able to move it out of the barn where I'll be able to see a little better to work on it. Hopefully the rain we're supposed to get this evening will wash it off as well.

I promise to get some pictures of it posted soon.