During long weekends we prefer to stay off the busy roads and instead stay close to home. The extended time off is a wonderful opportunity to catch up on jobs around the house. My list of things to do was long. One of the many chores on my list was the front gate. It had been acting up and so I replaced one of the mechanical openers. It worked fine the twenty times I tested it. But as soon as I turned my back it acted up once more. After much testing and a close inspection I determined the fault was one of the hinges. I dragged out the welder, cables and tools to the front yard and cut off the top hinge on one side and welded in a new one. It swung perfectly fine by hand and during extensive testing it never failed. I congratulated myself on a job well done and then put all of the tools back in the shop. But when Becke dropped in last night to feed the horses the gate acted up once more. This morning I dragged the welder, cables and tools out to the front once more and replaced the remaining hinges. One hinge indeed did prove to be stiff when I tested it after I cut it off. The gate now worked perfectly every time I tested it (and it got a real workout this time). With the long, long weekend now pretty much behind us so too hopefully are the gate troubles. :)
