The Elysian Fields

Given that it was such a nice spring day yesterday, I did the only sensible thing I could: put the kids to work hauling stones! We're pilfering rocks from across the street, and we need to get done before Fred puts the place up for sale. The stones are going to the banks of Rachel River, the Stone Stream, the front walk, or the foundation border, depending on size and shape.

Justin was zipping back and forth with a wheelbarrow full, and ran into some trouble when he tried to run up a short but steep rocky slope with a bit too much zip, and zapped the tubeless tire left and/or right, which allowed the air to run off and play elsewhere. Attempts to fill the tire with air failed, as there was always enough space somewhere between bead and rim for the air to go its own way.

Today, I used that extremely effective home repair tool (Google) to discover a lot of very negative bits and pieces about tubeless tires, such as this: "do yourself a favor and do not even try to replace the tire without buying a inner tube for it." Unfortunately, solutions like that, or the even more helpful "buy a new wheel" involve time and money, and I wasn't in the mood to spend much of either one or the other.

And then, one googleitem away from the previously mentioned bit of "Shared Knowledge", I found this gem, which advised using a ratcheting nylon cargo strap. Of course, that would also require a trip to the store and money spent because I don't have any hanging around - although I will get one at some future time, as chance allows. Always thought one would come in handy, and have made heavy use of them when toting stuff around in my brother-in-law's pickup truck. Guess I figured the pickup truck would have to come before the accessories did, or something, because I never picked one up.

A belt, however, might just do the trick.

Now, considering I'm not as slim around the waist as I once was, I figured maybe one of Justin's belts would be a better fit, so I sent him searching. He has none. Rachel grabbed one of hers, a bright pink thing she didn't really care for that much. It reached about a quarter of the way around. Now I have one belt, and it's for work use - namely because a belt is one of the items specified as required for our business casual dress code. Didn't really want to wrap it around a dirty wheelbarrow tire, not that I thought it would fit without punching a new hole halfway around it.

Well, I'm apparently as slim as a wheelbarrow tire, slimmer, really, because we could barely get the belt tightened to the first setting. But, hey, the tire took air, filled to the appropriate PSI, and we're done.

Except a belt isn't quite as handy as a ratcheting cargo strap with a quick release mechanism, because, well, a belt requires a bit of a squeeze to release it. With a full amount of air trapped within, the tire doesn't leave much room for squeezes, and with less than an inch of belt hanging out, there's not much to yank on and get any leverage. I was able to slide the belt off the tire on the opposite side of the buckle, and then that left quite enough slack for the buckle to be removed.

Job done, no money spent, and no tubeless tire and possibly accompanying wheel sent to the landfill after a few short years of service.

Now, after we get Brandon off to nap time, we can haul some more rocks, as it is yet another gorgeous spring day!