Salt and Batteries

From Jim: It just never fails that when we buy a bunch of 50 lb blocks of salt, it rains, melts some off the blocks and the rest sink in the mud. Besides being heavy, and clumsy to handle, salt blocks never last very long. We generally buy them 20 or 30 blocks at a time. This last time, it rained before I could get the dang things out of the truck. The bed is now stained a nice ugly trace mineral red with melted salt. The metal's gonna love that! It'll be time to get more salt pretty soon. It's always nearly time to get more salt. Same with batteries. I find them to be heavy and clumsy also. They don't last and when it rains, they tend to go flat and I have to jump start the tractor. Our tractor works every day, but not for more than a couple of hours. The alternator is tiny. Looks like a miniature. I suppose if you ran the tractor 12 or 15 hours a day, it might get the battery charged up, but for what we do, it's not enough. So, without a boost from the battery charger every so often, the tractor won't start. It usually chooses not the start after it's loaded with hay and in an awkward spot to reach for a jump. There's generally a quagmire of mud to wade around in. It'll be time to buy another battery pretty soon. Same with the GMC diesel. It has two big ole batteries. They're getting old, so's the truck. If I happen to let it sit for a couple of weeks, starting is no dice. This usually occurs during the rain, when the trailer is hooked up, and there's mud to wade around in. And, of course, when it's raining, I can't run a cord out to the truck and hook up the charger-Perfect. I'm thinking in a civilized world, salt and batteries would be a crime. You know, you're going along, minding your own business, getting on with your chores, and then there's this salt and battery thing facing you. It's just not right. That's pretty much all I have to say about it.