June 2012 – Profnohair's Home on the Web

I made out like a fat cat on Father’s Day

Father’s Day 2012 will go down in the books as the best Father’s Day ever. I had the family over and got loaded down with presents. I got a new seat for the tractor, a new sun shade for the tractor and a deep-sea fishing trip in Destin, Florida with my son. I was totally blown away by all of this. I had no idea that they even knew I needed the seat and as for the sunshade, I didn’t even think of needing it until Saturday when I bush-hogged 4 acres in the sun.

Thanks to my kids and my beautiful wife for everything.

Tractor Time Finally

I went straight to the land from work and on the way, there were a few rain drops but not bad. I got to the land and it was not raining. I got on the tractor and proceeded to do the three things I wanted to do before removing the backhoe from the tractor. I yanked a grounding rod out of the ground that was a trip / lawnmower snag hazard in the front yard. The FEL (front end loader for you city slickers) made small work of that job. Then i proceeded to try to find (in the un-mowed tall grass) a marker that I had planted that had something that needed to be dug out. I do not even remember what it was that needs to be dug out. I never located that so I went on to job number three. Locating a 10 or so foot long electrical pole that was lying in the tall grass. I originally found it by accident when I rolled over it while bush hogging with the Kubota tractor. I wrapped the chain around the pole and lifted it with the FEL and drove off to the trash pile. Well that was fine until I tried to cross a flooded spot in the field and the backhoe stabilizers got stuck in the mud and stopped the tractor. I tried to use the differential lock to no avail to go forward and backwards. I tried to use the backhoe to pull myself out but the backhoe is made for digging, not for lifting a tractor that just the tires weigh about 800 pounds. I finally called in experience backup, an Operating Engineer named Ray. Not only is he an equipment operator but he also has a tractor so he has lots of experience in this sort of thing. Ray used the backhoe stabilizers to raise the wheels above the ground and we laid several layers of 2×6’s under the tires and set it back down on top of them. Between Ray’s truck and the differential lock, it rolled right out of the hole. At least I now have an idea of what to do next time. And believe you me, there will most definitely be a next time! Pictures to come later.

Disappointed

The tractor was delivered to the land last Monday. All week I was looking forward to getting on it and digging some holes, etc. Well the weather had other plans. On Friday I left work in New Orleans with a clear sunny sky. When I got to the middle of the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway that all changed. It rained the entire rest of the way to the land. But it was probably karma that caused it. You see, I had to be a SA and call my co-worker and tease her that I was off and she was still working (only to be informed that she was knocked off also). There I was in the pouring down rain with a vinyl sign over my head attempting to stay dry and checking out the tractor. I may have mentioned that it needs a new seat or should I say it needs a seat. All that is there is the old plastic subframe that is in a honeycomb pattern. This happens to hold water. So as you can imagine I got a wet ass. Not a comfortable feeling when wearing jeans. I played with the front end loader a little but I was too uncomfortable to have a good time. I put on my pouting lip and drove home in the rain. As Saturday and Sunday’s forecast was 50-70% rain, I did not even attempt to go back to the property over the weekend. It was a good call after looking at the rainfall totals.

There is always next weekend. I hope it turns out better.

Profnohair

Well, I did it

I went ahead and bought the Mahindra tractor. I think I got a good deal on it. It is a little faded it runs great. And I can really use the backhoe and front end loader on the land.

Profnohair