Coffee anyone ?

[promiseacres]

@farmerjan those do sound confusing. Our alis has two extra steps, turning on the fuel and the battery has a switch too. He had issues with both and added those steps. But it's a gas so no steps like you said. But sure takes a lot of fuel. Our other running tractor is diesel. Just needs the pto fixed.

 

[farmerjan]

Our old Farmall H, we turn off the fuel. A little thing that is set right in the fuel line at the old fuel bowl.... that was before they put fuel filters on the lines. Any impurities that came down the line ( it is gravity from the fuel tank) settles into the bottom of the glass fuel bowl, and you just turn off the fuel line and unclip the bowl and dump it with any impurities...holds about 2-3 oz. maybe.... they settle out before they get into the engine. We also have a small leak, and requires we take the line off, and it will be a big enough job that we just make do right now, by simply turning off the fuel (gas) from the tank when we are not running it. It doesn't leak when it is running.
A fuel filter was designed due to the fuel being "forced" into the engine because now there is a fuel PUMP..... more pressure, I guess more HP whatever.... but any engine with a fuel pump of any kind, has a fuel filter.
If there is a small drain on the battery, many people put in a switch to "turn off" the juice from the battery to the rest of the tractor. I actually have one on my little ranger 4x4. Mechanic put it in, inside the truck, to turn off the current to the truck because we couldn't find what was causing the battery to go dead. Something has an electrical drain.... so easier to just put in the switch. Anyone who wanted to steal it wouldn't know how to get it started if they didn't know about a battery switch. I don't turn if off during the day if I am in and out of the truck.... but I don't park it and leave it on as there is something somewhere that is a "slow drain".... takes a few days to draw down the battery.... so not a big deal. A whole lot less expensive than tearing all the wiring out at least on the truck. I certainly can deal with that.

Fixing a pto can be very expensive sometimes. Hope you can get by without a major deal, but many times that involves taking apart the transmission.....

 

[promiseacres]

@farmerjan I am not sure about the pto but since DH is the best tractor mechanic I know (probably in the county) he knows what it'll need. That's why we have 4 other I think only 4, nonrunning tractors... projects everywhere. I sincerely pray we can put up a good shop for him. Btw You sure know your tractors. I am impressed, as you describe both turn off valves on our tractor with my description.

 

[farmerjan]

Thanks for the compliment. I am glad that you understood what I was saying about the tractors, and the fuel shut off and the battery shut off. I have had to learn alot even though I don't know enough to take them apart, I do understand much of the basic running of them. And I like the "older tractors"... They are simpler in some ways, and I can figure them out if I take the time to think about them. The newer ones I get in and am totally lost....

My son is a good mechanic, but time is the "problem" also...projects.... he has actually sent out some of our problems lately. Since his accident, he doesn't have the same push to work on them as he used to. I think part of that is he is more often tired out from work and that is alot of "mental fatigue". He is a supervisor and 2nd in command of the VDOT headquarters where he works, and has to deal with alot of BS with the employees and with the public. Just one example... the guys were mowing the road right of ways... the sides and banks of the roads. Normal job to keep the sides of the roads from becoming jungles and to keep the growth back so you can see up and down the road, line of sight etc.. Some "angry landowner" brought in a stalk of milk weed that had been mowed down.... on state right of way.....because there are not very many places that milkweed is growing and it is the only food for the migrating Monarch butterflies..... and he had to go meet with this landowner to discuss this. OKAY I am all for trying to help different species survive.... but come on???? If he wants that bank to not be mowed by the state, so that the milkweed plants can continue to grow and feed the butterflies, then the landowner needs to PERSONALLY maintain that bank so that the line of sight is not compromised and the state doesn't have to mow it as a normal part of their roadway maintenance. But the landowner seems to think that the state guy, on the tractor, with the mower/sickle that they use on the banks, sometimes at 45 degree angles, needs to be aware of the different kinds of plants that maybe should be left to grow?????
I wish we/he/I could figure out a way for him to get out, and go on the disability that the previous dr. recommended, and then he could do some of the things that he always says there just isn't enough time in the day to do. His shop is half finished, and he just doesn't have the money to do it. And with the added stress, and costs of lawyers, fighting the B#@%H on the cell tower, he just seems to have lost some of the "heart" for farming. There is not enough money in farming for him to do it and keep his income near the level he has now, and would have to pay his own insurance and that isn't happening.... So we struggle along and try to make compromises and figure out how to do some things. The cell tower money would really help to smooth things out.....but right now it will have to be up 2 years to pay back the money and time he has put out to fight her. Still not that bad.... but wasted money and loss of income.

On that subject, she did NOT file an appeal with the board of supervisors on their ruling when they voted in our favor FOR the tower, so that is in our favor. One more "strike against her" as far as showing how vehemently she objects..... Possible start date is late winter... and she does not now have an injunction against starting the project( judge threw that out in court the last trip)... but if they come in and start the road, we figure she is going to file for a temp injunction for some reason. I'd like to win the lottery, be able to fight her in court without regard to worrying over the cost, and get a non-connected real estate agent to try to see if they would list the place and at a somewhat currently reasonable appraisal, and buy the miserable "B" out and send her packing.

 

[promiseacres]

Coffee is on. Rain and storms are predicted...I am ok with that. Highs still in the 80's.

 

[Baymule]

Coffee is on. Rain and storms are predicted...I am ok with that. Highs still in the 80's.

Sounds like a nice day to me! Thanks for the coffee. Breakfast is bacon and eggs.

 

[Mini Horses]

@farmerjan, It is difficult to WANT to continue farming when it's ALL work and no time, or money, to do it. Guess it's one of the reasons we see the small "backyard" farms....a taste of farm while we still work jobs for income. Although most of those are not on the size/level of what you and your son are doing. The majority can only handle a small herd of animals, buy hay/feed, hopefully sell enough to help offset those costs. At least that is what I see and feel. Probably why we are referred to as "homesteaders" and not "farmers". Maybe it should be "dreamsteaders"

This morning my little place is at 66 out there, humidity way lower than it has been. Once it breaks daylight I will get to doing the chores. Right now, guzzling coffee. They say it will get into very low 80s. Sounds ok to me.

Let's see --- where did I see that little wasp nest? Need to spray while cooler AM and the whole bunch are right there on it! AHHH, fix that barn door hinge, rebuild that ditch bank spot while backhoe on tractor, move goats to another pasture, move those 4 cattle panels & posts, finish the last of the wood on side of run-in, hang a gate...… look for a day to butcher these 5 young roos... guess I need to get working!

Life is good...

 

[AmberLops]

Anyone up for more coffee?
Going to be a beautiful day here! 88 degrees and sunny
Today makes 30 days since it last rained in this town! Never seen that before, every place I've lived it rained almost every day. Oh well, i'm sure stormy season will be....stormy
Have a great day everyone!

 

[MtViking]

Afternoon all, I’m gonna skip the coffee but say hello anyways. Still trying to breed the rabbits still no luck I think they’re defective got everything cleaned good anyways and putting the rabbit poop on the new garden blot on top of the cover crop we planted. It’s gonna be the best dirt around here. I’m also gonna get the new to me hutch cleaned up and ready for grow outs if my darn rabbits ever get busy. The whole “ breeding like rabbits” is starting to seem like a myth on my farm.

 

[Bruce]

The whole “ breeding like rabbits” is starting to seem like a myth on my farm.

My Dad and step-mother found that out too.

They are simpler in some ways, and I can figure them out if I take the time to think about them. The newer ones I get in and am totally lost....

True. Mine is pretty simple but it is only a 35 HP tractor. I look at the big tractors like WTFarmGirl is running or the huge ones Tractor Time With Tim's brother and nephew have and I think it would take some time to remember what all the levers and buttons do.

If he wants that bank to not be mowed by the state, so that the milkweed plants can continue to grow and feed the butterflies, then the landowner needs to PERSONALLY maintain that bank so that the line of sight is not compromised and the state doesn't have to mow it as a normal part of their roadway maintenance.

Or, they could plant a half acre of milkweed away from the road and feed a whole lot of Monarch caterpillars! Don't bitch, do something positive!