Senile Texas Aggie - comic relief for the rest of you

[Baymule]

Most of the time, if I'm not going to be using my tractor for a couple of days, I disconnect the cable from negative terminal of the battery.
IF I have an electrical problem and especially if I see smoke, I also disconnect that cable..by any means at hand, as quickly as possible, and that is usually by cutting the cable. (Battery posts and cable terminals have a bad habit of welding/melting themselves together in direct short situations.)
There have been lots and lots of tractors burn to the ground with the key off and battery fully connected.

Lighting, charging and part of the start circuits generally have at least some of their circuits "hot at all times"...meaning the positive side of the circuit is almost always energized and control of that circuit is usually accomplished via controlling it's grounding.

I never thought about the battery. Luckily cutting off the key was enough. Thanks for your input, if it ever happens again, I will durn sure disconnect the battery! I'll check my tiny tool box under the seat to make sure I have the right tool for that.

 

[farmerjan]

That's what I was thinking too.


Wasted hay.

Nope, not wasted hay....adding nutrients and organic matter for the earthworms and microbes to break down and turn into richer soil!!!!!!!!!

 

[Bruce]

Phew, Jan didn't need the antacids or have a heart attack.

 

[greybeard]

I never thought about the battery. Luckily cutting off the key was enough. Thanks for your input, if it ever happens again, I will durn sure disconnect the battery! I'll check my tiny tool box under the seat to make sure I have the right tool for that.

Make sure you understand, that battery terminal and it's bolt/nut are going to get HOT and quickly, and when you separate the 2, you will likely see some sparkin and arcin. It's why I prefer to just cut the cable.
The farther from the battery, the better, since battery gases are very explosive in nature and a battery with a big short is going to be outgassing like crazy.

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Wow! Thanks so much for these inputs. I had never thought about cutting the cable should an electrical fire break out, nor disconnecting the battery when I don't plan to use the tractor for awhile. Thanks for those recommendations.

As for carrying the tools in the bucket, I have decided the best way to deal with that is to carry them in the other traveling bucket I have, namely the cargo bed of the Gator! That way I will never run over the tools again!

As for

Dude, you missed a tree!

I'm not sure if you were commenting on the grass around the tree, or leaving the tree standing. If the grass, I had been mowed around the trees as best as I could, but by late in the day I was running low of diesel, so I decided to get the big areas first and come back and get the grass around the trees later when I got more diesel. But if you meant the tree itself, then I left the taller trees (over 15') there on purpose, as my wife and I are not exactly sure what we are going to do with the land. We don't know if we are going to keep pasture in grass or let it grow up in a planned fashion. You see, the south pasture is immediately adjacent to the Arkansas Game and Fish's Blue Mountain Wildlife Demonstration Area (the red area in the picture below, with the blue area being the south pasture). Each fall the Game and Fish folks have some hunters come into that area, where the Game and Fish release some quail and have the hunters let their dogs demonstrate their hunting skills, with the hunters using blanks in their shotguns. Well, it seems perfectly sensible to provide an area for the quail after their release. But we are not sure just what kind of habitat quail need to thrive. I figure that we can cut the grass, weeds, and briars without bad consequences -- after all, they will quickly grow back. But getting rid of the trees would be hard to undo if we wished we had some trees.

Regarding

Looks great, don't know why Jan would get heartburn from looking at the results!

I cautioned Miss @farmerjan because there was still some tall grass and weeds. I am glad to see she survived looking at that mess.

Also, I plan to post more "before" pictures of the south pasture and get feedback on what we could do with it. There are some places in the pasture where the briars are taller than the tractor. I have already had some chest high briars say hello (leaving scars and thorns as they did), so I imagine those over-head-high briars will be even more friendly!

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[greybeard]

I figure that we can cut the grass, weeds, and briars without bad consequences -- after all, they will quickly grow back.

Which , like a lawn, is the downside of mowing pastures.

I'm in a similar situation, where, straight West of my parking area, about 6 car lengths from my front steps is Sam Houston National Forest, which encompasses 160,000 acres over parts of 3 counties.
I don't worry much about whether wildlife has trees or other habitat on my property and don't feel one bit guilty about cutting down or killing off all those trees, brush and weeds.

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Regarding

I don't worry much about whether wildlife has trees or other habitat on my property and don't feel one bit guilty about cutting down or killing off all those trees, brush and weeds.

nor should you, Mr. @greybeard, sir. My wife and I spent 17 years in a master planned community in McKinney. While all of the homes and lawns were nice, and it had really nice walking paths with ponds and small lakes, it also had VERY strict covenants. I remember shortly after we moved there, we agreed to keep my wife's next older sister's miniature schnauzer for 2 weeks. The dog was small enough to easily go between the railings in the wrought iron fence at the back of the yard. So I bought at Lowe's some wooden lattice fence panels with quite small rectangles, small enough that the dog could not go through them, and wired them to the fence. In just a few days we received a notice from the home owners association telling us that we were in violation of rules and had to take the fencing down. Once that happened I vowed that I would never live in a master planned community again. That is one reason we wanted to live in the country, where my neighbors minded their business and I minded mine. We were lucky enough to get that kind of place.

One thing I forgot to mention in my previous post was that a day or so after getting the tractor, and before I took it out for the first time, I checked over everything to see if it was OK. I decided to grease all of the fittings, starting at the shredder and working my way forward. The tail wheel was easy to grease, as was the U-joint at the gear box on the shredder. But the U-joint at the PTO on the tractor was a bear to get off. I probably tried for 5 minutes trying to pull and wiggle the coupler from the fitting. I then got out my big Channel-locks to try to get it off. Nope. Finally, I was able to pry it off with a big flat blade screwdriver. So I looked on the Internet for an easy/quick connect/disconnect coupler. I saw the Lock-N-Lube and watched a YouTube video about it. It promised to be easy to connect and disconnect, so I decided to order it. When it came in, I went to the shop to try it out. The good news is that it lived up to the promise of quick connect and disconnect. The bad news? It was as effective in greasing the fitting as a garden hose would have been had I used that -- grease went everywhere around the fitting but inside it. So I switched back to the one I used before.

Senile Texas Aggie.

 

[Mini Horses]

I would suggest that backing into the really tall briars would keep them off of you, so long as you back, then forward, repeat. If a huge area, bummer. If small, I have found such methods to save me from some of the attacks.

 

[greybeard]

I would suggest that backing into the really tall briars would keep them off of you, so long as you back, then forward, repeat. If a huge area, bummer. If small, I have found such methods to save me from some of the attacks.

He does have a loader with bucket, to push the thorny stuff down as he goes into it. Do watch out for low limbs and any vines that may wreak havoc with the exhaust pipe tho.
I usually wear a hardhat when bush hogging too.

 

[Mike CHS]

When I first started cutting my fields we had met a neighbor and he said he remembered there being a ditch that was about 4 feet deep and 4 feet or so wide. He couldn't remember where exactly it was nor which direction it ran in so me and my tractor roamed that field with the loader down in float position following the ground contour until I found it.