Senile Texas Aggie - comic relief for the rest of you

[Bruce]

This part looks positive:
"Last year G.E. Renewable Energy, a division of General Electric, announced that it would begin recycling the blades by shredding them into raw material for use in cement manufacturing. In the Netherlands, one city turned the old blades into a playground. Cork, Ireland, is experimenting with using retired blades to construct bridges."

Water is back on, hopefully the fix lasts this time. Hubby installed a pressure regulator that brings it from about 160 pressure down to 50.

That should fix your leak problems You don't really need or want 160 PSI anyway.

BUT you can find a small farmer or custom grower such as myself and buy half a steer, a hog or chicken slaughtered and packaged to your specifications for the freezer.

Good plan Bay. I buy my ground beef from a farming couple (in their 70's) and my non ground beef from another farm that does beef and veggies. They were a dairy farm for about the last 40 years. Both raise their animals humanely and in small quantities. I met these people at the farmer's market. Typically in the "off season" I'll go to their farms and buy a bunch of meat for my small freezer. Rib eyes tonight from Windfall Veggies and Beef and I'm NOT going to "chicken fry" them!! Green beans from Bergeron's, mashed potatoes from the grocery store Too early in the year for local potatoes. In the fall I get a 50# bag from the ground beef farmers.

The non homogenized milk I drink comes from the family owned grocery store but gets delivered a couple of times a week by the "milk maid" Her farm is all of 3 cows 2 towns over. They are doing well, only had 2 cows last year

 

[Baymule]

Yes @Bruce you can opt out of the industrial food. I’m glad you have found small farmers to buy from. My customers want to know how the meat they eat was raised and treated. They can come to the farm any time and see for themselves. They tell me that the meat I raise is better than anything they can buy at the store. I must be doing something right.

There are no hog sewage lagoons on my property. There are no dried manure dust storms, nor deep manure mud. I am careful with my tiny ecosystem. I have several types of dung beetles that break up the manure, eat it, bury it and lay their eggs in it. I’m proud of those dung beetles, they do their lowly job and the environment benefits from them. My Pig Palace with 3 big hogs doesn’t even have a smell.

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Miss @farmerjan,

This is to continue the conversation started on Mr. @Bruce's journal, specifically this post here: https://www.backyardherds.com/threads/bruces-journal.34651/post-689556

You said that you typically get over 50,000 miles on a set of tires. Having never owned a large (one ton) diesel truck before, I did not know what to expect regarding how long tires would last. I had to replace the OEM tires at 34600 miles. They had the following tread depth in 1/32" at replacement (L stands for left, R for right, F for front, I for rear inner, O for rear outer): LF: 6, RF: 5, LO: 4, LI: 3, RI: 4, RO: 7. I cannot remember if I had those tires rotated prior to replacement. After replacing them, I don't think I rotated the new tires.

The business where I purchased the replacement tires also does alignment. When I took the truck there, the owner said that diesel truck are so heavy in the front that cornering causes the front tires to wear quickly. Yet you say that you get 50,000 miles out of your tires. So I think I need to take your advice and have the alignment checked.

Thank you again for your comments.

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[Baymule]

STA we buy tires from Discount Tire and buy the road hazard too. We take the truck, F250 2094 diesel, in every 3,000 miles to have the tires rotated. Sometimes there is warranty left on the tires when they wear out, they prorate the cost of the tires and give us credit towards the new tires. There may be a Discount Tire near you, they are a good company to do business with.

 

[farmerjan]

I did not realize you had a dually truck. They are way more expensive to maintain just because you have 2 more tires that you will never need. You do not haul any heavy loads like we do... unless you have a big heavy camper trailer, you really do not need a dually and honestly, you are spending more money for fuel and everything than you will ever get use out of the truck. We have 2, 4wd F-350's that are only single rear tires and they are what we haul 90% of our trailers with. The only dually we have is also the newest truck... and it is only here because it was my father's and he wanted my DS to have it and sold it for below the book price.... he was never going to be able to drive it again... it is like a 2012 or 2016 or something... and it gets horrible mileage.... it is the "go to Sunday meeting " truck... DS won't take it off road, does not even go out in the flat hay fields... he used it to take the cattle to VT and go see my father a couple weeks ago... and fuel costs were well over $500.... totally ridiculous. It is also the "fancy model" King Ranch or something... I am not at all impressed and believe me, when I drove it to go up to my mom's funeral in June... it is not fun with road construction and tight lanes with 18 wheelers next to you.... I have no desire to drive it if I don't have to.
He likes his 1999 F-350 better, it gets 16-18 around here and closer to 20 on the road even with a load... diesel.... and I like the way it rides and handles better. I mostly prefer the 1997(?) F-250 supercab that we pull the cattle trailer with most all the time... only gets about 14 with the trailer... but the trailer is mostly loaded.... and it pulls 8-10,000 lbs of cattle plus trailer weight without a second thought.

I think that you would be better served by a slightly "lighter" truck.... and honestly unless you are pulling a big recreational trailer, you really don't need the dually or the extra expense of the tires.

Rotating the tires is important with those big trucks too.... but I would definitely have the alignment done to make sure....

And how is the water situation? Got all the problems finally fixed and everything going all right?
Are you getting rain out there? How was the hay situation with the guy who makes it? See any more "wild hogs"??? Did you ever do anything with the generator situation? Doing any more clearing through the woods? Is the pond holding up with the heat and dryness?
Guess I am being nosy... Just wondered how things were this year.

 

[Baymule]

My son has a 2019 F350 King Ranch dually. He bought a new RV trailer and needed the extra OOMPH to pull it. He used his older truck for all his running around until he rolled it a month ago. He lamented the death of the old truck, wishing it was the new one. LOL

 

[Alaskan]

Our plow truck is a huge dually... not dawning on me how often it needs new tires...

But it is most definitely not a commuter.

It handles our huge super heavy V plow, and tows whatever we need towed...

I do think the double tires in the back are a little more gentle on our very poor gravel drive

But uh.... as I have stated elsewhere we have busted the frame.... so its days as a plow truck are done.

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

STA we buy tires from Discount Tire and buy the road hazard too. We take the truck, F250 2094 diesel, in every 3,000 miles to have the tires rotated. Sometimes there is warranty left on the tires when they wear out, they prorate the cost of the tires and give us credit towards the new tires. There may be a Discount Tire near you, they are a good company to do business with.

I did business with Discount Tire while residing in McKinney and bought several sets of tires from them. I agree that they are a good company. But the nearest one to us here in western Arkansas is in Fort Smith, which is about 40 miles away. So I decided to buy locally this time. Maybe the brand I bought here is not as good as I could get at Discount Tire.

As to how I came to own an F350 dually diesel: earlier in 2017, after deciding to retire at the end of September of that year, my Beautiful Gal and I decided to go RVing full-time. We watched a lot of RV YouTube channels, both for those who owned class A RVs (think big Winnebagos) and those who owned other types, including 5th wheels. After what we saw, I decided we would buy a big 5th wheel, as in one 40-45 feet long. And I wanted a truck that would pull that large a trailer without giving me any problems. So in August 2017 I traded in a 2005 Ford F150 King Ranch that I had inherited from my dad (I kick myself every time I think of having gotten rid of that truck -- it only had 50,000 miles on it and was in really great shape).

When I retired at the end of September 2017, we moved out of the house and put the house on the market, moving into a small house on my younger sister's place out in the country while we waited for the house to sell. The house was slow to sell, so my Beautiful Gal and I had plenty of time to rethink our commitment to going RVing. After watching more RV YouTube channels, we decided that full-time RVing was not for us. So ever since that time we have owned a big honking truck that we have not needed (except for only a few occasions), and incurring the expense of ownership. But it is paid for and I am slow to do anything about selling it.

And how is the water situation? Got all the problems finally fixed and everything going all right?
Are you getting rain out there? How was the hay situation with the guy who makes it? See any more "wild hogs"??? Did you ever do anything with the generator situation? Doing any more clearing through the woods? Is the pond holding up with the heat and dryness?
Guess I am being nosy... Just wondered how things were this year.

Thank you for asking, Miss @farmerjan! I don't think you are being nosy - I appreciate your curiosity. I plan to go into detail on what has happened since mid-January once I get caught up on everyone's journals, and I seem to be taking longer at that than I think it should. Having said that, here is a summary of what has happened.

We have had fairly cool and wet spring and early summer. It didn't get above 90 until in mid-June, which is unusual for here. And we have had only a couple of 100+°F days since. So overall, not too bad. We have had plenty of rain, so ponds are fairly full. The hay baling guy is getting good (not great) production this year. Neither he nor I have fertilized the pastures, so that is not surprising, I reckon.

The water line started leaking again in February. I rented a mini-excavator again, and again the leaks kept growing. Finally I decided to hire a plumbing company to make the repairs. I am glad I did. It turned out that the plumbing guy resides on the ridge overlooking our house. He got rid of the PVC piping I was using and used a long roll of PEX tubing. He repaired it in such a way that I think that I will no longer have any problems with the water line in that area. (Of course, the water line could still decide to break some other place.)

I have had numerous problems with my new tractor. I intend to detail that later. I just wish I had my old New Holland tractor back and the money I paid for the new tractor in the bank.

More later.

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[farmerjan]

Well, I fully understand why you got the truck since your goal was a big fifth wheel. That is why my father got his... they had a big trailer and did use it some but it sat alot too. My mom's health declined alot faster after he retired... which he kept saying he was going to do and SHOULD HAVE DONE sooner than he did....but that is another situation.... but he had the truck and trailer and then when she started to really get the dementia... then he had the stroke 2 years ago and she was past being able to go anywhere... so he made the decision to sell the trailer and truck... Was going to try to sell them together, but someone wanted the trailer so then he offered the truck to my DS... and he felt a little obligated to buy it at the price.... I think he now wished he didn't have it. But that is because he just finally closed on the "home farm" the one where we have all the barns and facilities that we have been renting from the friend's widow for several years.... and the payments are going to be a little tough... BUT.... if we didn't get the farm we would have had to totally change our operation and go back to just a small, hobby type.... and everything would have been difficult with no facilities to move cattle to and work them through the barn/chute/facilities.... that is why we got bigger... to be able to utilize this place when our friend got cancer and then passed away.... we did all his work for the last 2 years when he was getting worse; then rented it .... then she decided to sell it instead of selling her house... which she wanted to do but she wanted too much and it wasn't selling and he left her with a mortgage on it so she wanted to get out from under and her kids would never be able to even buy a part of it...

Anyway, that truck is not necessary to us and I think he is having some 2nd thoughts.... it might go up for sale at some point.... but he is not inclined to do it soon since my dad sold it to him... family dynamics you know....

Sooooo, too bad you sold the other one.. but I get the reasoning...and it is done and over...maybe start looking for a smaller one... a good newer used one....

Sorry the tractor is not working out like you wanted... seems like there is always something....
Glad you have not been suffering with he//acious hot temps either...
We are just praying for some real decent soaking rain here... we are in a moderate to severe drought in this part of Va... east is getting some rain, the coast is wet..... but it goes around or we got "pop up" rain that drops a tenth to 2 inches all according and is very spotty.....
You take it as it comes...

 

[Ridgetop]

He likes his 1999 F-350 better, it gets 16-18 around here and closer to 20 on the road even with a load... diesel.... and I like the way it rides and handles better.

We have a 1999 (first year of new body style) F 350 diesel as well. We also love it. Almost 300,000 miles and still purring along. We do have the dual rear wheels though. When we were ordering it the person we were buying a 12' Lance camper from told us that his friend had rolled two single rear wheel trucks and campers while towing a boat.

One thing about tires DH says the tires they are making now are not wearing as well as the tires they made 10 years ago. He used to get a lot of miles on the older tires but now he is having to replace them sooner. Even with frequent alignments.

About the duals - Since I was going to be driving up and down the state hauling our kids, the camper, and a 16' stock trailer full of dairy goats, as well as other livestock, we looked at each other and changed the order to duals. The thought of blood and guts spread over the highway did not appeal to me. I was doubly glad when, before we picked up the new truck, I was driving home from Riverside with a friend whose goat we had just taken to the breeder and passed a truck and horse trailer on its side with the horse still inside it. Luckily only one horse in the 2 horse trailer and it was still alive. The police, ambulance, and wrecker were there with the owner (freaking out). I think they were waiting for the vet to come and tranq the horse (who was not a happy passenger) so they could pull it out of the trailer before trying to get the trailer and truck upright. I just kept thinking that the duals would give us more stability on the road.

We eventually bought a 30' 5th wheel trailer and have had rear tires blow out without any problems. So although it eats a bit ore gas than the single rear wheel, the 1999 diesel still gets pretty good gas mieage We get between 10 and 212 miles hauling the 5th wheel. I got 12-14 mpg with the camper and stock trailer. We get 14 mpg easily without a load around town and can get up to 16 on highway miles.