Senile Texas Aggie - comic relief for the rest of you

[farmerjan]

Agree with @Ridgetop on the possible trade in of the smaller trailer.... used "everything" is bringing more money now than ever imagined.... it might be worth your time on an already planned trip into town to see about it.

I think her advice on the whole medical payment situation is very good. I have never had to go that route so don't know the steps. But I have also learned to make sure that I document every thing and with transaction numbers and all.
If you read my thread about the real estate taxes screwup.... and if not for the previous owner of this house and his paying of his taxes and figuring out there was a screwup... I would have been held liable for the wrong taxes being paid and had to pay a penalty and all that. I called and documented everything... and the banker was the one that found out about the screwup in the actual deed with the plat numbers.... and all that. Because I had no idea of that sort of stuff.... and no way to know what i was looking at and what was right or not. I sure learned in a hurry. And has made me more determined than ever to get the taxes and insurance taken off my payment and not put into escrow like I had to do with the initial mortgage. They said I could revisit it after I was making the payment for at least a year.... and I intend to push the issue so that I can pay it myself and not depend on anyone else. I have a separate checking account that I put money into to just pay the mortgage.... and would keep it to pay the mortgage, taxes and insurance on the house...but I want to control the payments.... not the mtg company having the escrow account. Checking account is free, no service charges...so it is dedicated to just that. My "normal" checking account, at my credit union, pays interest... so I want to keep the money in that account as much and as long as I can to earn what little interest=free money that I can. That is my plan....

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

All,

Thanks, everyone, for all of your ideas. My current plan is to talk to my bank's branch manager and see what they can do with the disbursing company. After all, the disbursing company may be slow to respond to the lady at the bank who is currently helping me because she is a low-ranking employee. But maybe the branch manager can get a quicker response from the disbursing company.

Regarding the Kioti, please don't let my experience scare you away from the brand. Kapper Outdoors (YouTube channel) has the same model of Kioti, RX-7320, as I do. He bought his about 2 weeks before I did, and he has not had any problems with his in the year he has owned it.

I would encourage anyone considering buying a Kioti that they make sure that everything fits the way they want it to fit. In fact, while I may go into greater detail in a later post, here is my biggest gripe I have with the tractor: the front end loader (FEL) and the way that the face plate of the quick attach tilts. The FEL face plate tilts downward more than my New Holland did. The bucket on the Kioti is made in such a way that it is level when the face plate is half way between fully curled up and fully dumped down. Whenever I attach something else, such as my grapple, my pallet forks, my tree shear (*), etc., it tilts downward about 30°. I then must use a good portion of the range of the curl to make the attachment level. Usually this is not a big deal but sometimes it is. For example, I can no longer reach as high with my tree shear to cut limbs as I could with my New Holland. And since the Kioti's FEL is self leveling, then raising up the FEL does not change the pitch of the attachment. Sometimes this is good, such as when I have a load on my pallet forks and want to raise or lower the FEL, the pallet forks stay level during movement. But if I want to reach up high with my tree shear, then having a self-leveling feature hurts using it. Because of the lower reach I have quit using my tree shear, since I can use a pole saw about as easily.

Senile Texas Aggie

(*) The tree shear I have is the one I bought from Tractor Mike after he demonstrated it on his YouTube channel. I used the tree shear a good bit when I had my New Holland but hardly any now with my Kioti. You can see the tree shear at this link: https://asktractormike.com/product/hy-reach-mini-clip-tree-shear/

 

[Ridgetop]

I don't think DS3 has had any problems yet with his Kioti. He has all the attachments from his Farmall and uses the on the Kioti. DH will be getting expert advice from BJ when buying his tractor in Texas. Baymule and I will keep hold of the check book just in case they get too excited!

BTW we watched "Clarkson's Farm" as recommended by MikeCHS. The first episode is about buying a tractor. If you can get it on Prime be sure to watch it! He buys a Lamborghini tractor that is enormous! He boasts that it has 40 forward speeds and 40 reverse speeds as well as more buttons and switches than you can ever figure out. It won't fit in the barn. When the experienced farm people he calls out to help him ask why he bought such a massive machine he says "But it's a Lamborghini!"

It also has the wrong hitch for his British attachments since he ordered it from Germany! Then he has to buy all the implements he will need to work his farm. When an experienced farmer asks him what seed drill he bought he says "It's a red one - or maybe orange, orangey-red?" Oh yes, and the instructions are all in German and French!

In the next episode he goes into "sheeping". Can't wait to watch more. Thanks Mike for recommending this show to us. Too funny!

 

[Bruce]

when I get the tractor serviced at the dealer, I have to drive the tractor to the dealer (about 6 miles away)

At least it is driving distance. My dealer is 25-30 miles away so if the machine needs work I have to pay for them to transport it.

Well, the biggest objection is the trailers that are big enough to haul my tractor cost at least $5000.

You can drive 6 miles one way a LOT of times for $5000! Maybe you could tow the Gator with the tractor, in neutral of course.

but I need some advice and need to describe the situation.

I don't think at this point a lawyer is practical

Not at the prices they charge, that $500 would be spent before the lawyer finished contacting all the parties involved.

Failing that, can the bank reverse the ACH and then you can write a check instead?

He tried that.

I like Ridgetop's suggestions, I've not had to deal with a similar situation but she's got a solid sounding plan.

but I think our bank sends out a paper check of some sort instead of it going straight into their bank.

My credit union usually does "bank to bank" transfers though one monthly repeating payment does go out as a check.

And since the Kioti's FEL is self leveling,

Which is your problem as Tractor Time with Tim has determined. Apparently self levelling is great .... only when using pallet forks. Too bad they can't be self levelling only when you want them to be.

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Which is your problem as Tractor Time with Tim has determined. Apparently self levelling is great .... only when using pallet forks.

Mr. @Bruce, do you remember which of his videos discussed self leveling FELs? I don't often watch Tractor Tim with Tim, so I have not seen it.

Also, when you put in an electrical power post for your Leaf, did you describe in detail how you did it? I remember reading about it on your journal, but I don't remember how much detail you provided. I ask because we had poured a 20'x20' patio and we installed on the patio a 11'x11' gazebo. (I plan to document what we did later.) But now we need electrical power to the gazebo. Currently we are running an extension cord to the gazebo, but that is not very workable whenever it rains. I am considering running an underground electrical line inside conduit to the patio but would like to read and watch descriptions of it being done.

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[Ridgetop]

Underground is the way to go. Be sure to use the correct heavy gray PVC conduit for electrical lines.

 

[Grizzlyhackle]

I don't think DS3 has had any problems yet with his Kioti. He has all the attachments from his Farmall and uses the on the Kioti. DH will be getting expert advice from BJ when buying his tractor in Texas. Baymule and I will keep hold of the check book just in case they get too excited!

BTW we watched "Clarkson's Farm" as recommended by MikeCHS. The first episode is about buying a tractor. If you can get it on Prime be sure to watch it! He buys a Lamborghini tractor that is enormous! He boasts that it has 40 forward speeds and 40 reverse speeds as well as more buttons and switches than you can ever figure out. It won't fit in the barn. When the experienced farm people he calls out to help him ask why he bought such a massive machine he says "But it's a Lamborghini!"

It also has the wrong hitch for his British attachments since he ordered it from Germany! Then he has to buy all the implements he will need to work his farm. When an experienced farmer asks him what seed drill he bought he says "It's a red one - or maybe orange, orangey-red?" Oh yes, and the instructions are all in German and French!

In the next episode he goes into "sheeping". Can't wait to watch more. Thanks Mike for recommending this show to us. Too funny!

I've watched the whole season it keeps getting better. Thought about watching again from the beginning. Shows definitely a riot.

 

[Ridgetop]

I like to see mistakes we made starting out and mistakes I will not make in future having seen his experiences!

 

[Bruce]

Mr. @Bruce, do you remember which of his videos discussed self leveling FELs? I don't often watch Tractor Tim with Tim, so I have not seen it.

He's mentioned it more recently as well

Also, when you put in an electrical power post for your Leaf, did you describe in detail how you did it? I remember reading about it on your journal, but I don't remember how much detail you provided.

Heck if I remember! I think I did put in a fair amount of info. That would be back in August or September.

Short review.

• Dig a trench with your backhoe (which I don't think you have ). MINIMUM 18" deep for ELECTRICAL conduit, do NOT use regular PVC pipe. They do make direct bury wire but I wanted more protection.
• I used 6 gauge wire due to the distance (80') and Amp draw. You wouldn't need anything that big for normal 120V use. But check the charts for wire size and distance so you don't get voltage drop.
• I ran the wire through the conduit prior to gluing the conduit connections. 6 gauge wire isn't all that flexible!! which is why I went with individual conductors in the conduit. If you can do 12 gauge you probably don't need individual conductors and can run directly to the service panel from the outlet at the gazebo.
• They make 90° fittings that open on the back for running the wire into the house.
• May not be as important there but you might want a frost sleeve where the wire goes down and comes up from underground.
• I ran the individual 6 gauge wires to a junction box in the crawl space and connected a 3 wire (no common) 6 gauge from there to the service panel.

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Thanks, Mr. @Bruce, for the video post by Tractor Time with Tim. I watched that one and the ones following it that discussed self leveling loaders. A lot of what he described definitely fit my experience.

Thanks to you and Miss @Ridgetop for your inputs on installing underground electrical lines. I am watching several YouTube videos on installing underground electrical power lines and hope to get started soon. We are starting a period of several hot days in a row -- upper 90s °F (upper 30s °C) -- so I may wait for cooler weather.

The fun dispute with the medical company and the bank continues. I am now awaiting for a copy of a cancelled check from the disbursement company the bank uses to pay out funds.

Senile Texas Aggie