3-05-2012- necessity the mother of invention

           well this tractor is kinda freak as far as i am concerned and feel that the wheels were made to roll silage in a bunker silo. i could imagine this might be a good cheap way to give you good compaction , as i dont really feel it woud be of much  use rolling asphalt as i think it would be to light. i also dont see any water tank to add water to the steel wheels to prevent sticking of hot asphalt. if you could sling a couple of saddle tanks on the side of the tractor above and it greatly increase its ability to be used as an asphalt roller. i guess i could just call jim owens and ask him but will wait till i see him as it seems like the tractor always needs something in the spring. this spring will be the hydraulic filter. it seems as if today's tractors are very dependent on hydraulics to allow them to function . from hydraulic assisted clutches to shift on the go automatic transmissions. a filter is a cheap investment in less worry for you the owner and operator of today's tractors.

         today's farmers as well as yesterdays farmers share a common trait or soon will if you are successful at what you do. farming like everything else is more expensive than ever to get into . the more you can do for yourself the better off you are. you need to be an electrician ,welder, designer , fabricator, operator , and that might get a project started. then before it is over you will surely be an accountant trying your best to justify and how to pay for that pet project of yours. so any and all hats you wear are just part of the job.

        the solo farmer is generally the rule and not the exception as you live in a rural situation and friends and family tend to get a lot of air between you. you innovate and learn to get buy. you break something , you fix it . have been doing it all my life and sometimes enjoy the challenge of making it work , gettin her done.

         part of my ability and mechanical skills were forced on me by my dad as he was a nad crusher when it came to breaking things, first you had to tell him then followed the utter disbelief , then followed by i had that when he was a kid as well as then it was because i was careless it got broke. then it got ugly as he said it was because i was useless. wasnt capable .

      well i was capable and inventive as i knew better than to bad mouth my dad with out picking my teeth off the floor, so quietly i could imagine in my head a response to him. number  one you couldn't have had that when you were kid , the wheel had not been invented yet, let alone the cheap steel and the years of abuse and misuse might have had something to do with it. and the one thing i was guilty of was trying to help him and the family by doing my share and knowing full well if anything happens there will be a bunch shit , and there was. yeah dad i was guilty of that.

     so to avoid all of that i learned to fix everything and anything before 4:30 pm as this was dads quitting time . a few drinks at rodeens , the local bar and it was home to see what i screwed up that day. i would have the equipment ready, fueled up , fixed if need be and we would be ready to bale hay , mow or haul manure if it needed to be. i was the last of four boys at home and we still had a pretty good operation . we had about 80 cow calf pairs , filled 3 barns of hay , and combined oats that summer. plus put up straw and had about 10 acres of corn.. mostly i worked with my grandpa that summer we were doing all this and things was moving. grandpa was easy going and a hard worker who didn't talk a lot but when he did it was worth listening to. but he passed at the end of that summer and now it was my dad and i doing it all. at 16 years old life wasn't to good but it just got a little worse . we muddled through it and i didn't flip out on him and now he too, has passed.
      now i am by myself out here on this same farm doing the same jobs we used to do baling hay feeding cows , only not as much and for all the times we spent together on the farm , and being mad at dad or myself because i have to work while other kids played. i miss that help i had in him .  he was a pain and sometimes embarrassing , other times happy jovial , but at least he was there. and it is things like this you cannot fix.