What machine started it all for you???

Bindian said:

Dougster,
Hit something didn't you? You better watch those things that go bump in the night.

hugs, Brandi

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It depends if you call the Sunday Newspaper a *something* or not. I got a lot of them under the snow! You can also count toys and other miscellaneous paraphernalia commonly left in and around driveways that ended up buried by the last two storms.

I did have one guy complain about a small fence that he says was too overloaded with snow and stressed to the max. He declined my request to view and pay for any damage... but I did have to credit his account back for that storm.

Dougster

Dougster said:

It depends if you call the Sunday Newspaper a *something* or not. I got a lot of them under the snow! You can also count toys and other miscellaneous paraphernalia commonly left in and around driveways that ended up buried by the last two storms.

Dougster

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Couple of years ago we had a weekend snow storm that dumped 12 inches or so Saturday and Sunday. Sunday evening I cleaned the driveways and parking areas and we had no problem getting in or out. By mid week things had started to melt and I was using the fel to clean out the drainage ditch in front of the house. I saw something brown in one of the buckets of snow I dumped. I looked and it was a couple of ups boxes. On Monday, instead of driving up the cleared driveway the ups driver dumped our packages in the snow bank beside the mail box. The county plow then covered them They were in a plastic bag so they were ok. Just luck that I centered them instead of cutting them in half.

Jim

Jim Slagle said:

Couple of years ago we had a weekend snow storm that dumped 12 inches or so Saturday and Sunday. Sunday evening I cleaned the driveways and parking areas and we had no problem getting in or out. By mid week things had started to melt and I was using the fel to clean out the drainage ditch in front of the house. I saw something brown in one of the buckets of snow I dumped. I looked and it was a couple of ups boxes. On Monday, instead of driving up the cleared driveway the ups driver dumped our packages in the snow bank beside the mail box. The county plow then covered them They were in a plastic bag so they were ok. Just luck that I centered them instead of cutting them in half.

Jim

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I've got to tell you that the same thing has happened here. Why my GF has so many of her on-line Christmas purchases shipped here to Dougster Manor is beyond me. The UPS & Fed-Ex Ground folks are crazy around here and more than one package has been lost in the snow for days if not weeks before an on-line inquiry shows it was delivered on such and such day.

We start digging... and sure 'nuf! There it is!!!

Dougster

At the ripe old age of (never mind). In 1957 when I was too young I was put on a MM Z (tricyle front) to help plant milo when the wheat got hailed out. My daddy was scared to death I would turn too short and put the drill on top of me.

Dougster said:

I've got to tell you that the same thing has happened here. Why my GF has so many of her on-line Christmas purchases shipped here to Dougster Manor is beyond me. The UPS & Fed-Ex Ground folks are crazy around here and more than one package has been lost in the snow for days if not weeks before an on-line inquiry shows it was delivered on such and such day.

We start digging... and sure 'nuf! There it is!!!

Dougster

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I've had pretty good luck with both UPS and Fed Ex. Neither Airborne or DHL has successfully delivered a package though. It's like they can't seem to find residential addresses All you have to do is get on the correct road (not a new road, been here for years), drive to my address (street number in 3 inch letters at the top of the mailbox post), and turn in the drive.

Here's a picture of the snow that concealed the boxes. (from the usb drive )

My first experience with tractors was when I was around 4-5. Dad would come up the pasture road and stop at the gate. I would run to meet him. he taught me how to engauge the hand clutch and I would drive the tractor thru while he controled the gate so cattle wouldn't get out. I'm 64 now but remember it like it was yesterday. The old JD was very similar to the one in the picturs posted by Bindian above, or maybe a little older..

Dougster said:

It depends if you call the Sunday Newspaper a *something* or not. I got a lot of them under the snow! You can also count toys and other miscellaneous paraphernalia commonly left in and around driveways that ended up buried by the last two storms.

I did have one guy complain about a small fence that he says was too overloaded with snow and stressed to the max. He declined my request to view and pay for any damage... but I did have to credit his account back for that storm.

Dougster

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Short list of hidden treasure found with a bush hog;

several bicycle frames, roll of carpet, sawed off 8" stump of an old telephone pole, space saver spare tire, roughly 500' of 1/8" aircraft grade wire rope, a doll that looked ALMOST like a real child as it shot out from under the mower, can of red spray paint, a length of 1/2" re-bar, and the list goes on.

I refund NOTHING. I give discounts to NO ONE

Customers don't contribute anything extra to the broken parts and frayed nerves fund when I hit something buried in the weeds. We call it even.

I pretty much grew up on my Grandpa's/uncle's dairy farm. Mom and Dad live 1/2 mile down the road, so it was nothing for me to just head out the door and walk or ride my bike down to the farm, and I was there almost all the time.

Here's a list of the tractors we had on the farm:

IH Farmall 300
IH 544 Hydro
IH 1466
John Deere 4020 Powershift with side console hydraulics
Allis Chalmers "One-Ninety" Diesel
Ford 6610 with "DualPower"
Case/IH 7110 Magnum

The first tractor I ever drove was probably the IH544 Hydro... I'd stand on the transmission housing between my uncle's legs, and I'd steer... probably at about 3-4 years old... maybe even younger than that. That's where it all started for me. I don't ever remember not being around tractors. The IH 1466 was my favorite to drive... it sat up so tall and "was blessed with power" as my Grandpa said. The T/A was starting to go south on it, so it got traded for the 7110 Case/IH. I probably had the most hours on the Ford, since it was the only tractor with a cab (until we got the 7110), and it was designated as the mowing tractor. I mowed many, many, many acres of alfalfa with that tractor. The cab was a mixed blessing... it was great when the A/C worked, and it was hotter than hades when it didn't.

Dougster said:

I've got to tell you that the same thing has happened here. Why my GF has so many of her on-line Christmas purchases shipped here to Dougster Manor is beyond me. The UPS & Fed-Ex Ground folks are crazy around here and more than one package has been lost in the snow for days if not weeks before an on-line inquiry shows it was delivered on such and such day.

We start digging... and sure 'nuf! There it is!!!

Dougster

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Jim & Dougster,
Y'all got to train these delivery drivers. I have trained my UPS and Fed Ex drivers to come to the back door and if I am not home...leave them on the deck.
hugs, Brandi

Bindian said:

Jim & Dougster,
Y'all got to train these delivery drivers. I have trained my UPS and Fed Ex drivers to come to the back door and if I am not home...leave them on the deck.
hugs, Brandi

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But you don't ever have SNOW down there in the Lone Star state!!!

If you did, you might find you had the very same problem.

Dougster

Dougster said:

But you don't ever have SNOW down there in the Lone Star state!!!

If you did, you might find you had the very same problem.

Dougster

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It snows, just not in my neck of the woods. Guess your not winking enough.
hugs, Brandi

Bindian said:

It snows, just not in my neck of the woods. Guess your not winking enough.
hugs, Brandi

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I know it can sometimes get kinda cold down there in the Lone Star state... as evidenced by some occasional pipe/tube freezing problems at one of my power plants just south of the DFW area... but real snow??? The kind we get up here? No way Jose'!

I still remember many, many years ago (actually well before the Internet made ordering anything from anywhere very easy). A relative down in the DFW area had looked everywhere and was totally unable to buy, order or otherwise procure tire chains for his emergency wrecker. Knowing that your very occasional (and usually very tiny) snowfalls cause total havoc on your highways and MUCHO wrecked cars and wrecker business... he called my old man up here in snowy old Taxachusetts who was quickly able to procure and ship some down to him.

As the only wrecker around town at that time with a full set of snow chains, he ended up doing quite well for himself that winter!

Dougster

Dougster said:

I know it can sometimes get kinda cold down there in the Lone Star state... as evidenced by some occasional pipe/tube freezing problems at one of my power plants just south of the DFW area... but real snow??? The kind we get up here? No way Jose'!

I still remember many, many years ago (actually well before the Internet made ordering anything from anywhere very easy). A relative down in the DFW area had looked everywhere and was totally unable to buy, order or otherwise procure tire chains for his emergency wrecker. Knowing that your very occasional (and usually very tiny) snowfalls cause total havoc on your highways and MUCHO wrecked cars and wrecker business... he called my old man up here in snowy old Taxachusetts who was quickly able to procure and ship some down to him.

As the only wrecker around town at that time with a full set of snow chains, he ended up doing quite well for himself that winter!

Dougster

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Dougster,
When we get enough snow to make a snow man.........that is a lot here. But in the Texas Panhandle my Dad and his brothers and sisters got stranded a week in town at school while just living a mile from the farm. Snow drifted up to the top of the two story barn. My cousin has been stranded in Amarillo for days before. We get it, but not on any kind of schedule.
Our worst fears down here in the winter are ice storms. Y'all "folks from the north" that live down here think they can drive in it as it is refreezing and thawing and refreezing and that is when I stay home.
hugs, Brandi

Bindian said:

Dougster, When we get enough snow to make a snow man.........that is a lot here. But in the Texas Panhandle my Dad and his brothers and sisters got stranded a week in town at school while just living a mile from the farm. Snow drifted up to the top of the two story barn. My cousin has been stranded in Amarillo for days before. We get it, but not on any kind of schedule. Our worst fears down here in the winter are ice storms. Y'all "folks from the north" that live down here think they can drive in it as it is refreezing and thawing and refreezing and that is when I stay home.
hugs, Brandi

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Forgive me Brandi... but I thought I was gonna read: "...my Dad and his brothers and sisters got stranded a week in town at school while just living a mile from the farm... after almost a full inch of snow!"

From my limited personal experience down there in your *colder* months, I would have believed it!

Dougster

Dougster said:

Forgive me Brandi... but I thought I was gonna read: "...my Dad and his brothers and sisters got stranded a week in town at school while just living a mile from the farm... after almost a full inch of snow!"

From my limited personal experience down there in your *colder* months, I would have believed it!

Dougster

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Dougster,
We are talking about the Texas Panhandle here. The blizzard that left Dad in town was in APRIL. I was there once in the spring and they had gusts of wind up to 75 miles an hour. There is nothing between the Texas Panhandle and the North Pole except a barbed wire fence.............and three strands are busted.
hugs, Brandi

Bindian said:

There is nothing between the Texas Panhandle and the North Pole except a barbed wire fence.............and three strands are busted.
hugs, Brandi

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But if I moved my snowplowing business down there tomorrow, I guarantee that there'd be a snow drought that lasted at least 25 years!

Dougster

Dougster said:

But if I moved my snowplowing business down there tomorrow, I guarantee that there'd be a snow drought that lasted at least 25 years!

Dougster

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Like the saying goes.............if you don't like Texas weather....wait ten minutes.
hugs, Brandi

AC 185...Go Orange!

Like Larry, I too was born at an early age. And I remember my dad and grandad farming with Massey Fergusons mostly, but there was this one particular Massey 30 that my dad would let me "drive" while sitting in his lap...great memories.

When I was 15 y.o., my dad approached me with a proposition. He'd either buy me a junker car when I turned 16, or he'd go ahead and buy a Kubota L175 and 3pt equipment. I could use it anytime he was not cutting church yards, but I had to help him with the church yards without pay. I was no fool, and the day we brought home that little tractor was a proud one. While other kids were driving nice cars to school, I was towing that tractor on a lowboy trailer with a 1972 Chevy LUV that I rebuilt and painted. I'd go from school to a job. I never got rich, but I always had spending money. I learned a lot about opportunity from that.

At the age of 26 (after 6 months of driving every garden tractor dealer within 25 miles crazy) I bought a brand new Wheel Horse garden tractor. You should have seen the wife's expression when she learned I had spent $2500.00 and it didn't have a mowing deck (only a snow plow/dozer blade). 2 years later I was building a new modular home and my brother in law asked if he could park his plumbing companies Case 580 TLB in my yard (he was building a stick built home about a mile away and didn't want to leave it on his lot). I was working a full time "Weekend Warrior" (Sat & Sun 11am-11pm, with M-F off) and could use the machine during the week. 13 years later we buy a 4 1/2 acre lot and put up another modular home. 3 years go by and the wife says you need to buy a new truck and i told her that I would rather buy a backhoe and she just laughs. A few days later she says you are serious and agrees to let me get one. So that is the long story on how I aquired my New Holland 1920 w/FEL & BH. Bill C