Gator Maintenance

 Funny thing about that Gator.  I distinctly remember getting it for Christmas a few years ago, but I'm third in line to be able to use it behind Kathy and Lawrence who both think it's theirs.  It gets her out to the fields or wherever I'm working to visit, and it taught him to drive, so I guess I shouldn't complain.  It's pretty handy, actually...maybe we need more.  You can see Ethan's little one in the background.

It needed an oil change, grease job, filters and new seats so Shade Tree Mechanics sent out a couple of technicians to make it good as new.  Lawrence was happy, took it for a test drive and pronounced it good.  Come see us and we'll take you for a ride.

Dustin' Them In

 ...the phrase used for the act of faith of planting oats when the ground is so dry it makes dust.  Lawrence and I planted 15 acres in the field above the house.  I borrowed a plow that plows a little deeper than mine and I'm glad I did, but I should have gone over it a second time with something finer to smooth it out.  Some of the seeds will be buried under a little soil and some will be under a 3-inch clod.  The really faithful guys spread fertilizer after plowing, and cultivate it in, then plant.  I'll fertilize after I've seen some rain.

That's our old grain drill (a 1963 model, I think) rather than the one I've borrowed from Larry the last 2 years.  His is newer and wider (requiring fewer trips around the field) but I wanted to be sure ours stays in good condition so I cleaned it, greased it and used it this year.  It worked fine.  Lawrence and I loaded it by buckets dipped out of a grain buggy I brought the seed home in.  We weighed some buckets to get an estimate of how much oats we were loading per bucket, and counted the buckets we put in the drill.  Our estimate was 1560 pounds.  Out of curiosity I weighed the buggy when we finished and our actual use was 1540 pounds!  Pretty close.