The Useful Duck!

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Sunday, December 6, 2009

My neighbor is armed and dangerous

He used to read my blog but I don't think he does anymore. If he does I hope he laughs.
My brother called me last night to see if I had put antifreeze in the White 8700 combine that I store in the neighbor's shed. I thought I did but it kept bugging me. So, I got a couple jugs of antifreeze and went over there. I usually text or call him if I come over at night. It was 10 p.m.
Once he caught people out in his shed and he used a lazer pointer on them. Or was it a lazer gun sight. Anyway it pretty much freaked them out. I really didn't want to be threatened with a firearm but I was in a hurry and it was 10:30 at that point.
I parked in front of the shed with my lights on and truck running and I dumped two gallons of antifreeze in the combine. Of course it wouldn't start. That seems like a lot of antifreeze so I think it will circulate. I thought I filled it with 50/50 when I backed it out of the shed to unload the tank. We left it full of oats that we had no home for. I sold the oats for feed so it is empty now.
Not a peep from the house. Thought I'd get a phone call at least. Not that there is anything to steal out there. I have my Great Plains drill backed up tight against his shop door.
I have been adding up tractor repairs in my head.
There is oil blowing out the exhaust when I start... Turbo= $400, Metal chunks in the hydraulic filter=Hydraulic pump=$1000? New tires $1,200 per tire for rear, $1050 each for the fronts= $4500.
Ouch!
Sold some hay yesterday. We have some hispanic cusomers that buy hay for their horses. There is some tie in to the Mexican rodeo circuit. You see posters on telephone poles but never hear an news about it. There is a huge underground economy that is doing quite well and no english is spoken.
The guys that were here yesterday are pretty cool. I asked them about the people they brought with them last time. I said I ended up short on the cash. Yesterday's customer, who brought them last time, new how much short I was. I said that I didn't like to be a hard liner on the money and I wanted to trust people and it annoyed me when people took advantage of my lack of short term memory and math skills-especially when they were getting a really good deal in the first place. He gave me a little extra and said keep the change. The next customer also agreed I had been ripped off. He said the guys were just stupid but he didn't speek spanish so he wasn't sure what happened. He said he wanted to come by himself so I didn't think he was in anyway connected to those people... Hmmmm.
Biting the hand that feeds you?

2 comments:

  1. My comment today is more of a question, do you have trouble getting parts for your older equipment, such as the White combine or for the MM's. Just curious.

    ReplyDelete
  2. There are a few MM parts that you can't buy new. Most items can be found if you know the right salvage yards. White parts are easy to get if you have the part numbers. Any AGCO part is getting very expensive. We have lots of spares... So, I would say that getting parts is not as hard as getting the time and energy to bring things back to "like new" quality-which is really what it takes if you are going to run old stuff.

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