I rant about politics and I apply hydrated lime and don't know what to do with all the paper bags it came in

Yesterday I posted a bit of frustration with the local elections. I worked ground all day and started out listening to the radio. I tried to listen to Lars but gave up. I wish he would ask good questions and get people to talk. I already know all of the Lars opinions. He gets great interviews and then fails to get the information. Just lectures the poor person on the most obvious. 

But I digress...

I was looking online and one of the posts on the Oregon discussion group was reporting low returns for Republican ballots. Of course I asked AI as it was easier than going to the Secretary of State website myself.

AI said that Republicans in Oregon usually wait till the last minute to vote and then frequently never get around to mailing in their ballots. I thought this was pretty interesting. AI also backed up the claim that Republicans were turning out in lower numbers.

This morning I asked AI again and got the reply that Republicans actually had a higher return rate so far as compared to Democrats, but Democrats had higher registration. I asked AI if they were lying and it started rambling about how AI works and voter rolls and blah, blah, blah.

SO clever man that I am. I looked up the Secretary of State Website and found out that Republicans are slightly ahead of Democrats returning ballots in my county.

Surprisingly ballot return in Multnomah County (Portland) are only 8.5% while most other counties are 10 to 14%. Basically a little higher than average turnout.

What I did discover was very interesting with yesterday's post was that my keywords brought instant results. This one of the things that is so irritating with the Republican party. Their research and propaganda abilities are pathetic. 

I got instant hits from google searches for the proper name for the trail. Also for the country and commissioner race. I also suspect someone has some sort of trackback activated for links to their pages. I did not get the idea the traffic was coming from "conservative sources."

In fact, this is one of the reasons the commissioner races is important. The "progressives," I guess you would say, seem to have a well funded cooperative network for funding and cross promotion. The "trail" is a great example of this. Media savvy people have gotten news coverage in a number of liberal/conservation outdoors and recreation pages. (Also, editorials like this one.) I suspect they have pretty serious funding. 

I know the TrailsPac has gotten enough signatures to put at least one ballot measure on an upcoming election and they have a pretty slick promotional campaign.

The opposition are farmers with limited fundraising abilities and the local crazy Republican cranks who probably do more harm than good.

But, the 6 people who regularly read this blog really don't care...

Yesterday I worked in lime.

Working in lime is a generally satisfying job. Until the transmission cooler line blew out showing the windshield with hydraulic oil. I worked it two directions before the rain showed up last night. It was nice to just sit in a tractor for a day.

 

We got this deal on Hydrated lime that was used for storing apples. Apparently apples continue to respire after picking and the Hydrated lime absorbs the CO2.

The lime is in 55lb bags and on pallets. It seems to be somewhat solid like it has absorbed water but breaks up easily.

This is pretty potent stuff. I wonder if I were to do it again, I wounder if you could just put two/three pallets per acre on unworked ground, dump the pallets, push the bags around with a front end loader and then hit them with the cover crop disk and drag harrow a few times, chisel it maybe, or vibrashank with a spring harrow, and then moldboard plow it to get rid of the paper bags. If it is cheap enough just use more lime to get coverage. Probably do it in the fall and then rework the ground in the spring. Take a soil test, and if it required lime in the top three inches put down a ton of ag lime.

 

My neighbor modified a litter spreader to apply the lime. He just dumped bags and all in the spreader and it chopped it and spread it so we got a lot of paper in the field.

The lime has a higher score than regular ag lime so you use less. It was kind of a pain in the butt and the stuff is seriously nasty to handle but hopefully the price difference will make it all worthwhile. Hopefully it could be a no-till trade that doesn't involve me transporting my drill 50 miles across a narrow bridge or though downtown Salem... 

I rant about the bad ideas proposed by candidates for Yamhill County Comissioners (past and present) and express dissatisfation in general

There are only a few days left to vote in a very important state wide election in Oregon. 

The genius of the Democrat Supermajority in Oregon is supporting a massive increase of licensing fees and a gas tax increase of a few cents. The few cents is not the big deal. What is a huge deal is the tripling of licensing fees. This will make it cost prohibitive to license old farm trucks that you use two months out of the year. (We talking like from $350 per truck per year, to $700 plus.)

But, I admit to putting off voting. I have been avoiding this upcoming election because I just don’t see a lot of good choices in representation locally or state wide.

I am going to vote because I think the fee increases associated with the new gas tax will be devastating if I actually paid them which I probably won’t do because I never drive my ancient trucks more than two miles from home anymore.
I am antigrowth, anti tax, anti progress, and just an all around grumpy old (oldish) fart. Emphasis on the fart. 

I do not like the choices for Judges, most of them are running unopposed. I don't have a favorite for Governor, wanted to write in Tom McCall, but seeing as he is dead, probably not much of an option, although a dead Tom McCall is probably better than a live Tina Kotax or Christine Drazen.  I have been watching the county commissioner race a little bit, but I figured there was no real choice. There are two candidates on one side who promoted by the shrill people who protest weekly out side the McMinnville Public Library. And they are two short pants wearing overly enthusiastic semi-entrepreneurs promoted by the other side. 
The “farmer” candidate made a lot of money growing and selling Weed but is the clean cut country club Republican sort (I think). Of course he also raises hazelnuts, as they all do.
The other candidate is quite interesting and very driven. He has a business making parts for VW micro busses and has invented some sort of logging equipment that he also manufacturers and he also plays country western music at rest homes. He has a lowered rat/rod/surfer style van as his mascot.
Not super thrilled about filberts and pot growers or people running for office with mascots but I suppose weed and round-a-bouts are the wave of the future and I should get on board.
As the election winds down I started getting more and more BoomerBook advertisements for actual campaign goals for the candidates.
So it came as a bit of a surprise to see that the two plans to revitalize Yamhill County were either a bicycle trail, by the love = love crowd vs a new fairgrounds and amphitheater (which will have to be on EFU land of course.) 
Now, I appreciate grand ideas somewhat in the abstract. But they always go sideways and off track and in the end you wish you would have just worked a little harder on what you had, or spent the money on lime instead of growing hemp. 
However, with this grand scheme by “Republicans,” the thing that really irritates me is the suspicion that I will have to eat my own words.
I have been anti trail and anti parks for years and now I am getting all my anti trail excuses thrown right back at me. 
In fact I was part of a neighborhood group formed to fight a proposed park at the old Whiteson landfill. An effort that really soured me on Yamhill County government and a few neighbors. Like the guy who started the neighborhood group and then used leverage from the group to sell his farm to the county for the proposed park. Or the official that just flat lied to us about the park plans. 
I was against the plan for a 17 mile trail on an abandoned rail road grade between Gaston, Yamhill, Carlton and McMinnville for several reasons most of which are not politically acceptable.

I live across a filbert field from a railroad track and I just keep thinking what a pain in the butt it would be to have bicyclists in my front yard.
I hate bicyclists. They are the most entitled arseholes on the planet, them (and flyfishermen) put the K in karen. No one wants bicyclists in their back yard. No one wants to farm with spandex clad bitches reporting every farm operation as if it were another “Silent Spring,” a book none of them have read but have seen referenced somewhere.
Secondly, I think the land should be given to the landowners as it was taken from private landowners and given to the railroads to create transportation routes. That time has past. Turn the page.
Third issue is the trail will not be maintained and possibility of it degenerating into a zombie corridor of drug addicted homeless and the needles, trash, and stolen children’s bicycles that come with them.
Fourth, the trail is supported by the culture in Yamhill County I don’t like which may be reason number one but no one reads my blog anyway so sue me…
Fifth reason, which is related to the fourth, is that the trail was the brainchild of Kasey Kulla. I voted for Kulla because ran on a platform stressing smart planning and what I thought was innovation. This means he was a progressive and having a pot farm before it was completely legal doesn’t mean you are clever, it just means you are a liberal douche. Except for my neighbor, he is a pothead and I respect that.
And finally, it is going to cost money, not really bring in money, and if it is successful, will bring more people into Yamhill County.
Now we get to the point of this long ramble…
The candidates I feel forced into voting for have mostly quashed the trail. This is good…
BUT…
Now they are promoting a scheme to build an Amphitheater and a new County Fairgrounds and all the so-called “Conservative,” leadership are doubling down on it. 
Now I have seen boondogles before, and I heard stories when I worked at a newspaper, and this one will go down in the recordbooks…
If it doesn’t result in a landslide defeat for these I dots… 
An Amphitheater will cost a lot more than a trail. If you read up on concert venue projects by cities and counties, they cost a lot of money, they take ten years to bring in money. They require infrastructure and a lot of open land. 
They require maintenance. 
The reason we need a new fairgrounds is due to this very issue. 
The maintenance budget is where the County trims the budget. That fairgrounds has been falling apart since it was built. 
Who is going to maintain, promote, manage, and fund a massive capital project for a county that can’t even fix their existing structures???
Now, I have to go to work as I have to balance my own budget and maintain my own freaking infrastructure and I can’t do it by floating a bond or putting on a show or finding getting the Rural Organizing project or cutting a deal with some developer. 
I live on chickenfeed and resentment and I suspect I am not alone...

Why can't someone run for office with the slogan, "I won't spend money and I won't do stupid shit stuff..." 

Here is my example of an idea that seemed good but in practice was not. Imagine this on a countywide scale. Perhaps picture the ancient forklift as an proposed concert venue and the ancient crane truck as Yamhill County Government and the surrounding scrap metal as the rest of Yamhill County. See how the one will NOT LIFT THE OTHER and note how both should be retired...

Edit: After realizing people were actually reading this post I thought I better clarify. The candidate with the grand plans came out and talked to me after hearing I was irritated. He is a great guy and I appreciate his vision and drive. I voted for him and his pot growing counterpart as I support party over common sense. Maybe I am secretly a democrat.

I am afraid hay is the heyday of my life or hay day? Farming with the oldies part IX

I tend to operate on the principle of setting potentially catastrophic events into action and then wasting a lot of time in a salvage operation. I think it might be a form of self motivation.

So I cut hay in April. I almost succeeded. Probably succeeded in stunting the alfalfa field for the duration of the season by cutting before first bloom. But, I got rid of the annual ryegrass for one cycle at least.

I have raked and tedded this crap every day for ten days and every day is the same. Overcast in the morning and two hours of sun at 4 p.m.

Yesterday I baled the alfalfa. (I got a whopping yield of 150 bales on 15 acres.)

I raked a few rounds and then baled to see what it looked like. I picked up a moisture tester with a bad battery. The moisture tester in the cab had a bad connection so I did not entirely believe the reading of 14 percent.

So I got my brother to bring me another tester and I raked the rest of the alfalfa. Put four windrows together so I could keep the header full. It seemed to be ok. 

I feel our future is not in farming but in a foundation for the preservation of 1970's farming techniques. People would pay good money to see how their grandparents suffered before the advent of the Corporate Family MegaFarm!

 

I baled another 80 bales of meadow foxtail grass hay. It was pretty heavy but tends to dry quickly.

I have four acres of Timothy and five acres of clover left. It looks like rain but the weather service says no.

Since I have been making chicken feed all winter and not working on equipment it was a quite fun. I was counting on the M670 Super for the baler but I killed the M670 on the pellet mill. I thought I could use the 656 Hydro but when I started it I remember that the hydro is making noise, it doesn't like reverse, and the wheel hits the PTO shield on the baler when I turn.

I hooked up the Minneapolis-Moline G1355. The 1355 has the PTO out of a G955 which drops the PTO/Engine speed setting to 1500 rpm for 540. The tractor is quiet, turns good, and who would have thunk, the AC still was charged and blew cold air. Didn't really need it but it was comforting knowing that if the sun ever came out I was prepared.

Of course the rear window was so dirty I couldn't actually see the baler so I just assume everything worked until I could see the previous row. Small things are important.

 

Minneapolis-Moline G1000 Vista tedding hay, best tractor ever made

 

Making hay in May is a bit sketchy. I am running the tedder to fluff up the windrows and hopefully get it up off the damp ground to dry out. The old G1000 Vista works really well on the tedder. Gets you out of the dust and handles it really well.

The Nephews Buy A truck and I cut hay. Over achievers are we...

The Nephews have been jonesing for a truck since they got their first Tonka Toy.

Finally, through the wonders of online auctioneering and possibly the poor judgement that accompanies that aforementioned anonymous pleasure that is the downfall of so many farmers, they are now the proud owners of a Ford LN9000 crane truck.

The new truck devours my nephew... It was a little tight getting to the battery!

 

Its a beauty!

We went and looked at it before bidding. The batteries were completely dead and the auction yard was unable to start the truck. Without starting it was impossible to lift the hood so you could only kick the tires.

Nephew crawled under the hood and was able to check the oil with was perfectly clean. The auction company claimed it was an 8 spd but it was a Fuller with a blue knob and a red flipper so that means 13 spd. It also had a fifth wheel plate mounted and a frame long enough for a dump bed.

I did look up the vin and other information and discovered that it was a special order heavy truck and most likely had a big cam Cummins 400 and a 9 or 13 speed Fuller. Crane trucks and Low Boy trucks often have lower miles and are on a regular service schedule with a big company and often are good buys. Or so we rationalized. 

We set a price and someone went just a we bit more. As will happen...

So yesterday we went after it. Took a generator and a battery charger and just let it charge for a while. I knew it was going to be a good day when the generator hit the tailgate, knocked the tail gate open, dumped charger and generator onto Highway 18. While there are a few scratches, now the electric start feature works on the generator! I am very happy with that development as I did not spend the extra $50 for the Harbor Freight extended warranty and the electric start failed after one year and three days. Aside from a wee bit of embarrassment, I would classify this a pennies from heaven, but then I am an optimist.

But I digress...

We got it started. Fired right up with minimal smoke and then cleaned up pretty fast. Might have a ticking fan blade. Pretty sure it is not in the engine. After moving the crane out of the way we discovered that the truck had been setting so long the hood hinges had corroded stuck. (Aluminum with steel pins.) 

It is not quite Minneapolis-Moline Energy Yellow. I feel the color will grow on us. The crane is cool, it is a shame to sell it.

 

No turn signals but the brake lights worked. So we drove it home.  

Truck ran great! Blinkers actually worked twice on the way home so I feel more success is in our future. 

Major Bonus! The turn signals may not actually work but deer will not cross in front of this truck. I have always wanted one of these devices but never actually have seen one in the wild

 

After playing with the crane briefly...

I hooked the mower to the Vista and cut hay. Have not run the Vista in 20 years. Nephew fixed the brakes and hydraulic pump issues. I think the mechanic nephew also worked on setting the oil pump pressure last summer.  

We have ten days of warm weather but it is April 30. This is not the time of the year when you cut hay in western Oregon.

I cut five acres of Clover that was getting a lot of radish blooming and a field of Timothy that was full of annual ryegrass and wild carrot. Hopefully the Timothy will get serious about growing and I will get a crop of hay in a month when it will probably be raining...

I really just want to keep cutting but I have not even attempted to start the stacker yet this years so I don't know. 

 

There are things which seem like a good idea and which prove not to be... On the best laid plans of mice and men...

 

To a Mouse

By Robert Burns

On Turning her up in her Nest, with the Plough, November 1785.

Wee, sleeket, cowran, tim’rous beastie,

O, what a panic’s in thy breastie!

Thou need na start awa sae hasty,

          Wi’ bickerin brattle!

I wad be laith to rin an’ chase thee

          Wi’ murd’ring pattle!

I’m truly sorry Man’s dominion

Has broken Nature’s social union,

An’ justifies that ill opinion,

          Which makes thee startle,

At me, thy poor, earth-born companion,

          An’ fellow-mortal!

I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve;

What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!

A daimen-icker in a thrave

          ’S a sma’ request:

I’ll get a blessin wi’ the lave,

          An’ never miss ’t!

Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin!

It’s silly wa’s the win’s are strewin!

An’ naething, now, to big a new ane,

          O’ foggage green!

An’ bleak December’s winds ensuin,

          Baith snell an’ keen!

Thou saw the fields laid bare an’ waste,

An’ weary Winter comin fast,

An’ cozie here, beneath the blast,

          Thou thought to dwell,

Till crash! the cruel coulter past

          Out thro’ thy cell.

That wee-bit heap o’ leaves an’ stibble

Has cost thee monie a weary nibble!

Now thou’s turn’d out, for a’ thy trouble,

          But house or hald,

To thole the Winter’s sleety dribble,

          An’ cranreuch cauld!

But Mousie, thou art no thy-lane,

In proving foresight may be vain:

The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men

          Gang aft agley,

An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,

          For promis’d joy!

Still, thou art blest, compar’d wi’ me!

The present only toucheth thee:

But Och! I backward cast my e’e,

          On prospects drear!

An’ forward tho’ I canna see,

          I guess an’ fear!

 

 

 

 

I couldn't understand a word of that poem.

I think it has to do with chickens and a man who left Mexico with a Rooster and his sisters picture in

gold frame who was going to win back the land that the Commies stole from his oppressor class parents by fighting with chickens. 

 

 Totally excellent idea! 

Execution of idea, not so good...

 

Sort of like making so much money I don't have to get a real job by making CHICKEN FEED!!! (Super Chick N with herbs and spices... also Weed & Feed for horses with alfalfa and oats and Herb- if you get my drift) 

 

 

Anything involving heatlamp chicken is a bad idea

I am not a fisherman, or fish do not exist...

Detroit diesels are deceptively difficult to work on.

While I have longed for a classic Chili Burger and unlimited shite coffee. The reality is not the memory...

The solution to every problem is not flooring it... Unless it works, then it is...

 

 

 

The problem with asking for advice online, I want to comment on Tristan Swartz video but resist

I have started following Tristan Swartz of Doing it Wrong Dairy. (So is every other farmer in the world) My brother even bought me one of Tristan's goofy hats.

So when he posted a video asking for information on his White hydraulics I actually watched the whole thing and read the comments. Lots of comments from people who absolutely no experience with hydraulics or even know that his DeutzAllis has a transmission and hydraulic system built by White Farm Equipment.

I had been trying to look up his video about why he doesn't use RoundUp ready seed because it kind of missed the point of why you shouldn't use it and there were so many superstitious idiots posting I wanted to show it to my friends and laugh. I kind of wanted to argue but I need to resist commenting.

But, I digress... 

There was a time when you could get good advice from people online. There was NewAgTalk, Yesterday's Tractors, and you could find pages from manuals or at least figure out what manual you needed. 

Not so much nowadays. (I enjoy using the word "nowadays")

His comment section was filled with bad advice...

Here are some basic rules... 

If you are having hydraulic problems with your White tractor, first find the I&T service manual for your tractor. White Farm Equipment put out a really good manual with trouble shooting advice. I have currently lost mine as I have issues with never putting anything back where it belongs. But I try to be the change I aspire to be.

Is the system not building pressure? Do you not have brakes or steering? Does the PTO not engage? Is it making noise?

Check the oil...

If you are not building pressure you have either sheared the splines on the PTO hub on the flywheel, your charge pump is out, the coupler to the hydraulic pump is out, you forgot to start the tractor, the little valve in the filter head that bypasses when you are starting the tractor is stuck in bypass.

Hit the filter head with a crescent wrench and see if hydraulics start.

Pull the switch on the filter head and install a gauge. If you don't have 35 or so lbs the Charge Pump is not working. (This also could be from the PTO hub splines being bad)

Do you hear cavitation noises? Is the pump loud? Is there bubbles in the hydraulic oil?

This is often a problem with the steel lines cracking which feed the charge pump. But it can be a cracked pickup tube from the sump. A completely plugged sump filter. The main pump is shot. The charge pump failed. The pressure relief in the filter head is stuck.

Do not ever mess with the compensator on the main pump. It is the little screw adjustment on the side of the pump. It might get you a couple months until you can find a new pump but it is never the problem. 

Make sure it is not a problem with the hydraulic valves. It won't be, but you should check first. Switch hoses around and switch between valves. You could put a gauge on one hose and see if you have 2200lbs of pressure. You could hook two hoses in with a t and a valve in the middle, run the valve and turn the valve down and watch the pressure.  

Change the filters. It won't help but if you ask anyone for advice it is the first thing they will suggest. Finding metal filings in the filter is not that unusual. Finding a teaspoon full is a problem.

There are two filters, the main one under the step and a sump in the bottom of the transmission. It is behind a large plug on the left hand bottom side of the tractor. This requires draining the transmission. This has a fine screen that can plug but probably is not the problem.

Do not add or remove shims from the pressure relief. That is not the problem.

Go to the JenSales website and find the WFE hydraulic service manual set or call Welters, or Maibach Tractor.

You could get the manual first but changing the oil is the first thing anyone will tell you to do. Narrowing down the issue with pressure at the filter head will also help with trouble shooting. 

The more information you can find on your own the easier it is to get advice.

After watching the Tristan video I would guess the top three probabilities are, the bottom sump is plugged because the previous owner NEVER changed the oil, cracked line feeding the charge pump, bad main hydraulic pump.

Long shots, stuck valve in the filter head, PTO hub on flywheel has bad splines and skips under load (but that would affect PTO operation), cracked sump tube for hydraulic pickup, hydraulic valve problems, bad charge pump.

Although, did not say when he runs the PTO the PTO clutch pops out. The PTO will pop off with low hydraulic pressure or cavitation. He seems to have a flow problem which makes me think remote valves or remote pressure relief on the valve body but it is probably time for a new pump.

Click here for a link to the videos on Facebook.  This might be the same reel. CLick Here

Now I must go to work as my neighbor called me to pick up filbert shells for my next ill advised project... 

 

I have had more hydraulic problems with this 2-135 then I care to remember. Actually, I kind of hate this tractor...

This is the first real tractor I bought. I abused it. Pulled it to death (several times) on the silage chopper. Baled with it, cut hay, no-tilled, great raking tractor, fairly quiet and the A/C sometimes works! Leaks a little hydraulic oil but that is how I find my way home when I get lost. Follow the trail...

Here is a link to Replacing the Hydraulic Pump on the White 2-155

Fixing a hydraulic valve

Somewhere I talk about trouble shooting a charge pump. Sometimes I fail to give usable info. You could try looking at nearby posts...