The Useful Duck!

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Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Our first big storm of the season and I do my favorite thing


There is nothing like working in the rain. Especially with the threat of a flood, and especially with the knowledge that you had three months to move this crap before it started raining.
Our river floods if there is a huge amount of rain in the Coast Range and sometimes floods if there is a huge amount of rain locally.
If we get both it will absolutely flood.
We got both Sunday night.
I checked the river page at the US Weather Service and they were predicting 35 feet yesterday. When it gets above 35 feet we have to worry.
So I got the 2-135 out and started moving stuff. I found a MM U, disk, a plow, the harrow and roller I borrowed from the neighbor on the condition that I stored it over the winter and DIDN'T let it go under water, three rolls of plastic tile line, and the old IH tandem that I didn't move last year and people keep reminding me about. I completely forgot about the water truck that was being used for spraying and so when my brother got home we also moved that.
It was a nice afternoon.

An update to just make everybody happy- Went with a friend to check on some tires. Need a front tire for the stacker plus a rim. The rim is at least $350.
Tires for my 1983 White 2-155 FWA with 7,600 hours (at least)
18.4-38" rears in 10 ply long bar short bar radial (better for the highway) special deal for $1,600 each.
16.9"-26" front tires non radial Goodyears will give me a special deal for $1250 each.
It is going to be $6,000 to install the tires and move the inside duals to the outside.
So what is a White 2-155 FWA worth???
Should I put a down payment on a 2-185 with better tires?
Try to go another year with bald tires?
Buy these tires?
Quit farming and get a real job?
Drink heavily and sit in the hot tub?
Become a meth addict?
Run away and join a circus?
I just seem to have trouble making decisions these days...
It is only 250 acres of no-tilling..

And Furthermore (12:30 noon update)
Looks like I missed a rake when I was moving stuff. Hey it was raining really hard!
Took this photo this morning...

12 comments:

  1. Looks like what you need on the 2-155 are steel rims with lugs, and maybe pontoons. Replace your gps with a fish finder.

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    Replies
    1. I could bolt old chunks of tire to the lugs to drive it on the highway. Great idea!

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  2. Facing tire replacement on the Magnum here too. 6500 hours and the 20.8 Goodyear radials on the inside are getting pretty low on tread. Not sure if I am losing enough efficiency to wheel slippage to justify replacing them just yet. If its a dry spring I'll be fine.

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    Replies
    1. Ralph, I figure if I replace the tires the engine will go or the transmission will fail. I suspect there are several thousand more hours on this tractor than what the hourmeter says. People tell me replacing the tires will make a huge difference but I'm not sure about a $6,000 difference!

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  3. The circus would solve some problems, but probably create more and different ones. Plus, now a-days if you aren't born into the circus they tend to not take you seriously and pay you less.

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  4. I suppose I would have to get a lot of tattoos and piercings also. Not being taken seriously is not a new thing for me and neither is being paid less.

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  5. The circus sounds intriguing. What I am wondering is what skill could you contribute?

    P.S. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. We give our thanks about 6 weeks earlier up here in Canada. That's because we usually don't have much to be thankful for in November. It's -15C and snowing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Freak show? Bald grumpy farmer? I guess you do have a point.
      I am really skinny, they could shoot me out of the cannon.

      Delete
  6. How could a circus be more fun than moving equipment in the rain?

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    Replies
    1. Natasha, Thanks for stopping by. I guess nothing can really top moving equipment in the rain because we do it at the last minute every year. I remember one year when we got the tractor stuck pulling the pump out of the river and they left me on the tractor while they went after another tractor to pull me out. I had to keep raising the pump with the loader as the river kept rising. The neighbor across the river thought this was really funny.

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  7. It's important to leave a few pieces out in the snow, frozen to the ground, perhaps not even visible so one can affirm mental illness...attempting to find and move them in January.

    ReplyDelete
  8. It's important to leave a few pieces out in the snow, frozen to the ground, perhaps not even visible so one can affirm mental illness...attempting to find and move them in January.

    ReplyDelete

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