I adjust New Holland 1085 clutch, complain about heat, lack of directed rainfall, and just be slightly negative

 The last two days it has been hot. Heat and high humidity is the worst week of an Oregon summer. You are not used to it and there it is. Hopefully it left with the thunderstorm yesterday. Rosco also left yesterday. 

Rosco is not a fan of thunder. Apparently, he decided to go to the Dairy Queen which is like ten miles away and across the river. Over near where the farmer saw the UFO in the 1960's. There may be a connection.

But I digress...

The thunderstorm dumped rain on the outside hay stack, the annual ryegrass that needed to be combined. The slightly dead Massey 750 that has half a tank of seed, and the annual straw that needs to be baled.

It did not rain on the alfalfa that needs irrigation, or the Teff field that is languishing.

It did rain on the straw that I bale on the test plot farm. This goes into 2-tie. It is only 5 acres or so but it is is in little plots. Rain messes everything up as I can't really run a tedder to fluff it up and raking it drags straw into the bare dirt which is a bad thing. (Doesn't pick up well and somehow messes up the test plot.)

Yesterday I had to get my blood pressure checked. It always spikes when I go to the doctor. 

It also spikes when I get my turn off to Salem and find it closed and I didn't see it in town because I turned before seeing the detour sign.  I am sure my wife warned me about this and I forgot. So I had to do a little creative driving, but I was there on time.

The nice nurse who took my blood pressure and heart rate got a high reading right away. Then she started talking to me. Turns out she grew up between Muddy and Gopher Valley and was obviously a local of aforementioned valleys. When she was a kid her driveway was so muddy her dad would wait at the end of the driveway with a bulldozer to give her a ride up the muddy driveway.

All of a sudden she exclaims that she got a good reading, 126/85! I asked her how she did it. She laughed and said she was good at her job. I really agree. Wish she was doing my CDL test.

Her are some photos from my day and my walks. 

This is alfalfa and teff. I planted the two together because I thought the teff would grow faster than the alfalfa and I would get hay, but mostly because it puts down roots to hold the soil and this field goes underwater. Plus it should winter kill so I don't have to worry about it becoming a weed.  This gun run looks awesome. (See next picture)

This is why we really should not be growing Teff or trying to establish grass with irrigation. Our hard hose guns are crap. There is always a problem with the hydraulic drive on the one. Plus it doesn't automatically slow down as the hose reel gets bigger so it always going the wrong speed. This was probably the turbine gun which doesn't reverse reliably and gets stuck shooting out to the side. The Teff and Alfalfa came up fine but the Teff is dead. The Alfalfa will survive but there will be no hay this year. Also, the thundershower very pointedly missed this field and the clover field. The two fields in 600 acres that actually really needed a half inch of rain in 10 minutes.

The Red Clover is getting ready and actually looks pretty good. Last year it was pretty sad. I suspect fertilizer and hay cutting timing as reasons for success. I wish we could irrigate it. That would boost seed yield.

Yesterday I spent a lot of time laying under the stacker adjusting the clutch. The parts under the inspection plate do not agree with the part diagram and instructions in the New Holland manual.

You have to knock the set collar loose and then rotate the sleeve by using a chisel and hammer to hit the notches on the right side next to the throwout bearing and clutch actuator. Of course I went the wrong way to start out. You are shortening the sleeve which doesn't really make sense to me. I set clutch adjustment  by jacking the wheels up and then putting it in drive and standing on the brakes with the transmission in gear. Apparently the brakes also need work as I third was the only gear that would kill the engine.