Tractor Thread

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Tom Dempsey
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Re: Tractor Thread

Postby Tom Dempsey » Wed May 17, 2017 2:44 pm

Rufus T. Firefly wrote:That'll keep the Japanese beetles and cut worms under control every time.........


You carefully fence that field, then let the chickens in.

Rufus T. Firefly
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Re: Tractor Thread

Postby Rufus T. Firefly » Wed May 17, 2017 3:05 pm

Tom Dempsey wrote:
Rufus T. Firefly wrote:That'll keep the Japanese beetles and cut worms under control every time.........


You carefully fence that field, then let the chickens in.


We didn't keep chickens; hound liked them too much, :lol:
Conservatism: The intense fear that somewhere, somehow, someone you think is inferior is being treated as your equal.

Rufus T. Firefly
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Re: Tractor Thread

Postby Rufus T. Firefly » Wed May 31, 2017 8:38 am

Image
Conservatism: The intense fear that somewhere, somehow, someone you think is inferior is being treated as your equal.

The Dirt
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Re: Tractor Thread

Postby The Dirt » Sat Jul 29, 2017 9:19 pm

Gentlemen of the tractor thread, this is the day of the Hevman’s departure, now 4 years. It is true that only God can see what’s coming, despite our best efforts to plan it ourselves. It is also true that for most men, the memory of their presence on this earth only lasts a generation or two, before they are lost and their lives forgotten. I cannot prevent that, but for the duration of my life at least, this will not happen to Hev, probably the most selfless man I've ever known.

I’ve been seeing this day coming, and spent the afternoon out on my Farmall on my upper field. It was a beautiful day, warm sun, high cirrus, and my usual halo of swallows tracking me up and down the field amid the sweet smells of mown timothy and clover and orchard grass. Traveling this world at three mph gives one much time to think and appreciate, and time to remember. My upper field is immediately adjacent to a field of corn, within hand-reach at every pass, tall and tasseled and deep emerald green, and every time by, I looked into its depth like I expected Hev to walk out of there like Shoeless Joe Jackson, and bellow “What’s shakin’, Dirtman?!”, and I would tell him "I mowed this field for you", and he’d take my tractor for a few laps around the farmland.

But it wasn’t to be. But what CAN be is for those who knew the Hev, or respected what he stood for, to raise a glass in his memory. Me and Patty would be appreciative.


Late Fragment (Raymond Carver)

And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth.

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Mitch
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Re: Tractor Thread

Postby Mitch » Sat Jul 29, 2017 9:50 pm

Well said, old stranger. Have a few notations here on my 'puter, and was rootin' through a lot of papers I have here, (just tryin' to clean up a bit, stuff I wanna save and stuff that needs to go), and came across a Christmas Card the Hevman sent me, the one with the GG1 on it. I have a few other memories of this particular month, (Mom and a close cousin) and I don't want to end up melancholy and depressed, but it is what it is. Rest in peace, Hevman.

Good to hear from ya, Pete. Since you don't answer your e-mails, don't be a stranger and drop in from time to time. :wink:
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E7
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Re: Tractor Thread

Postby E7 » Sun Jul 30, 2017 2:08 am

Dirt,

Good to hear from you and hope you and yours (Redheads) are doing well. Hard to believe it has been 4 years since Hev passed. I can't speak for the rest of the board, but I certainly miss the two of you.

Take care,
Rich

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Mitch
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Re: Tractor Thread

Postby Mitch » Sun Jul 30, 2017 7:11 am

Yeah, Pete. I gave up on trains 3 or 4 years ago. They're all crammed into a closet. I just hang out here 'cause I like these guys. Always looked forward to your opinions, commentaries, and your pictures. C'mon back and hang out a bit!
If you agree with the Progressives, it's freedom of speech. If you disagree, it's hate speech. There are no alternatives.

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rogruth
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Re: Tractor Thread

Postby rogruth » Sun Jul 30, 2017 8:15 am

I agree with the above posts. Hev and The Dirt have been missed.
roger

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healey36
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Re: Tractor Thread

Postby healey36 » Sun Jul 30, 2017 8:50 am

Passed through Lancaster last weekend on my way home from Upstate. There's nothin' like cresting the hill on 222 and seeing that expanse of rich Amish farmland spread out in front of you. Hev's old stompin' grounds never looked better.

Thanks for checking in, mate...always good to hear from you.

Healey

Rufus T. Firefly
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Re: Tractor Thread

Postby Rufus T. Firefly » Sun Jul 30, 2017 9:20 am

rogruth wrote:I agree with the above posts. Hev and The Dirt have been missed.


Indeed. Sorely missed.
Conservatism: The intense fear that somewhere, somehow, someone you think is inferior is being treated as your equal.

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MurphOnMillerAve
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Re: Tractor Thread

Postby MurphOnMillerAve » Sun Jul 30, 2017 10:48 am

healey36 wrote:Passed through Lancaster last weekend on my way home from Upstate. There's nothin' like cresting the hill on 222 and seeing that expanse of rich Amish farmland spread out in front of you. Hev's old stompin' grounds never looked better.

Thanks for checking in, mate...always good to hear from you.

Healey

Healey, You are so right about that view, and it is especially nice and somehow appropriate to be reminded of it here in a posting by Pete about a man I am so glad I was able to keep company with several times before his passing. Meeting him and Pete at the Tractor-pull in Lancaster was an event I am so grateful I took the occasion to experience. There was a special welcoming warmth coming from Pete and Hev that made me feel very good to be included into, if only for a short time. It seems amazing, at times, how quickly somebody we enjoy so much can be suddenly gone, forever.

When Hev found out I was starting to do some Amish and Lancaster-themed modeling, between him and Pete, I received these photos, unsolicited. And here he is at one of those Tractor-pulls they invited me to. Important face-to-face meet-ups like that are important to take the time and effort to experience among forum-friends. Pete and Hev sent me these photos they took the time and effort to take, and we were just new friends.

I am posting some of those photos here because the whole Lancaster area, and what he captured of it for me, seemed to be a part of Hev, its warmth, friendliness, and welcoming, unique personality. And the strength.
Murph
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The Dirt
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Re: Tractor Thread

Postby The Dirt » Mon Jul 31, 2017 10:11 am

Thanks for the kind words.
Circumstances led me to be a loner when I was young, and I kept no friends from high school and only one from college, who suicided, (probably because I was his friend :wink: ), and then got in a field of work which was predominately female (no fool, me! :wink: ), so meeting Hev was like having a friend who was more a brother that I never had before. It stung when he died, big-time.

But such is the way of the world.

Out on the tractor again yesterday. Being old iron, and undersized, a 1949 Super-A, I have to mow in first gear, so I'll be many days cutting 17 acres. I always love to hear the governor and the engine muscling into their work when I mow uphill. Nice to see the land getting neatened-up, and now the groundhogs need to be afraid, as once again they'll be shown who's the god-d*mned bull-goose-loony around these parts.
Got to be careful with this old tractor- there is no separation of the PTO from the transmission- they are directly geared together, and when for instance you push in the clutch, expecting to brake, the weight and momentum of the blades, still connected to the transmission, not only keep you right on moving, but makes you pick up speed because you've separated the transmission from the slowing effect of the engine compression. And if you're heading downhill at the time, the whole damn train takes off like a mule that's been stung in the *ss. This is not something you want to learn the hard way.
Even Ray's 1952 Farmall 450 had corrected this, and he can even go in reverse with the brushhog still spinning and under power. I've never yet come to try and understand how it works. But if I want to mow a corner in a fenced-in pasture, I have to disengage the PTO, at which point I can shift into reverse and back up, but I then have to wait for the blades to completely stop rotating before I can put the PTO back into gear.
But I love my 1949, because I'm a 1949 too, and because Mitch rebuilt it's engine.

Lots of weedy wildflowers going under the blades too, of every hue, including one that has a flower that is as eye-soothing a white as seems possible for God to create, and for some reason it brought Murph to mind, who I have always thought had a soul and a conscience that is as pure and innocent as a fresh-fallen snow.
It sure as hell didn't remind me of Mitch. :wink:

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MurphOnMillerAve
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Re: Tractor Thread

Postby MurphOnMillerAve » Mon Jul 31, 2017 10:28 am

Pete, I am speechless (and that's not easily accomplished.) Thank you. And thank you for not minding my posting the photo of Hev (I have others) and of those you guys sent me so kindly. The impact of that kindness has never left me and continues to be treasured, just like the tin cup, which continues to grace the bookcase in our study, reminds me of good friends, no matter how seldom seen in person any more..
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healey36
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Re: Tractor Thread

Postby healey36 » Tue Sep 12, 2017 8:27 am

Hit the ever-shrinking Mason-Dixon meet this past weekend...saw this interloper from the mother-country:

Image

Image

Healey

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Mitch
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Re: Tractor Thread

Postby Mitch » Sat Dec 09, 2017 8:58 pm

Well guys, it's that time of the year. Don't wait for 8 inches of snow before ya git the tractor out and the snowplow hooked up. Do it now. Get those chains on; make sure the engine is winterized if you're runnin' a watercooled engine like my Cub, which has the 20 hp Kawasaki motor. Oh wait, I don't use the tractor for snow; I rely on the Troybilt snowblower. Oh yeah, if your lucky enough to have a full enclosure, ya might as well git that on too. Remember that old boy scout motto: Be Prepared! Ain't gonna be long. We're gonna get it just as sure as the sun comes up in the mornin'.
If you agree with the Progressives, it's freedom of speech. If you disagree, it's hate speech. There are no alternatives.


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