As close to the dream property as I am going to get, at least for now
- Thread starter CTM1
- Start date
CTM1
Active Member
My story for the night. It was much longer but I decided to take a hatchet to it and spare you guys. 
" A man and his Hog", and I do not mean a Harley
As we all know tools play a pivotal role in many of our food plots and when they go down it stymies our plans.
As you may recall my Hog bit the dust last year when one of the blades came off. Of course when it did it tore the groove that the bolt spline
locks into. So I went out and bought two new blades and tried to buy the proper bolts and nuts, but not only did Tractor Supply no longer carry them, they said they did not think they could get them from Tarter. So my initial attempt to fix the Hog last year went no where. So of course it sat, and sat until I discovered that there would be no plotting this year without cutting the hay fields that my plots had become.
I recently found a couple of bolts and nuts that I figured could work and on Aug 3rd I made a second attempt to cut the spline groove back in with a Dremel and add a new blade. While I managed to cut the groove, I could not get the nut locked up enough so the blade had to much play. Of course when I went to remove the other blade the old nut was a different size then the new nut so I was not going to buy another large socket to do this one nut.
So it was off to the Blue Tractor Dealer that was so helpful last year. The owner was present when I dropped it off (Aug 3rd) and he told me that they could not get to it until the next week. I told the owner that I understood and that it was fine. I chatted with the manager about being up against a window to get my food plots in and that I should have brought it in months ago. Well given CTM1 is involved we know things at the Blue Tractor Dealer will not go as planned, hoped or in this case told.
Dropped the Hog off on Aug 3rd and was told it would be done by 13th. I will spare you the nightmare that followed of being told almost daily that they were working on it or that it was almost done etc. The kicker was during this never ending stringing along I was getting I had sent my friend specifically to them to buy a tractor, a $32k tractor with backhoe and thumb and a Hog. I jokingly said to the manager that I expected a commission and he said that he would take care of me. Well after 3 1/2 weeks of the Mangers promises and then excuses I told him on Friday Aug 26th to please prepare a bill for whatever work they had done as I was could not wait any longer as my planned food potting window was now over. The Manager offered no apology just that they were now swamped with new work, he said there would be no bill. I told him that I would pick it up the next day. Given I had my little nephew up visiting I did not want to waste a portion of his last day with me getting the hog so I left it for a pick up on Wed.
Well I got back to town on Tues Aug 30th and there was a message that the hog was done. So I went down on Wed the 31st with another friend and I was handed a $108 bill, with no apology for making me wait all these weeks, and not even a thank you for steering my friend to them to buy a tractor. The only one who thanked me was my friend who had his new tractor delivered the day before. He told the owner of the Dealership that if it was not for me recommending that I go to them he would never have purchased from them as he wanted an "evil orange tractor" like me..
I think the Blue Tractor Dealer is now dead to me.
" A man and his Hog", and I do not mean a Harley
As we all know tools play a pivotal role in many of our food plots and when they go down it stymies our plans.
As you may recall my Hog bit the dust last year when one of the blades came off. Of course when it did it tore the groove that the bolt spline
locks into. So I went out and bought two new blades and tried to buy the proper bolts and nuts, but not only did Tractor Supply no longer carry them, they said they did not think they could get them from Tarter. So my initial attempt to fix the Hog last year went no where. So of course it sat, and sat until I discovered that there would be no plotting this year without cutting the hay fields that my plots had become.
I recently found a couple of bolts and nuts that I figured could work and on Aug 3rd I made a second attempt to cut the spline groove back in with a Dremel and add a new blade. While I managed to cut the groove, I could not get the nut locked up enough so the blade had to much play. Of course when I went to remove the other blade the old nut was a different size then the new nut so I was not going to buy another large socket to do this one nut.
So it was off to the Blue Tractor Dealer that was so helpful last year. The owner was present when I dropped it off (Aug 3rd) and he told me that they could not get to it until the next week. I told the owner that I understood and that it was fine. I chatted with the manager about being up against a window to get my food plots in and that I should have brought it in months ago. Well given CTM1 is involved we know things at the Blue Tractor Dealer will not go as planned, hoped or in this case told.
Dropped the Hog off on Aug 3rd and was told it would be done by 13th. I will spare you the nightmare that followed of being told almost daily that they were working on it or that it was almost done etc. The kicker was during this never ending stringing along I was getting I had sent my friend specifically to them to buy a tractor, a $32k tractor with backhoe and thumb and a Hog. I jokingly said to the manager that I expected a commission and he said that he would take care of me. Well after 3 1/2 weeks of the Mangers promises and then excuses I told him on Friday Aug 26th to please prepare a bill for whatever work they had done as I was could not wait any longer as my planned food potting window was now over. The Manager offered no apology just that they were now swamped with new work, he said there would be no bill. I told him that I would pick it up the next day. Given I had my little nephew up visiting I did not want to waste a portion of his last day with me getting the hog so I left it for a pick up on Wed.
Well I got back to town on Tues Aug 30th and there was a message that the hog was done. So I went down on Wed the 31st with another friend and I was handed a $108 bill, with no apology for making me wait all these weeks, and not even a thank you for steering my friend to them to buy a tractor. The only one who thanked me was my friend who had his new tractor delivered the day before. He told the owner of the Dealership that if it was not for me recommending that I go to them he would never have purchased from them as he wanted an "evil orange tractor" like me.
. I think the Blue Tractor Dealer is now dead to me.
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CTM1
Active Member
On Aug 4th I made my way over to the "The 66" with the Evil Orange Tractor with the intent of doing some dicing and slicing with the disc. (Hog is in the shop)
I made about 1/2 dozen passes with the disc and this is what I was rewarded with for my efforts, nothing.
The grass and the soil laughed at my feeble attempt.
So feeling a little frustrated I engaged the thing that resides inside my brain bucket and said hey you have this Stihl Kombi system that you spent $1k+ on and it came with a scythe. Yeah, but no, as the grass was not having it. I found myself fighting the scythe every step of the way in the tall heavy grass. So it was onto plan three. Remember kids always have a backup to your backup or be able to overcome and adapt fast on your feet.
So in my infinite wisdom I said let me cut a tree down (I wanted it down anyway) so I can use it to add weight to the back of the disc. Now the one thing I can do well is cut down trees, but given this tree is on the "The 66" it decided to fall the wrong way and got hung up in another tree.
So what would have been a ten minute job on any other property turned into about 40 minutes. The up side was that I sweated and lost about 2 ounces, the down side is that it is less fat to keep me warm in winter.
So here is the newly weighted disc. I even added extra weight with all of that grass that is wrapped around the gang shafts.
I fired up the Evil Orange and was back at it, but sadly the added weight made little difference. I tried going fast, I tried slow and in between, but it was futile.
This was after another six passes.
It was clear that I needed the Hog or I needed to kill it off, or I needed to get crazy and roll the dice and try the tiller again. As you may recall the tiller did not fair to well last year with rocks and roots, but hey if it ain't broke I cannot help the economy by buying parts to fix it and that would be UN-American. I remember the words of my last President (Bush), and he said get out there and spend some money to help the economy.
I made about 1/2 dozen passes with the disc and this is what I was rewarded with for my efforts, nothing.
The grass and the soil laughed at my feeble attempt.
So feeling a little frustrated I engaged the thing that resides inside my brain bucket and said hey you have this Stihl Kombi system that you spent $1k+ on and it came with a scythe. Yeah, but no, as the grass was not having it. I found myself fighting the scythe every step of the way in the tall heavy grass. So it was onto plan three. Remember kids always have a backup to your backup or be able to overcome and adapt fast on your feet.
So in my infinite wisdom I said let me cut a tree down (I wanted it down anyway) so I can use it to add weight to the back of the disc. Now the one thing I can do well is cut down trees, but given this tree is on the "The 66" it decided to fall the wrong way and got hung up in another tree.
So what would have been a ten minute job on any other property turned into about 40 minutes. The up side was that I sweated and lost about 2 ounces, the down side is that it is less fat to keep me warm in winter.
So here is the newly weighted disc. I even added extra weight with all of that grass that is wrapped around the gang shafts.
I fired up the Evil Orange and was back at it, but sadly the added weight made little difference. I tried going fast, I tried slow and in between, but it was futile.
This was after another six passes.
It was clear that I needed the Hog or I needed to kill it off, or I needed to get crazy and roll the dice and try the tiller again. As you may recall the tiller did not fair to well last year with rocks and roots, but hey if it ain't broke I cannot help the economy by buying parts to fix it and that would be UN-American. I remember the words of my last President (Bush), and he said get out there and spend some money to help the economy.
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CTM1
Active Member
What time is it, it's LIME TIME.
10 tons to be exact, and thank God that the driver was cool and willing to take the chance to drive the truck back up and into the plots.
I drove him up first and we walked the fields and he said he really did not know given the amount of rain we had been having, but he was willing to play craps. Obviously the last thing either of us wanted was for his rig to become a permanent field ornament.
This turn into Field made us both nervous as there was no way my little tractor could have righted this one had it gone over.
Let the white powder fly
The Evil Orange Tractor surveys the situation and she is not impressed.
The old tiller sits in wait, waiting for me to commence the age old battle of steel against against stone. I got $50 that says I can break this old girl before I am done tilling.
There were a few corners that were to muddy to get back into so he dropped little piles near them and I came back later with the tractor and spread them by feathering the buckets as I dropped the lime.
Given my soil test said it was borderline toxic and in need of 17,000lbs per acre I decided to pick three fields for this round and break it down into a two year program.
I had 5 tons spread in one field 1ac, and then I split the other 5 tons into two other 1/2 acre fields. FYI that was $575 spread and I gave the driver a $30 tip. The man saved my spine from having to spread 10 tons by tractor and my 10' lime spreader.
10 tons to be exact, and thank God that the driver was cool and willing to take the chance to drive the truck back up and into the plots.
I drove him up first and we walked the fields and he said he really did not know given the amount of rain we had been having, but he was willing to play craps. Obviously the last thing either of us wanted was for his rig to become a permanent field ornament.
This turn into Field made us both nervous as there was no way my little tractor could have righted this one had it gone over.
Let the white powder fly
The Evil Orange Tractor surveys the situation and she is not impressed.
The old tiller sits in wait, waiting for me to commence the age old battle of steel against against stone. I got $50 that says I can break this old girl before I am done tilling.
There were a few corners that were to muddy to get back into so he dropped little piles near them and I came back later with the tractor and spread them by feathering the buckets as I dropped the lime.
Given my soil test said it was borderline toxic and in need of 17,000lbs per acre I decided to pick three fields for this round and break it down into a two year program.
I had 5 tons spread in one field 1ac, and then I split the other 5 tons into two other 1/2 acre fields. FYI that was $575 spread and I gave the driver a $30 tip. The man saved my spine from having to spread 10 tons by tractor and my 10' lime spreader.
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CTM1
Active Member
No summer would be complete without a visit from my little nephew.
So I drove down state a couple of weeks ago to pick him up and bring him home.
The kid loves picking up large rocks and making them into little rocks.
He was really excited when he found this one with a little shed snake skin on it.
No trip is complete without some archery.
Robin Hood he is not, but in his defense he does not get to shoot often and the bow leaves a lot to be desired.
When he does get a bulls-eye he lets you know it and I capture it.
His 10th birthday was coming up so as I was headed back down state to deliver him to his Mother I told him that I had to stop in Gander Mountain to pick up some broadheads. I made sure we stumbled into the pellet gun isle and said kid if you had a choice between a pellet gun or new bow, a real bow what would you pick. He leaped up and said "a compound bow with an actual sight". He carefully studied the options in the pellet gun isle and his bow options. He picked the bow, and just to make sure I asked the tech in the archery dept if he could check to see if it was correct for his draw length, it was not. The tech asked about his eye dominance and in unison we said right, so the tech said lets check. Turns out the kid and I were both wrong, the kid does everything with his right hand but he is left eye dominate. Right on Que the kid says no wonder I have been missing the target so much as I have been shooting with the wrong eye. So the tech said I have just the bow, a "Diamond" from Bowtech. I saw the sticker price and Uncle CTM1 cringed as it was double the price of what I had in mind. I though about it without letting the kid know and came to the conclusion that given the range that the bow can accommodate it would last him three to four years. The tech then set the bow up for the kid along with some arrows, and a release. I said Happy Birthday kid and the smile and the hug I got was well worth the price of admission. He told his Mother that he needs to move upstate with me full time so he can practice with his bow daily. He told us over dinner that he wants to make some calculations about how many bulls-eyes he would have had and should have had if we had determined his eye dominance a couple of years ago. You have to love kids.
So I drove down state a couple of weeks ago to pick him up and bring him home.
The kid loves picking up large rocks and making them into little rocks.
He was really excited when he found this one with a little shed snake skin on it.
No trip is complete without some archery.
Robin Hood he is not, but in his defense he does not get to shoot often and the bow leaves a lot to be desired.
When he does get a bulls-eye he lets you know it and I capture it.
His 10th birthday was coming up so as I was headed back down state to deliver him to his Mother I told him that I had to stop in Gander Mountain to pick up some broadheads. I made sure we stumbled into the pellet gun isle and said kid if you had a choice between a pellet gun or new bow, a real bow what would you pick. He leaped up and said "a compound bow with an actual sight". He carefully studied the options in the pellet gun isle and his bow options. He picked the bow, and just to make sure I asked the tech in the archery dept if he could check to see if it was correct for his draw length, it was not. The tech asked about his eye dominance and in unison we said right, so the tech said lets check. Turns out the kid and I were both wrong, the kid does everything with his right hand but he is left eye dominate. Right on Que the kid says no wonder I have been missing the target so much as I have been shooting with the wrong eye. So the tech said I have just the bow, a "Diamond" from Bowtech. I saw the sticker price and Uncle CTM1 cringed as it was double the price of what I had in mind. I though about it without letting the kid know and came to the conclusion that given the range that the bow can accommodate it would last him three to four years. The tech then set the bow up for the kid along with some arrows, and a release. I said Happy Birthday kid and the smile and the hug I got was well worth the price of admission. He told his Mother that he needs to move upstate with me full time so he can practice with his bow daily. He told us over dinner that he wants to make some calculations about how many bulls-eyes he would have had and should have had if we had determined his eye dominance a couple of years ago. You have to love kids.
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My story for the night. It was much longer but I decided to take a hatchet to it and spare you guys.
" A man and his Hog", and I do not mean a Harley
As we all know tools play a pivotal role in many of our food plots and when they go down it stymies our plans.
As you may recall my Hog bit the dust last year when one of the blades came off. Of course when it did it tore the groove that the bolt spline
locks into. So I went out and bought two new blades and tried to buy the proper bolts and nuts, but not only did Tractor Supply no longer carry them, they said they did not think they could get them from Tarter. So my initial attempt to fix the Hog last year went no where. So of course it sat, and sat until I discovered that there would be no plotting this year without cutting the hay fields that my plots had become.
I recently found a couple of bolts and nuts that I figured could work and on Aug 3rd I made a second attempt to cut the spline groove back in with a Dremel and add a new blade. While I managed to cut the groove, I could not get the nut locked up enough so the blade had to much play. Of course when I went to remove the other blade the old nut was a different size then the new nut so I was not going to buy another large socket to do this one nut.
So it was off to the Blue Tractor Dealer that was so helpful last year. The owner was present when I dropped it off (Aug 3rd) and he told me that they could not get to it until the next week. I told the owner that I understood and that it was fine. I chatted with the manager about being up against a window to get my food plots in and that I should have brought it in months ago. Well given CTM1 is involved we know things at the Blue Tractor Dealer will not go as planned, hoped or in this case told.
Dropped the Hog off on Aug 3rd and was told it would be done by 13th. I will spare you the nightmare that followed of being told almost daily that they were working on it or that it was almost done etc. The kicker was during this never ending stringing along I was getting I had sent my friend specifically to them to buy a tractor, a $32k tractor with backhoe and thumb and a Hog. I jokingly said to the manager that I expected a commission and he said that he would take care of me. Well after 3 1/2 weeks of the Mangers promises and then excuses I told him on Friday Aug 26th to please prepare a bill for whatever work they had done as I was could not wait any longer as my planned food potting window was now over. The Manager offered no apology just that they were now swamped with new work, he said there would be no bill. I told him that I would pick it up the next day. Given I had my little nephew up visiting I did not want to waste a portion of his last day with me getting the hog so I left it for a pick up on Wed.
Well I got back to town on Tues and there was a message that the hog was done. So I went down on Wed with another friend and I was handed a $108 bill, with no apology for making me wait all these weeks, and not even a thank you for steering my friend to them to buy a tractor. The only one who thanked me was my friend who had his new tractor delivered the day before. He told the owner of the Dealership that if it was not for me recommending that I go to them he would never have purchased from them as he wanted an "evil orange tractor" like me.
I think the Blue Tractor Dealer is now dead to me.
I guess I am confused? If they told you the "hog" was fixed and you paid and picked it up why didn't you use it?
CTM1
Active Member
I just got the hog back until Aug 31, the pics I posted of my attempt to disc was done on Aug 3rd.
JohnL48
Well-Known Member
CTM1
Active Member
We have a deal, I get him ready for hunting and he takes care of me when I am old.
CTM1
Active Member
Yep, I should have hit with GLY, but I was so busy attending to other things in life. I had two huge hemlocks snap off and take down a hand stacked bluestone chimney as well as coming through the roof of an old shack I have on the property.
CTM1
Active Member
CTM1
Active Member
I don't even know if my plots grew. Been up twice this yr
I should have some time on Thurs, so if you want me to head over I will gladly take a look and send you some pics.
Let me know as it is no trouble at all.
JohnL48
Well-Known Member
Thought I was dead to you lol I'm heading up next week for a day to cut the grass. Been a busy year, not a good cabin yr for me.
CTM1
Active Member
Sept 1
Now that I have the Hog back it is time to get at it, so it was over to the "66" to start cutting.
I packed a lunch and plenty of cold water and as I stepped out the door of the house I was greeted with blue skies and and just enough of a breeze to keep the bugs at bay while on the tractor. So I embark on the 15 miles drive over the the "66". I make my way up the hill and over to the tractor only to discover that I had left the key at home. I normally leave it in the truck but for whatever reason when I dropped the Hog off at the property the day before I put the key in my pocket and not back in its proper place in the truck. So it is back home to retrieve the key.
While home I grab the socket set and a few other odds and ends juts in case. I am back on the road in under ten minutes making the 15t miles drive. I take the disc off the tractor and mount the Hog and when I go to attache the PTO shaft I discover that I forgot the other half back in the garage. The Hog had been in the shop for almost a month with the long section of the PTO shaft mounted so I did not take notice that the front part was missing. So it is back into the truck to make another 30 mile round trip. I am back at the "66" by about 11am and finally on the tractor and hogging.
Field 3 is done and I even managed to expand it by another 1/4 acre by cutting further down the slope.
Now that I have the Hog back it is time to get at it, so it was over to the "66" to start cutting.
I packed a lunch and plenty of cold water and as I stepped out the door of the house I was greeted with blue skies and and just enough of a breeze to keep the bugs at bay while on the tractor. So I embark on the 15 miles drive over the the "66". I make my way up the hill and over to the tractor only to discover that I had left the key at home. I normally leave it in the truck but for whatever reason when I dropped the Hog off at the property the day before I put the key in my pocket and not back in its proper place in the truck. So it is back home to retrieve the key.
While home I grab the socket set and a few other odds and ends juts in case. I am back on the road in under ten minutes making the 15t miles drive. I take the disc off the tractor and mount the Hog and when I go to attache the PTO shaft I discover that I forgot the other half back in the garage. The Hog had been in the shop for almost a month with the long section of the PTO shaft mounted so I did not take notice that the front part was missing. So it is back into the truck to make another 30 mile round trip. I am back at the "66" by about 11am and finally on the tractor and hogging.
Field 3 is done and I even managed to expand it by another 1/4 acre by cutting further down the slope.
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