Sunday, September 1, 2013

August Cleanup

 
     In the years after 1972, the year Dad had his heart attack, my brothers would return to the farm on Friday before Labor Day to plant wheat.  Dad could still drive the tractor, but the physical labor of filling the drills with seed and greasing the drills was too much. 
    So on Friday afternoon late, the first son to arrive would fill the drills and begin planting.  We would take turns, someone running late into the evening (even after dark when we had a tractor with functioning lights), someone else starting early in the morning, running through the noon hour (a great break-through, because Granny ruled the noon hour and you would be at the dinner table at 12 o’clock or face dire consequences) hoping to be finished or near, by Sunday evening, maybe running a few hours Monday morning before returning to our homes and jobs.
     In the years when I took over the farm, Labor Day remained the time to plant wheat.  So the September holiday has rolled around for 2013 and the drills are sitting.  It’s too hot and a rain, if not quite mandatory, would really be nice.  A good rain would require one more tillage operation, the good old rod weeder.
     As “Hope springs eternal” I have made some moves to wake the rod weeder from 20 years of sleep.  In order to move it from its resting place, tires must be replaced.




     The best and worst tires are side by side.  The pocket gophers found the one on the left so delectable they left only the wire-filled bead.  The one on the right looked fairly good, until it was bottoms up.



     So remove the old tire and prepare the rims for “new” ones.  File, wire brush, abrasive disk on the electric drill, and finally a coat of paint and we are ready.


     Well, Mother Nature can’t be rushed, so time to do a little fall clean up while we wait for the rain.










    And the landfill pile gets bigger.



     There were a couple of other ups and downs:





      The slip-in-slip-out hitch pin has been replaced with one with threads.  The real answer is of course a good rain.  Then I won’t have to haul water to trees. 

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