Senile Texas Aggie - comic relief for the rest of you

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Today, I decided to go back to eating the elephant again. I wish I had done something else, as it was expensive. First, I decided to grease the tractor. I got almost done when I ran out of grease in the grease gun. After replacing the cartridge, I was able to grease 2 more fittings before the grease stopped coming out. No matter what I tried, I was unable to bleed the air out of the grease gun. I decided I would go ahead and go to the elephant and worry about bleeding the grease gun later.

I decided to take one of my Beautiful Gal's pole saws with me to cut trees and branches that I could not reach using the reciprocating saw. That was a mistake. After a couple of hours, as I made my way through the tall weeds and brush in the south part of the elephant, I knocked the pole saw off the tractor but failed to notice I had done so. I ran over it and chewed it up with the shredder, but again didn't notice until the next pass, when I saw the part of the saw that holds the battery lying in the grass. I shook my head in disbelief, and also felt sick because I had broken my Beautiful Gal's favorite tool. (Fortunately we have a second one.) I decided that was enough and I would go back home. While driving back to the house, I decided I would mow along the edge of the pasture next to the trees. While doing so, a tree limb knocked my stainless steel water jug off of the tractor, and I think I hit it with the edge of the mower (not the blade) and put a big dent in it. Again, I didn't notice until I got to the driveway, when I noticed it was gone, so I had to go back and find it. Here is a picture of the damaged pole saw, the other (intact) pole saw, and the dented water jug:


I think tomorrow, instead of going with the tractor, I will go in the Gator and carry more of the brush cutting tools with me. Maybe I won't lose them that way!

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[Mike CHS]

Every once in awhile I would carry tools in the front end loader bucket and came close a couple of times to running over something when it bounce out. I quit doing that.

 

[Bruce]

Yeah, I've not found a good solution to carrying tools on the tractor. When I had the backhoe on I had a box a computer came in wedged between the back of the tractor seat and the BH controls. I could carry my logging stuff in that. Subsequently made a holder for the saw on the left side just behind the loader arms. But now with the flail on, I really don't have anywhere to carry stuff. I saw a ROPS rack on Tractor Mike, don't know what they cost and it would have to be removed if I wanted to use the BH.

 

[Mike CHS]

I use the Polaris almost all of the time now but when it goes in for work I still have a golf cart to use unless it's raining out and then I'm back to the tractor.

 

[Baymule]

We tend to do things as a team, do one on the tractor, one to drive the Kawasaki Mule, with the tools in the back. STA if working alone without your Beloved, perhaps transport the tools in the Gator, then go back for the tractor. Or maybe use tractor, then go get gator and use tools. Trying to do 2 things at once for maximum efficiency doesn’t seem to be working out. I have dumped tools out of tractor bucket too.

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

All,

Well, I have yet to go back to eating the elephant again. Yesterday, my Beautiful Gal and I decided to go grocery shopping together. I usually go by myself, but this time she went with me. On the way home, we stopped and got some off road diesel to go in the tractor. By the time we got home, it was almost 11 and already hot. I decided to wait until today. We had a bunch of thunderstorms come through last night, and when we got up this morning, it looked as if we were going to have more rain. I have been waiting on the rain and it has yet to come through. It seems to fall apart after it crosses the Oklahoma / Arkansas border.

If Mr. Greybeard were still on the forum, he would be telling me to stop coveting, as I have it bad right now. What is it I am coveting? Well, I saw this video on Tractor Mike's YouTube channel, and it hit me bad:

When I saw how quickly he was able to remove fairly large trees, I thought "Wow! I need to think about getting one of those!" So I looked for YouTube videos for brush cutting attachments for tractors, and found several. Almost all of them are $5,000 or more, including the one shown by Tractor Mike. Ouch! But seeing how quickly they would cut down trees and brush, I am not all that eager to start back with my shredder, chain saw, pole saw, and reciprocating saw.

The last time this coveting happened was when I first watched Mike Morgan on the Outdoors with the Morgans YouTube channel using a grapple. We had been clearing out around the pond by hand, but after I saw how much work he got done, I lost a lot of my enthusiasm for continuing to work. I eventually got a grapple later that year and I have been so glad I did. Would one of these brush clearing tools be worth the money? I don't know, but it surely is tempting to buy one and find out! Have any of you folks ever bought a tractor implement and regretted the purchase, think it was too costly for the use you got out of it? Tell me all about your purchases, those you are glad you did and those you wish you did not.

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[Baymule]

Have any of you folks ever bought a tractor implement and regretted the purchase, think it was too costly for the use you got out of it? Tell me all about your purchases, those you are glad you did and those you wish you did not.

Senile Texas Aggie

No I haven't bought an implement and regretted it. What you need to do is weigh up your options. How long will it take you to clear and clean up your property? How much would it cost to have it forestry mulched like I had done? How much would it cost to hire a bull dozer? So you buy this, cut the trees and you still have trees to pile and burn. Maybe hire it done. Maybe buy the new toy to play with, get it done much quicker with less wear and tear on you and your lovely wife. Then you can move on to other things that y'all enjoy doing. After you get the work done, sell the implement to recoup some of the cost, which would lower the cost of the work you did, balanced against the cost of the bull dozer/forestry mulcher.

Have you bought it yet? LOL

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Have you bought it yet?

Not yet. I am browsing YouTube to see the different kinds and how much they cost.

 

[Baymule]

Not yet. I am browsing YouTube to see the different kinds and how much they cost.

 

[Bruce]

Almost all of them are $5,000 or more, including the one shown by Tractor Mike.

I saw that too, looked pretty slick though I wonder about the possibility of a tree coming back on the tractor even with the metal "deflector". And yeah lots of money. It might be the kind of thing one affords if they are hiring themselves out. But Bay has a good point if you could use it and resell it, you could recover some cost. On the other hand, you have a lot of acreage and might use it for years as you clear one area or another.

Yesterday, my Beautiful Gal and I decided to go grocery shopping together. I usually go by myself, but this time she went with me.

I've noticed the bill is always a lot higher when DW goes with me.