But ... But ... They just waxed it !

Got Aman's new office this week

Like any office the name needs to be on the door

And like any kid with a new toy he had to go play in the dirt with it.

But the boxes you play with are all inside this toy

 When Bill from Birkey's delivered it he said it would have been here sooner but they had to wax it first.

Goodby dear friends

Now, don't be jumping to conclusions.  it's not a suicide note.  I'm not making a big change in life ... well, maybe I am.  Wednesday a couple friends left the country.
Or at least our farm.

Bill from Birkey's said "I bet you don't think I can haul both of them at one time"
I didn't tell him I didn't have a doubt he could.

I took the wiring harness for the monitor to Oakland Wednesday morning and they asked if it would be OK to come pick up the tractors?  There was a guy coming from 4 hours north of Oakland to look at the Magnum.
An hour and a half later they were on the road

I'm probably going to miss them at times.  Every once in a while it would be nice to have a second Magnum or 4WD.  And I imagine when I start trying to figure out all these buttons, switches, and knobs I will miss the simplicity of both of them

 

Oh, and that is before we add the autosteer

and planter monitor.

But there are a lot fewer tires to maintain, half as many engines and transmissions.
A LOT more computers involved.
But she is pretty good lookin'

That photo is already out of date!

Yes, the photo below of the tractors is out of date.  Mike and Aman decided to upgrade the fleet and are giving Baby (the little 4WD tractor) a new home.  It and the big Magnum are being replaced with The Beast

a Case 275 Magnum.

It has RTX autosteer, so if you see Mike reading the newspaper going down through the field, don't be surprised.  Sorry, no television ... yet.

Oh, and keep your eyes open for changes in the web site.  We are in the process of making some major changes in the farm web site.  Mike has been talking about this for a long time, and finally found someone to help him along.  Lance Otto is a Minnesota farmer who also does web design.  He and Mike are working on a new site, but development may get paused if farming season gets here early.  The new site is temporarily at www.BumpusFarms.info if you want to visit from time to time and see what is happening.

Just keep in mind it is a work in progress.  It may not work properly and things WILL be changed.  But once it is up and going we hope to have secure pages for landowners to access data, have a photo gallery, who knows? There are LOTS of possibilities. Once it is up and going we will probably switch www.BumpusFarms.us to it as well.

A few random photos

Here are a few photos from the last couple weeks.  Yes, the weather has been a bit varied.

 

Slowly but slowly we are making progress

We started the insulating the shop project back in November. (I mentioned it in a post on December 9)  I don't know why, but it has been a lousy year for getting that one project finished.  Well, that isn't entirely true, I do know part of why.

For instance, you start out insulating a shed that has 30 years of accumulation. You move everything out from the wall, insulate it, and then go "Do I really want that back there?"  No, so you move stuff out from the other wall and insulate it. Then .... well, you get the picture.

Plus we start with one idea: insulate the shed. But then you decide the windows need replaced with better windows

The you look at the door and replace it.

Then you decide we need a stairway to the loft

The you go "OSHA and the Fire Marshal would probably want  exit door on the other side of the shed."  Plus it would be really handy.  And a window as well.

 One good thing we did was borrow John's scissor lift.

BOY was that a good idea! 

 And meetings and weddings and funerals and holidays and ... just life. I think one more day and we will reach a stopping point for this season even if we are not finished.

You see some of the silliest things

I commented on my personal blog recently about some of the dumb stuff a particular gas station did. Like piling truck tires in the driveway so you had to drive around them

Driving around this winter I keep seeing odd stuff.  Some is amusing, some heart breaking.  We were setting at a stop light Friday when I noticed the car in front of us.  Apparently they had trouble with the trunk release

it may not show here.  The key lock on the trunk door has a piece of metal pop-riveted over it.  A piece about the size an arm would need to unlatch it.

I didn't get a picture of it, but we followed an '80's Chevy Impala up 13th street in Terre Haute with the back end jacked up so high the bumper was at our eye level in the Honda.

I have been noticing some odd installations in Men's Rooms the last few months.  For instance this

Why they would plumb it that way ... had to be a farmer just using what he had on hand.

 Anyway, I thought I needed to update with SOMETHING.  To see what I have been doing visit my personal blog at http://walnutprairie.blogspot.com

Well, my streak may have run out

We've been doing some trading around on the farm.  I took Steve to get his truck out of the shop in Terre Haute one day and in the process got talking with the sales manager.  He asked if I was looking for something?

I told him I was too cheap.

"How cheap?"

"Really cheap."

"Come look at this..."

"This" was his personal truck.  He has a son in college and is needing money more than 8 vehicles (I can understand that). '01 Dodge 1500 extended cab 4WD fancy wheels, toolbox, Reese hitch.  Kind of like this but actually better looking:

It was even red.

He said a price.  I made an offer.  He said OK.

Great, how do I explain this at home?

On the way home I got to thinking about it.  Aman's truck is showing it's age, we have a Jeep we don't us nearly as much as I anticipated, 

 

and we have a flatbed we rarely use since got the F550. 

I offered to trade Aman straight up, then we'd sell it and the other 2 and I should come out even.

He thought on it for about 2 seconds.  Kind of like when I traded Jim the Toyota truck for the old Camaro ... REALLY? SERIOUSLY?

He listed his truck, sold it rather quickly.  I mentioned on Facebook I was going to sell the Jeep.  That was about 8 AM.  By noon I had a check in my hand.

I was talking to Ralph at the welding shop.  He had a tag axle for a truck he'd been trying to sell with no success.  I suggested he let me list it on the AgTalk+ Classifieds for him.  I listed it about 11:00 one night

A bit after 8 the next day he called to say it had been sold ... to a guy in Virginia.

We have some stuff I'm tired of walking over and around, like the planter closing wheels and stuff on the pallet I bought a couple years ago.

I listed them on AT+ late Thursday night.  By 11 the next day they were all spoken for

I listed the flat bed last night.

Also listed the KW.

 It's a good truck, too good a combination to break up.

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