Thursday - night

Definitely still under the weather. I am getting better but not that much yet. At least the headaches are mostly gone.  That was annoying, an all day long headache I couldn't get rid of.  

Anyway, the boys got home from school early - earlier than I anticipated but not by a terrible amount. Mom was busy all day long with work, happy to help out if I"m not working or otherwise doing something that I have to get done.  

So, I decided we'd go get a bite to eat and then head over there to the tractor place, otherwise known as United AG and Turf, ergo: John Deere. If you look it up, it will tell you that John Deere was founded in 1837, long before gasoline or diesel engines were even invented much more an every day thing that you basically must have in this "modern" world.  

Now, I bought John Deere not just because of name brand and highly regarded reputation, no, that actually wasn't my top priority.  They have a very large store covering a few acres of property in town with a complete service shop. That's what did it for me.  I have extended warranty coverage and some plan for replacement parts including the expensive stuff if it goes on the whack.  A relative few extra dollars.  

Anyway, I don't want to have to drag a machine 25, 30, 40 even 45 miles each way to get the machine to a shop.  I don't have time for that or the desire.  John Deere is the only tractor store in town here. But boy do they have the selection.  From absolutely mammoth machines down to itty bitty little things.

Mine is bigger than itty bitty but certainly doesn't compare to those monster farm machines, I don't need anything that big and frankly, it wouldn't work.  This unit is hydrostatic, not clutch driven. That old Kubota the kid had over there was nice to have around but it was a pain to use. Push the clutch in for everything and slow.  I got the larger engine and I think I made the right decision on that. A few thousand more but the extra horsepower will get dirt jobs done easier.  

They also sell a hoe attachment for it, but at 12 grand I scoffed. No thank you. I use one of those every once in a while, if I absolutely have to have one, I'll just keep renting them.  They are near $500 per day rental, but at maybe twice a year? No need for it.  I was trying to keep the payment at around the cost of an RV lot. I was already giving the lot away for a couple of years in exchange for tractor use, now I wonder if I shouldn't have just bought the unit at the get go and have 2 years of payments behind me already....oh well. 

Anyway, after seeing the unit sitting there in it's green glory, I was very pleased with the purchase.  It's much easier operation than a manual setup, MUCH easier.  I wasn't very happy that people who came in after me were getting taken care of before me.  I had texted the salesman who asked me to let them know before I showed up he would make sure they have it ready. 

Nahh, bro. 2 other customers were taken care of before me.  I guess a form of discrimination in that they were obviously spending a lot more money and likely frequent customers.  I was actually on the verge of leaving - they can call me and I'll tell them exactly what was happening and how I felt about it, they can deliver the thing now or cancel the contract and I'll go out of town for my tractor needs.  Oh, I don't mind discrimination such as race or gender or whatever, just that you know that many businesses will give better service to repeat customers, especially if they're spendy.

Applebee's would be my example.  I go there often enough they all know me by name, they know where we want to sit and they know what we are drinking before we say a word.  I've been going in there for at least a decade now. It seems unfathomable that I have lived out here this long.

Well, they came up to my truck where we were waiting and said, well that guy just has to chain down his tractor and we can load you up. Some other dude came out and asked why not just ask that guy to move? He must have seen me sitting there patiently - trying to be patient anyway - waiting for some time now and I agreed. PLENTY of room up ahead of him and that tractor isn't going to magically fall off the trailer moving it 50 feet at 3 mph.

That guy that came out ended up being far more helpful than this salesman. Note that this salesman wasn't the one I was dealing with to purchase the unit. They had a yard worker drive the think up on there and then I asked where the tie down holes are? Well, there aren't any. 

Now that is kind of weird. MOST heavy equipment has holes built into them for chains to tie it down, the manufacturers know you have to chain down heavy equipment in order to haul it anywhere.  Just think after all of this time in the business they would have thought of that.  Anyway, the guy said well, just my input and you don't have to do anything I'm saying, but this is how I do it...

Yes please, I have no idea where you would chain this thing down without damaging it, at least not without studying it for quite a while.  We got it all nicely chained down and they were kind enough to put air in my trailer tires. They looked fine - until all that weight was driven up on it.  They were half flat.  Yikes! They filled all the tires up - they are newer tires that trailer just doesn't get used that often. Nice to have around when I need it but I really, really, reeeeeally didn't want to have to go out and buy a new trailer for this thing. It worked out nicely.

Well, I headed down I-20 to the next exit to get to my property but it started raining and I was running out of steam. Still sick, you know. Just wanted to get this done and over with. So, I got off at that exit and drove home instead.  It's parked in the front yard. I want to get a tracking device for it. One of those GPS things you hide on it in case it's stolen. But I have a good place to park it where a person or people would have to go way out of their way to steal it and would be doing it in plain view of tenants.  I have some good people in there now. I let them do things and in return, they watch out for me and my stuff. 

I've got another long term coming in soon, well they say they are anyway and another coming for a month or two.  Trying to get all the lots filled back up, I have 3 empties right now.  

That's about it. It did rain today but nothing like the forecast was showing. I didn't do much after the tractor affair.  Sleep, cook dinner, made the unfortunate decision to succumb to demands to go for a bike ride and just watched tv and played a few games after that. Oh, and one of the kids fell off his bike. Nasty fall.  I forced him to put a bag of ice on that knee, he was complaining at first but after a while, ohh this is working!

G'nite.