[AT] The Portland Swap Meet - Ramble

[Robinson]

Cecil E Monson wrote:

>     Well, it sounds like everyone had a good time at the Swap
> Meet this year. If there was ever a place I wish I lived closer to
> it would be this one. I'm going to have to figure out a way to move
> a little closer, I guess. Driving a hundred miles is one thing but
> over 700 takes a little more doing. grins.
> 
>     So, the big question is, who had the most luck this year
> and found the biggest bargain or the biggest prize?  You guys can
> tell me. I won't tell anybody. ;-)
> 
> Cecil





	We got there Friday morning instead of Thursday like I had 
hoped. I was still working on horse stalls and pen at 10:00 
PM Thursday night. Got to have a nice visit with George 
Willer and Larry, Darrel and Darrel... No wait, That was 
Larry, Gene and Gary...   ;-)   (Dotson). I missed Randy 
Wilcox. I got to see Keith Kinney and his dad and Curt 
Holland of the engine list. I met lots of nice folks I 
didn't know. I also met "Red the Cajun" from Muncie IN by 
way of possibly New Orleans but I'll let George try to 
explain him...   :-)  How do you spell "a - liggater" anyway?
	In case nobody that was there noticed it rained... It spit 
rain, it sprinkled rain, it poured rain and it blew cold 
rain horizontally.   :-)  Ever try to put up one of those 
cheap gazebo things in gale force winds? A lot of folks kept 
plugging away at things but it really did almost ruin the 
meet. We had planned to stay until Sunday but left Saturday 
evening after it became pretty obvious that if we stayed we 
would be very lonely.
	Diana bought 3 books from the folks next to us for .25 
cents each and all I bought was a new high quality "Case-IH 
licensed" reprint of a Farmall Super MTA manual for $23. I 
tried very hard to not look too strongly at stuff for sale 
and I didn't go to the auction or even look at what was  to 
be sold. I just kept telling myself I was there to get rid 
of stuff, not buy more.   :-)
	I did get rid of about half of the stuff I took but I did 
cheat and give several items away free on Saturday. I did 
sell the "Ford PTO drill press / grinder" to a nice father 
and son from Ohio who I believe is an old Ford dealer. I 
sold it for $550. I had several offers of a tiny bit less. 
Since I acquired it as part of 18 tons of steel and scrap 
that I bought a couple of years ago for $32.00 a ton I 
figured I had maybe $1.60 invested in it.
	When life gives you lemons you should make lemonade. When 
it decided to rain all day Saturday too I posted a large 
sign that I was having a "Big Drouth Sale". Had a lot of fun 
with that one.
	As usual some of the more interesting things there were 
some of the butt buggies.
	We got Home somewhere about 6:30 PM and son Scott was still 
working hard on the horse stall situation. I then worked on 
it until after 10:00 PM again. If someone had told me going 
in that rebuilding that end of that barn was going to be 
that much work I would have said they were nuts. Just no 
stopping place.   :-)  We still have a little to do this 
morning before he brings the first horse today. His lady 
friend shows horses constantly all summer. She does well at 
it and has placed highly nationally in the past. Nice girl 
but her ideas of how you keep horses and mine are a little 
far apart. I believe in as close to nature as possible with 
lots of fresh air, sunshine, grass, good hay and a well 
ventilated stall. The show folks do a "LOT" of confining 
with store bought feeds, a tightly closed stall, artificial 
light and some heat in the winter. It all supposedly has to 
do with controlling seasonal hair coat growth and teaching 
them to deal with boredom as I understand it. Well, 
actually, I don't really understand it, I'll just live with 
it...   ;-)
	We decided last night that later this summer we will be 
adding a third stall next to those two. Since it will be 
built from scratch it will be a lot less work than repairing 
the old barn was. I just wanted to repair the old barn's 
shed rather than tear it off. Probably the only list member 
that would know which shed is Alan up there in Vermont... 
it's the one the John Deere A was sitting in at the barns 
down the road when you were here.
	I hope to have 2 more stalls with small lots and at least 2 
run-in sheds with pastures ready by late summer up here 
where the house is.
	I have a 28 by 64 open faced tool shed that I believe I can 
reproduce for about $2500. I'm hoping I can produce enough 
income from the horse stalls in a year to build another like 
it. That will give us more useful tractor  and implement 
storage than the barns and free up much of the barns for 
horses and hay storage (if I can get rid of more junk). It 
is just frightening how much "stuff" you can accumulate when 
you have 3 barns with lofts that have not been needed for 
hay for 40 years...  :-)
	If I can pull all of this off then maybe I can get back on 
track with the original stable plan I was working on. Gee, 
old tractors are easy.

-- 



"farmer"

My latest list "No Nonsense Horse" (includes donkeys & mules).
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NoNonsenseHorse/



Francis Robinson
Central Indiana USA
robinson at svs.net


_______________________________________________
AT mailing list
http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at