[AT] Old tractors and old men

Cecil Bearden crbearden at copper.net
Sun Feb 5 18:21:15 PST 2017


Charlie:
I went through the same thing after my Dad died.  It seemed I could 
handle everything while I was taking care of him.  Then after he died 
everything was overwhelming.  I just  did not want to do anything.  I 
tried my hand at contracting and lost my butt. I still have the 
equipment, and it is paid for, but it took me a year to pay off the $15K 
I lost on the first job.  Now, I have the desire to do something, but it 
seems that too many people want me to do engineering, and I just hate to 
turn down work.   I raised my fees 66%, and I got more business!!!  My 
Dad would always tell me that I could work on this junk equipment 
anytime, but when there was a paying job, you had to go after it.   Now, 
with Social Security and a retirement money, I would rather work with my 
Cattle and bale hay...  Cattle prices are coming down, and hay is half 
what it was last year.   But, it has rained 2 inches since August here.  
We got that last month.  It was supposed to have broken the drought.... 
   I had a water line break 2 weeks ago.  I dug 6 ft down repairing it 
and never hit moist earth.   Even after the water had been running for a 
day...   I have Rye that was sowed a week after the August rain.  It was 
also fertilized.  It is less than 2 inches tall....

I can tell you this.  When you stop working on something, it takes 4 
times the effort to get back to it....  I guess you could call it 
momentum.....

Keep moving!!

Cecil in OKla

On 2/5/2017 1:35 PM, charlie hill wrote:
> Herb and Grant,
>
> I agree with both of you whole heartedly and in fact the two of you
> have been inspirational to me.   Particularly Herb because we have
> met and I know that you are older than me and have more health problems
> too.  I seriously thought about trying to do something with the farm this
> year
> but I was in the middle of getting checked out by doctors and it was time to
> make a decision.  I couldn't leave the farm untended for another year
> without
> loosing my agricultural exemption for property taxes and also my sister is
> my
> equal partner in the land and I have to keep her happy as well.  So, I went
> ahead
> and leased the farm.  It's a year to year lease but I hate to snatch it away
> from the
> guy until he's he's had a few years to recover his initial investment in
> cleaning the
> place up after the former tenant, who was going broke, allowed it to go
> down.
> I'm thinking what I might do is start out small this year or next by plowing
> up some
> land that is now unused pasture that I have to keep mowed.  Then if it works
> out
> I can start to reclaim part of the farmland a few acres at a time while he
> tends the
> rest.  We'll see.  My main problem is that I lack the motivation.  I don't
> know exactly
> why but lately I can't get motivated to do even the simplest tasks.   I
> don't know if it
> is the result of some depression or perhaps mild post traumatic stress from
> dealing
> with my moms failing health or what but I have to figure out how to fight my
> way through
> it.
>
> Stay tuned.
>
> Charlie
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Grant Brians
> Sent: Sunday, February 05, 2017 9:42 AM
> To: Antique tractor email discussion group
> Subject: Re: [AT] Old tractors and old men
>
> Herb's advice here in his post is right on target. The fun part of
> farmers markets is the interaction with people and supplying them with
> nutritious and tasty food. The best sales people I have seen at farmers
> markets are almost always senior citizen men. My advice to Charlie and
> others is to also look for a young person who doesn't have access to
> land or tools but can be interested in farming. I myself got into
> farming because I had a market garden in our Suburb when I was 10-13
> years old on a neighbors property. He and his wife loved the veggies and
> that the property was taken care of ad he liked seeing me work....
>               Grant Brians - Hollister,California farmer
> p.s. I will admit I grew up before Video Games, cell phones and the
> Internet so I wa wired for work, but still there are young people out
> there who want to learn and work.
> On 2/4/2017 7:10 PM, Herb Metz wrote:
>> Charlie, and Others, I turned 86 several months ago.  Ten years ago I
>> developed severe scoliosis, then old mans humped over condition.  It is
>> not
>> funny, but people (all ages and both sexes) clear a path and open any
>> doors
>> when they see me coming.  Surgeons reach for the door knob soon as they
>> learn that I have heart arrhythmia; also am on my second pacemaker. My
>> back
>> gets a bit worse each year;  doctors say to set my own pace.
>> Barbara and I seriously enjoy gardening; she has a prize daylily garden in
>> addition to roses, irises, etc.  I have a large no chemicals vegetable
>> garden and sell at both local farmers markets.  Not diplomatic enough to
>> be
>> considered a good salesman, but I sure enjoy selling because of the
>> conversation sharing with others who appreciate good vegetables.  That
>> perk
>> is a bigger plus than I ever expected; in fact I had not thought about it
>> until after it was well established.  And that is why I primarily
>> addressed
>> this email to you. You are an exceptional conversationalist, so I think
>> you
>> would likewise really enjoy the marketing portion of such project.
>> Yes, we are getting older; last year we had to hire a part time helper.
>> When I was 15 or 16, I remember Dad telling a carpenter cousin that
>> doctors
>> were now telling retiring farmers (many farmers in KS at that time) to
>> "stay
>> busy"; their prior advice had been "they had worked hard all of their
>> life,
>> so sit down and enjoy retirement and take it easy"; unfortunately many of
>> those farmers were being buried a few years later.
>> Another big perk is getting to use our Allis Chalmers tractors; D-14, G's,
>> 720 large lawn tractor, and equipment.
>> Just thinking about a trip to the VA and seeing young veterans in
>> wheelchairs, who will be in wheelchairs the rest of their lives (limbs
>> lost
>> because of land mines) quickly provides an occasional necessary attitude
>> adjustment. Herb(GA)
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: charlie hill
>> Sent: Saturday, February 04, 2017 5:32 PM
>> To: Antique tractor email discussion group
>> Subject: Re: [AT] Old tractors and old men
>>
>> I'm 66 now and according to my doctors and all the tests
>> I'm in good shape.  Blood and urine work all looks good.
>> No severe prostate problems yet, etc. but my legs are giving
>> me a fit.  Doc tells me my knees are far enough gone to replace
>> yet but they are a bit unstable and grind at times.  My right hip
>> is hurting me.  My ankles have been bad since I tore them up
>> playing football as a kid.  All of that together along with the stress
>> and inactivity of looking out for my mom for two years until her death
>> have turned me in to an aching,  out of shape  old man.  I have been
>> cleared by my doctors and a physical therapist to go to the gym and
>> try to get back in shape and I'm going to do that soon.  luckily my
>> insurance
>> will pay for most of the cost of that through a program called Silver and
>> Fit.
>> Others may have access to another program called Silver Sneakers.
>> My urologist did a CT scan of my kidneys and bladder recently.  He didn't
>> find
>> any problem there other than benign prostate hyperplasia but he did notice
>> that
>> I have some deteriorating discs in my lower back so I guess I need to be
>> careful
>> at the gym.
>>
>> Speaking of farming.  As sad as I am that my mom is now gone on, I always
>> thought
>> that when that day came I'd be free to do something different with our
>> small
>> farm.
>> I wanted to try farming some sweet potatoes, pumpkins, water melons, and
>> veggies for
>> sale at a road side stand.  I have almost all the equipment I need to do
>> it
>> and I even
>> have irrigation equipment left over from our tobacco farming days.
>> However,
>> I just don't
>> have the drive and motivation to do it now.  I also thought at this age
>> I'd
>> be able to restore
>> my tractors and old trucks but I don't have much enthusiasm for that
>> either.
>>
>> Oh well.  At least I'm on the green side of the grass.
>>
>> Charlie
>>
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