[AT] Old tractors and old men
charlie hill
charliehill at embarqmail.com
Mon Feb 6 11:17:10 PST 2017
Thanks Cecil, I'm well aware of what you are saying and
I have to do something about it soon. My other problem is
that most of my friends here are retired or about to and most
of them have been more fortunate and have prepared better than
I was able to. So they are all riding around in brand new pickup
trucks, going on hunting trips and buying new rifles, etc. while
I still need to work to supplement my income. I'm not blaming anyone
for that but me and circumstance. It's just fact. It does make it hard
to focus when my buddies are playing.
Charlie
-----Original Message-----
From: Cecil Bearden
Sent: Sunday, February 05, 2017 9:21 PM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] Old tractors and old men
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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