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350 Diesel, Super M, 400 all part of friend's fleet... also jd 2 way, 1940 Dodge coupe with Grand pas carpenter tools in trunk..

In the 25 years of my previous life as a welder, foremen, superintendent and project manager dealing with employes was the hardest part. From the golden arm who showed up with gold chains and a flat billed cap who expected everyone to wait on him hand and foot, the trouble maker who thought it was his job to stir up crap, the one who worked harder getting out of work than working, the quite one who did his job with no questions. All the previous except the quite ones didn't, last long sometime not even a whole day. I hated firing guys because i would let it go until I got mad and it would take a while to get over it. There were many success stories with some of the guys that I would like to think I was a small part of their success. I had 2 guys from Louisville Ky, one had a lengthy record the other was a fighter. The one with the record was a good stick welder and the other one was and still is the best tig welder I ever saw and I have seen a lot of them. We were on a tough job in eastern KY when they showed up. I told them I didn't care what they did in the past, what I cared about was what they did tomorrow and the rest of the job. I watched them for a couple of weeks and saw they did good work. We had a large mechanical room to build with 3 boilers, 4 chillers, cooling towers on the roof and a lot of pumps. I called them in the job trailer and pulled them off what they were doing and gave them the plans and told them to build it. They both tried to back peddle saying we don't know how to do layout. I told them it was a good time to learn and if you run into a problem come get me. They did a excellent job. Every day when I got the paper work and meeting done I would go work welding, fitting or laying out. They came and got me a lot the first 2 weeks for help and then it was less and less. At the end of the mechanical room we had to make a hot tapp on a 8" gas line, they came and got me and said we don't no how, I told them to not worry as I was going to do it. They tried to argue and even went to my wife who ran the office. She told them to watch and learn and they could do it next time. They stayed with me for the last 10 years of my career and are both superintendents. The guy from western KY whose family row cropped 5,000 plus acres. I had to lay him off every spring and fall for planting and harvesting. Not a welder but extremely smart. He now owns his own company and doing very well. The fitter from Litchfield KY, now a superintendent. The labor from St. Louis who came to us to escape the gang life. He works with the 2 guys from Louisville. The welder from Jackson TN. who finished out his career with us and now runs his own small shop as I do. (better welder than me) These guys and others saw me succeed and fail. i tried to teach them, if they screwed up fix it and go on, do what's right no matter the cost. They saw me not back down when it cost me a lot. I am very proud of these and many more guys for their success and I still get calls from them.

1989 9370

I have been busy the past few weeks, here are some highlights This truck was in for an inspection and oil change. It has a SBC that looks original with 40 years of oil moist grime, but doesn’t leak enough to mark it’s territory, runs really well and doesn’t smoke. Has an automatic, think it was a 350, that shifts nice and doesn’t leak. Full time 4x4, don’t see that as often as part time. It drives well, rolls down the road at 55-60 smoothly It’s been pieced together from several trucks, whoever did it did a good job, it’s not show perfect but it works (doors open and close, working fuel gauge/choke/wipers/heater/etc) and isn’t a hacked up turd. I think the cab is from a 2wd and doesn’t have higher transmission hump to make room for the transfer case, hence the body lift. There is about 2 inches between the case and floor now, with a 3 (?) inch body lift spacer plus a hockey puck. The owner and I agree that the body lift should go, so I’ll need to do some tunnel modifications I finally got this one running, it’s been a whenyouhavetime project for too long. It originally had a 6.2 diesel that was long gone before it came here. The SM465 was still hanging in there, now has a 94 5.7 converted to carb. I have converted several TBI SBCs to carb, usually with junkyard parts (intake, carb, HEI distributor) but my stash of parts isn’t as big and finding other parts takes time so I tried an Amazon intake, Quadrajet and distributor, so far so good. Last week was the first time this truck moved under its own power in years. I have it mostly together, brand new dual exhaust to boot!! The alternator needs to be wired in as well as the electric choke, then loom and tape up the harness, set the timing and put an air cleaner on it

I have been contemplating for the past few years about building a shop.the older I get , the harder it is to work on things on a dirt floor . I know there was a previous posting about this topic, but I couldn't find it. So I'll start a new one.

Someone would get hit alright if that was suggested for me ….

79 ih series with dt466

Since I enjoy seeing everyone’s harvest pictures, I thought I would share some from my fall harvest. 2025 has been a very challenging year. A very wet spring led too late planted crops here. The wet spring turned into a very dry summer with virtually no rain in July and August. Yields were below average. The driest corn I combined this fall was 25% with the majority of it being 30 to 35%. Corn silage harvest was late this year and stretched into October. Much more corn was chopped this year than normal due to low yields. Anyhow, here are a few pictures from this fall.

Bought a rusted up Little Wonder plow for yard art. Blasted all the moss off of it today. It will get repainted this winter (red, blue, cream) and then live in the landscaping beside the shop. I'm into it for $100, a 45 min trip to pick it up and $6 at the car wash.....cheap winter project.

...been working on a big 'hop'' growing farm....basically building an illegal ..as in ''non consented '' stop bank..this following the catastrophic flooding....The photos were taken by the ''Boss'' they are not very good..and to add further interest , I cannot print them out properly due , i guess, to my legendary ineptness with anything made after 1960..it comes as no surprise...but it sure ****** me right off...sigh The hired Excavator was the ugliest thing I have ever operated..but the cup holder position was great ...!!!Spent three months on different excavators doing ''flood repair '' work...and on Monday start logging for some Canadians who have a small woodlot left to log..These folk are not terribly wise when it comes to logging...or any related earth works...(I logged for them for six years after coming home from the West Indies...)..but their redeeming factors are, they are helluva nice folk...so I agreed to go back there for a month or two..or three, even ... It involves running an old PC 200 and the D5H skidder...both machines, like me, have long since lost that first flush of youth.... Mike

We replaced all the brakes and 2 wheel bearings on Josh’s 1990 Grand Prix. Those cars were one of the first common rear disc brakes, advanced for the time. I can’t help but notice how small the rotors and pads are, front and rear, when compared to a 2003 Grand Prix, the newer car is 30-50% bigger. Josh loves the look of his car and other cars from that time period, he wasn’t too fond about the access to the his rear caliper bolts though. Josh bought his first snowmobile last Friday, a 91 Phazer. He saw it on marketplace, posted 34 minutes ago, $800. He messaged at 3pm and was told he was 3rd in line, I thought no way he would get it, but at 5:30 he said it was his turn. I was plenty busy with work and had no notion of doing anything else but when he told me I said “no way!!” and didn’t hesitate to get on our way. The Phazer wasn’t running and the primary clutch was seized, hence the lower price. Supposedly was running last year until the clutch problem. 6400km on it, pretty straight, original and complete. I didn’t think to pull it over to feel the compression or if it was seized until after Josh paid and we were loading it. I was excited enough by its condition that we would rebuild the engine if we had to. We got it home and couldn’t get the clutch freed up, we pulled the carbs to clean them and they were OK. It fired up when we tried it. I contacted a friend who had a clutch and a puller for it. On the way to Dan’s place I stopped by a store and told Josh that he should buy some cans of Busch, they would be well received. He got a 30 pack, and it got him a clutch, and a few beers in the shed with Dan as well. Dan has had the same Phazer as Josh since high school, so he was happy to help Josh got it together tonight and drove it out of the shop, not much snow right now but he did a couple laps on the frozen lawn

Neighbor bought this little 3cyl ford loader tractor a month ago with a stuck clutch. He drove it over and we took it apart tonight. How much mouse pee and how long did This take? Only access would have been through a 1/2” x 1” hole where a timing cover was missing.

2 years ago. Like was said 88 model 9370 Eagle.

It amazes me at one time kids in their early 20's were building dams, bombing Germany, shooting down Jap Zero's, ect. What happened? I started reading Robert F Kennedy's book "the real anthony fauci" The global war on democracy and public health. I'm 10 pages into it and already angry. The dumbing down of America just may be a reality.

Oh don't worry about them procreating. They excel there. I've always said. God has never made a sterile stupid person. They reproduce like rabbits.

We are just about done runing hard for about 8 to 9 days bringing in 185 acres of corn averaging 230+ bushels averaging 17 to 19 hour days. At the beginning of the season I climb in the this old girl and jump out, by the end of the season I pull myself up into this thing and actually back down the steps with BOTH hands on the rails. I made myself laugh when I just got out of it. I hope all of you are finishing harvest safely.

Dealer has everything in stock. Should be back together tomorrow.

Brother and I noticed this rowse v rake on an auction. We wanted one since we sold ours a few years ago. And at the same time I noticed a vintage craftsman tool box that I have been looking for. You can find the craftsman boxes in bigger city areas but the shipping is ridiculous. So this one is a 150 miles away so I made sure to buy it. I put pictures of the other boxes on the same farm sale. I bid the snap on box up to the final bid but didn’t buy it. This guy was a sugar beet farmer so had some nice shop items. Paid 6100 plus 5 % for the rake and 550 for the craftsman box.

Bullseye on that last sentence.....except it's worldwide. 🎯😉

This video shows "modern cotton harvest" from the early 1990's. Shows basket strippers and module builders before the round module equipment had been developed. Also shows some of the ginning process. The fields and the gin are near Lubbock, Texas. At the time, my sister worked for the South Plains Cotton Council and help film and produce the video.

I think there's one more pretty good guy in your stories. YOU I have worked for some complete arce holes. there's 2 sides to an employer /employee relationship . Some employers don't feel that way and some people skills go a long way. The boss sets the culture I have worked for more good ones than bad ones and its amazing how everyone responds to a good guy and he doesn't need to be a pushover either

Reminds me of Beaudroix and Thibodeaux. Boudreaux was paddling his pirogue down da bayou and he passed by Thibodeaux’s camp. Thibodaux ax, “What dat you got in that pirogue?” Boudreaux say, “Crabgrass- Me gonna go catch me some crabs, yea.” Thibodaux laughs and say, “You fool, you can’t catch no crabs with jus’ crabgrass.” An hour later Boudreaux comes back with a boat load of dem dare crabs and show dem to Thibodeaux. The next day Boudreaux was paddling his pirogue and passed by Thibodeaux’s camp again. Thibodeaux axs, “What dat you got in dat dare pirogue.” Boudreaux say, “Sum duck-tape- Me gonna go catch me some ducks, yea.” Thibodeaux laughs and say, “You fool, you can’t catch no ducks with duck-tape.” An hour later Boudreaux comes back with a boat load of ducks and show dem to his good friend Thib. The next day Boudreaux was paddling his pirogue and once again passed by Thibodeaux’s camp. Thibodeaux axs, “What dat you got in dat dare pirogue.” Boudreaux say, “Pussywillow.” Thibodeaux say, "Whoa,……Wait da Minute, I’m gonna go width ya!!!”

After that 9670 was repainted it looked like this:

Gramps has a 79 4070b and I have a 81 9670. Dad has a 73 1800 with a 392 and 5+4. The blue and white one is one I found last weekend and tried to buy but it’s supposedly gonna get fixed one day

It seems to be that there are still those that can and those that can't. Unfortunately.... or maybe fortunately... those that can typically aren't looking for jobs that require a lot of manual labor. And if they are, they are highly sought after in the trades. No offense and I don't know what the OP pays, but if you aren't afraid of manual labor and are in the "can" group, I would think that you would either be working in a high demand trade (plumber, carpenter, electrician, mechanic, welder, etc), or own your own business doing the same. I know everyone needs to start somewhere, but if you find a good one, its going to cost you dearly to keep them, or in all honesty you should convince them that they could likely be doing better elsewhere. I've actually been hiring kids straight out of college recently and I'm impressed with what I'm seeing. Good candidates and for the ones that we have been able to get, they have been hard working and hard charging. I'm just hoping that we can keep enough work to make sure they are busy and learning as they work, but not too much work to where we are burning them out. 1 piece of advice I tell all of the candidates we interview is that when you are young in your career the best thing you can do is say "yes". Doesn't really matter what the opportunity is, just say yes to whatever opportunity comes up. It will probably work out for you in the long run (caveat; as long as you are working for a somewhat reputable company) I don't think its doom and gloom, but its going to be hard to find talented folks for what was once thought to be reasonable wages.

Firearm opener is today for us. It's been pouring rain so to the ground blind I went. Not ideal but it is dry. Saw several early despite the rain. Everything was 140+yds away and the only buck I saw couldn't be positively ID'd in the time I had to look him over walking away at 160+ yds. Maybe he will come back later. Until then, I just get to enjoy Gods scenery.

Here are some more pics of shop stuff the sugar beet farmer had. The name brand stuff sold fairly well. I bid on that norco jack. They are better quality than the Chinese harbor freight jacks, the otc engine crane would have been a good hoist and the parts washer brought good money. The hydro tractor was advertised as needing work. One thing I noticed on sales lately is 2007 or Thera out nice semis are bringing strong money.

They have hydraulic blocks that raise to hold the truck from rolling backwards. I think just weight holds the truck in place on this hoist. The one at, I think Ardent Mills, in Denver they have to chain the truck down now. Several years ago they lost one off the side when it was standing up. You see them dumping van loads of potatoes like that in Missouri. I can’t remember what town I saw them doing it.

I think so, it’s been a couple years since I took them. The couple who were driving the truck were FREAKING OUT watching it go up.

Cabovers and grain farms are a good combo. It does my heart good to see you running an old IH hard for a couple of weeks each year. Reminds me of Toby’s song: “I ain’t as good as I was once was, but I’m as good once as I ever was”

The end of another day on what is probably my favorite skyline.

Definitely scary to think of the future being run by the youngsters of today. I’m sure it’s been an age old concern but I feel like these days it might be more of a problem.

Thank you and no better words spoken. We are lucky to have our friends for as long as we do.

I will Jeff this is the first inside dog I've ever had and might be the first to pass of old age, it's wonderful to love a pup its a blessing to love an aged pet

So glad for the good outcome. Same as I said to Lance, just love her up all you can now. No way we can repay them for all they do to us. We are so blessed to have the love and companionship of our dogs. No other relationship compares Wishing many more years for you and Lucy

Love him, love him up all you can. Sounds just like Cash the last couple of years. He made it farther than we thought he would, never long enough but he made it to 15. Hopes and prayers you can spend a lot more quality time together before he is called home. Something about looking into an old dogs eyes, they speak volumes without uttering a sound

Well I had a scare with Lucy this week. Thought she was going down the path of a beagle we once had, ate something he wasn’t supposed to and had a blockage. By the time he went to the vet, it was too late and had a twisted gut. Passed from it. Lucy hadn’t been herself for several days. That dog can sleep 23 hours a day and 8 more every night. Seemed restless, up and down, move around. She threw up after I gave her a piece of beef fat from a roast. Not her normal, she has a cast iron stomach and eats about anything she can get chewed up. Alive or dead and everything in between. Prefers squirrel heads, will immediately eat it down to the shoulders if I shoot one. Anyways, not super unusual I guess but not normal. A couple days later, threw up again after drinking some water. Hmmm Then three days ago she started throwing up a few times that afternoon. Very restless. Too late in the day to go to the vet an hour away. She was still drinking water so she’d have to hold on until first thing in the morning. Was a long night. Took her in and the vet did some tests. Pancreatitis was ruled out with blood work. X-rays showed maybe something in her stomach and something at the beginning of the intestines. Gave her barium and more x-rays. Thankfully no blockage and came to the conclusion it was gastritis, basically inflammation of most of the digestive tract. Probably from something she ate outside. IV fluids and overnight stay. Antibiotics to take home. Was able to eat a little there and it stayed down. Perked back up and happy to get out of jail. She hates vet offices, tucks her tail and wants back out the door. She was glad to be home and snooped around the buildings for a bit but I made sure to watch her. She’s parked it in her bed the rest of the day. She’ll be 13 next month, a little gray but still pretty zippy. I wasn’t ready for the worst and hopefully won’t have to be for a good while yet.

My favorite thing about having a trail cam They grow up so fast

Got the rest of the roof installed Saturday and started working on the facia Sunday.

I will try to get you pictures of the loading pipe at some of the other elevators. Basically it’s a spout from the distributor with an elbow on the bottom to launch the wheat to the front of the van.

We finished hay for the year. We put 2100 rolls on this baler since july, not bad for a smaller farm

The sleeve is just thinner and will go right in after some time in the freezer

Thank you all the good comments and suggestions. I have strongly considered finding a Ta-26 loader or something similar that would have the quick removal option. The 544 tractor will be used for the heavy maintenance on my property blading the driveway, heavy snow plowing and removing down trees. While I may find a plow for it and take the set up to a plow day event at some point this will not be a primary field tractor. Most of my property maintenance will be done with my subcompact Massey Ferguson GC 1725M. I have a loader, snow plow, snow blower, and other 3pt attachments. This tractor is great but is quickly out classed when lifting or pulling. Part of my logic in using a 2000 or 3000 frame is that they are much lighter than any of the Ta or WL loader options. I would like to be as gentle on the tractor chassis as I can after adding the loader. I already gave up hope of finding an exact bolt on loader with the brackets, so doing some fabrication fine with me. I recently stumbled on a YouTube video that shows a 706 with a 2000 loader modified to be a quick attach. I am considering modifying this 3000 in a similar fashion to fit the 544. I have a few extras for my 544 as well duals, front weight bracket, rear wheel weights, and a Farmall 660 cultivator frame. The second picture below was taken when I helped my dad harvest sugarbeets about 10 years ago. We put the 18.4 tires off the 966 so I could push trucks thru the mud. It has 13.6-38 tires normally.

Here ya go.

Putting brakes in my little auction car, 2008 Aveo5. Was only $60 for the rotors and Bendix brand pads and hardware