CC_Ranger

How could I forgotten about James McMurtry, saw him twice in small venues, outstanding! His son is now singing also.

I was watching some of the signs, but they are higher than I want to go for something I don't really need and there is still time to go. Some pretty neat stuff on the auction.

Back in the 80's we had one of the later model square body versions. It had the slant four cylinder in it with a three on the tree. Don't know what happened to it after I left employment there.

I had the same issue on my small Stihl saw, funny thing is that when I took the screen out to clean it and then I must have misplaced it in a safe place and now I can't find it! Saw runs better than ever without it! We had the screens clog up on the Stihl hedge trimmers at work, I blamed it on the summer kids not running them full bore, that is not the problem with my saw at home. I only use the Stihl synthetic oil, and ethanol free gas, but it didn't seem to make a difference.

I saw Jason Isbell in a small performing arts center right before he broke out big on his own. I don't think I will see him again in such a small venue. A lot of other good suggestions listed also. In the truck I listen to Outlaw Country on xm, at my desk at home I stream off the xm app. I don't listen to the other country stations on satellite except for Bluegrass Junction, but that is a different thread. I can't stand to listen to commercial radio at all anymore. I need to check out the 95.9 ranch, sounds like my type of music. Mike Newman, if you watch enough videos on Youtube, the website remembers your taste and gives you the option of playing a mix, I did that the other week and it was quite a nice mix, you just have to put up with ads.

One of my favorite bands, so glad they got back together. Some others to check out. American Aquarium Mike and the Moonpies Cody Canada Reckless Kelly If you have Sirius xm, check out the app on you phone for Y'Alternative for more. I also like Cody Jinks and keep checking his schedule for the Northeast. We saw Jason Isbell in Reading a couple of years ago and have been following him since then and his former band, Drive By Truckers. I passed on Blackberry Smoke the other week. Lots of great music out there if you just get off the mainstream.

I was at a Pesticide credit class the other day. The one speaker told the landscapers to be aware of a coming grass seed shortage. Big seed farms in Oregon and Washington were under a drought last year and yields were down so supply is down. Places have it now, but there won't be any this fall. He told the guys to get their orders for the year filled now. Most likely with a big price increase also. No one has mentioned the price of real estate. In this area of SE PA houses are selling like crazy, most are getting multiple bids above asking price with most places selling within a week. Entry level homes are now around $200K, I feel sorry for young kids starting out trying to find a place. It will eventually level out, but I don't see the prices going back to 2019 levels. I was listening to a show on the radio yesterday, they were talking about the inflation and why we feel it so bad. Even if you get a wage increase, your pay goes up in the beginning of the year and you get used to that rate so it is normalized, but you buy gas or groceries every week and you notice the difference each week. I have been saying for years that we are paying for so much more than our parents did, back then it was electric and phone and maybe water and sewage for most homes, maybe a newspaper. In the 80's came the cable TV, then cell phones, then satellite radio, now steaming service, internet service and who know what else. Even look at the difference in cars and trucks in the past fifty years. 1970's I bet there were more manual transmissions sold than automatics, hardly any with AC and power this and that(seats, windows, locks, etc). Now you can't find a manual transmission, almost every car has AC and most have full power. I am guilty of it too, not putting anyone down, I do enjoy my heated seats and steering wheel! Try finding them in a 1970 K10! Not sure where we are headed, but I think that the country needs to step back and re-evaluate some things. Of course this is all coming from a guy wrapping up his 59th trip around the sun, so I guess I have earned the title of Grumpy Old Man!

Not to mention all the other cool stuff ! Used to look forward to Forestry Suppliers, Ben Meadows, and Bailey's catalogs! A. M. Leonard' s is great for landscaping tools also.

So far this winter haven't had to deal with more than 4" at a time, but February is usually our snowiest month. These shots are from last week, only got about 2" but wanted to push it off so the sun would melt the residue from teh blacktop. I was going to use the Cub Cadet 1650 with the 42" blade, but since is was 22 degrees outside, the enclosed Jeep with the heater and Sirius XM won out! Three passes with the 7.5' blade and I am done.

I added a front hydraulic port to the loader on my Kubota L series tractor. I have the same issue. I solved it by turning off the tractor engine and then turning the key to on without starting, then working the controls for the front hydraulics to relieve the pressure. The system I added uses an electric solenoid valves to active the front ports. As long as I relieve the pressure when unhooking, I haven't had any issues with the attachments. I have had the same issue with mechanical valves and turning off the machine and working the valves relieves the pressure.

With parts manuals and online ordering being available, that has really changed the game. I have dealt with both Messick's and Hoober's in the past year with great experiences from both dealers. With Messicks, I ordered a part and told them I would be over to pick it up, they shipped it instead, when I called to pay the bill, I explained what happened, the parts guy said, I remember that, it just got sent to shipping before we could hold it for you, he then knocked off about 80% of the shipping price for me, which was less than the gas would have cost to drive there to pick it up. At Hoober's, they actually list the location and number of the part you are looking for online, I found what I was looking for at the Intercourse store, I placed the order and planned to pick it up the next day. When I got there, they had the item out front on a pallet, I walked around the store a bit, found the internet sales person, she said that she would get a guy with a forklift to load it for me, I had picked up a hat I liked and told her that I would be out once I paid for the hat, she told the cashier, that the hat was already taken care of. It was only a $20 hat, but a free hat and the great service made me a happy customer. The one negative experience I recall was about 30 years ago from a Mom and Pop old time IH store. I needed a belt for a Haban sickle bar, they didn't have it stock and had to order it from Hamilton Equipment, when I went to pick up the belt, they had added a charge to the bill for the long distance call, that really burned my butt, if they would have just marked up the belt I would have never known. I also found NOS parts at this store for my Cub, they actually called up the part depot to get a current price on the part instead of charging what they paid for it years before, talk about a mark up! This part still had the old IH punch card wired to the part and they actually had the big Rola-dex parts file to look it up.

Congratulations Seth! Glad to hear that your wife and daughter are doing fine. I have twin daughter that will be 30 in March, as others have said, they grow up fast.

He will love it! My Dad built me a barn when I was able 5 or 6, I played for hours with it, then my daughters did, and now my grand kids are playing with it. Your's has the making of lasting like that also. Nice Job !

We are at the far edge of the snow line in Western Berks County. Got maybe 2" total from yesterday and overnight. It was done snowing when I got up this morning. Only 15 degrees outside right now with a windchill of around zero. Was going to use the Cub Cadet to push off the driveway, but sitting in the heated Jeep with only three passes to clean the drive won out! Went out to clean the driveway once the sun came out and filled the bird feeders, rest of the day will be inside by the fire with a hot cup of coffee!

We went to the store in Oley. Not a lot of A.C. in Berks County back in the 70's, mostly IH, Massey, and Deere. It depended on which dealer was in the area. I have been thinking for a while that I would like to do some reading on the company. They were like IH, into a big of everything, ag, construction, and industrial. I need to find a couple books to read on their history. The turbines in Bonneville dam are made by Allis.

I remember CJ Wondsidler's! They were the New Idea dealer that we used. Somewhere done around Oley if I remember correctly.

I am in process of trying to add an additional hydraulic remote to the front end loader of my older Kubota L275 tractor. I am doing it myself because all the companies that have the pre-packaged kits say that this loader is too old and they don't make a kit for it. I had a set of hoses to run from loader valve to the front brace on the loader so all I needed to pick up was a valve, a short hose to make the connection and then of course all the fittings to make everything fit. I found a valve at Tractor Supply, but of course they don't handle the fittings to fit into the valve they sell, the valve is listed as SAE 10 inputs and SAE 8 work ports. Now I have to find the fittings to adapt the valve to the hoses. Is there a chart that shows the sizes and styles of fittings that I can reference to look up what I need so I know what to look for? I do have a Parker Store near by, but there hours don't work with mine until I have a day off. Any help is appreciated! I will post pictures once the project is done.

Seth, Check you messages, just send you a link to a Eager Beaver.

About 20 years ago I moved a building about 25 miles. It was a 24 x 36 stick build frame building. I paid $600 for it at an auction, paid a Amish crew $800 to dismantle it and load it on my trailers. I had the local rafter company haul the rafters, forgot what that cost. I spend a couple of weekends blueprinting it, figuring how/where to take it apart and taking off the siding, when the day came, the crew had it down in a couple of hours. I had 10 different wall panels, the roof trusses, and the aluminum siding all piled up over the winter, in the spring I had a new concrete foundation poured and then with the help of friends and family put it back up with a new steel roof. I loaded my flatbed and borrowed a friend's to haul the wall sections. Worst thing about the project was that the building was not square, the front wall was build like a pole building with board and batten to look like an old barn, the other three walls were stick built. The back wall was 3" shorter than the front wall, solved that issue by adding a 2x4 on each end of the back wall and made a filler strip for the back wall siding. No one ever noticed. It was a neat project that is still standing at the ex's place. Not so sure I would tackle that job today, had a lot more energy and motivation in my 30's! All said and done, I had a building for under $10k with a new roof and new concrete foundation and floor, the concrete work was the most expensive part of the project.

Sorry for your loss.

Welcome back ! I always looked forward to reading your posts! The most interesting man alive! Now we just need to get MTO and TP back on here.

I heard that they are almost like goats, you can pasture them on really brushy meadows and they will clear it up. Not sure if that is true or not.

Yellowrose, I understand exactly why you rented if your vehicle was not reliable or you needed a large vehicle for the trip, makes perfect sense. Art, I understand what you are saying, I have flown across the country and rented Harleys and toured for a week or so many times. Before Covid stopped work travel, I was an expert on finding a Harley dealer in the area of my work trip, taking a few days off and renting a bike to tour around. I never would have ridden to these areas on my bike. I am hoping to do this in August out in western Oregon. The friends I was talking about, rent a similar vehicle to what they have, then leave from home on a trip. We have two friends that do this and when they talk about it, my wife and I just look at each other and shrug.

Jeep is selling a ton of those Gladiators, I see them everywhere. The prices on them are crazy. Some people don't ever want to have a paid off vehicle, I have a guy at work that just keeps rolling over his loans, he figures that he will always have a payment. In my mind he is a candidate for leasing, but he is not interested in that. He did paid off his last truck, and 3 months later he was shopping for a new one and back on making payments. I have another friend that is always driving a new truck and new Harley as well as newer toys(quad, sled, lawn mower). I couldn't figure how he did it, until one day he mentioned that the payment was just a couple dollars more then he was paying, so he is another one that always has a payment(s). I like to pay mine off and enjoy them for several years free and clear. I plan on being on a 10 year refresh plan, but if I look back over the years, it seems to be more of a 7 year itch. I am at that point right now with my '15 Silverado, I have started looking at what is available so that I don't get sticker stock, but I am figuring on another two or three years to let the market settle down. The one thing that people do with vehicles that I can't understand is renting a car for a trip so they don't put miles on their own car. I just can't make sense of that, rental cars are expensive and the 1000 miles or so you put on a rental to save miles on your own car so you can keep the mileage lower just doesn't pencil out for me. I can understand it if you don't have a reliable vehicle or if you are renting a specialized vehicle such as a large van, but we have several friends that do this and they rent almost the same car that they own! Every time that they do it, it makes me scratch my head!

Great job! Beats a shovel any day!