We had a weed patch in our back yard only a few feet from our back door. I had just let the area over our septic lateral lines grow up; and weeds and grass and no telling just grew and grew and grew. Some of the weeds had gotten up to five or six feet tall. They were also pretty thick in some spots.
I thought it was time to brush hog them, and get it looking better; especially since a man from our church is coming with a skid steer to move our dirt mound on Monday, and I want to place it on part of this area to level and smooth it out; so I can mow it next Summer with the lawn mower.
Now it is done. It looks like a new world out there. I also cut the mess up by the gate, down the road, and other areas. I was working on the garden spot when a bolt broke in the PTO shaft; thus no more spinning blades. When I went to town to drive my School Bus I stopped at the hardware store, and got a bolt; a 9/16 x 3.5 inch bolt; and found out when I got home it needed to be a 1/2 x 3.5 inch bolt. So I did not get the garden finished as I had planned; and then I noticed I had a flat on the right front tire of the tractor. I guess I picked up a thorn in the tire. I have noticed that tire likes to go flat more often than the others.
Let me tell you a little bit about the tractor. It is a 1966 Ford 2000 with a three cylinder diesel engine. It has been quite a work horse. I remember the day it was delivered to the house where I grew up; just about a mile from where I live now – as the crow flies. I do not remember the date, but there is one thing I remember.
One day as I was driving it down the road, for a reason I do not remember I got off the tractor without locking the brakes; leaving the engine running; and looked back and it was rolling and rolled into a tree, denting the left corner of the radiator cover near the left headlight. It still has the body putty in that spot, and the old tractor looks pretty hard; but it is still a workhorse.
I do not really like using it. Dad never had power steering put on it when he bought it new thinking that it would be like the old 8N that he had been using [steering wise], but it was not. Without power steering it takes all the power you have in your arms to steer it; especially in rough dirt, and slowly moving.
Well! I will get back to the brush hoggin’ in a few days; maybe Saturday. When I get a new bolt and some air in the tire or fixed one.
That’s along the banks of Flat Creek
-Tim
Flat Creek Rolling 