Briar Patch? Or Nada Farm?

( Oddly enough, there is a running battle over the need for a tractor! ) Just look at the accompanying picture and tell me I don't need a real tractor..

There is a little controversy, ( just the smallest disagreement ), over the necessity of a tractor for a property of this size. Unfortunately the" little controversial person" is my lovely wife! Her contention is this is not a farm, and as it has only a ground hog and a couple cats at present, and they may be transient, it is not a farm. "It is property," she proclaims. While I counter with, " it is a farm!" For one thing, I expect to be growing raspberries here, if not this year, next year for sure. And I also think that as she intends to plant trees and shrubs all over the fields it is going to be tough to keep walk ways cleared out so she can take pictures all over the place, without some form of tractor. Now I have a ten horse lawn mower, shown, that will keep around the house cut down, but a brush hog is needed for the rougher areas. Of course as anyone with any farm sense knows, (which is why I understand her issue, for all her positive attributes, she is still after all a city girl, with all it's inherent problems, including that "lack of comprehension of all things farm") a tractor is a necessary tool , not an extravagance.

I also need a truck, a 4wd pickup, just to start with. And later a dump truck, and a backhoe, and a trailer or two would be nice. Then, even though it is Nada Farm, it can be improved and maintained. And as I am able to run power equipment, even though I am regularly under the influence of muscle relaxers and pain killers just to move, with power assist I can still do quite a bit. It takes me a while, but I can, over a period of time, get most things done.

OK back to NADA FARM, as I have NADA FARM, and NADA TRACTOR, and NADA TRUCK, I have little hope of being able to accomplish some basic operations. For example, I went to get gas for the lawn mowers, and the gas cans leak a little, no problem in the back of a pick up truck, right? But kind of, not so good, in the back of the little purple Station Wagon, real stinky, and the pickup trucks always had a place to secure the cans to, with a strap or bungee, not something found in an Escort Wagon, which doesn't have a way to open a window in the rear for ventilation. So by the time I got home, in Nada Truck, over the Nada paved roads, to Nada Farm, I was kind of Nada feeling so good.

My brother, wonderful fellow that he is, has tried to help by giving me an assortment of Gravely tractors. They are great machines and he provided some very nice attachments for them. But they were stored where they were subjected to a lot of moisture for too long. Normally this wouldn't be a serious problem, I can rebuild anything, but my machinery, and the only real floor I own, are still in Akron. And my physical condition is such that, I really can't hunker down and work on the old Gravelys like I used to. I need to get them on a bench and have my tools available to rebuild the engines.

(FREE ADVICE) If you have a small engine to store, (lawn mower, go kart, rototiller, snow blower, etc) Make sure it is just past top dead center when you put it away for the season. Here's why, The valves will be closed releasing the pressure on the valve springs and protecting the cylinder from collecting any moisture, also the points will be closed and the little spring that works them will be released. having the springs in a resting position and the cylinder sealed will save you from having problems next time you go to use the engine. While I'm on the subject, the other thing to consider, is draining the fuel from every part of the carburetor and the fuel tank. Now in reality you have to do this first, remove as much fuel from the tank as you can, ( I used an electric fuel pump, with a couple hoses on it, to drain them weekly when we raced the go karts) now seriously how much gas does it take to mow your lawn? I'm sure you know. Remember the first two times, when it ran out of gas as far from the garage, and your gas can as possible, so you started fueling at the half way point to keep that from happening again? Well just don't, and when it runs out, it has drained all the fuel that will congeal during the off season and cause problems next year. Then set it at top dead center, plus a smidgen, to release all the springs and next year, it will start as soon as you get the fuel back through the carb. About a half dozen pulls should do it, unless you have a prime button, then about three pulls will have you running without a problem. I've done this with a mower that has set outside in the weather, for the last 8 years, and it starts every spring and runs fine all summer. Of course it looks like crap, but that keeps it from attracting attention in my old section of Akron, which is a good thing. I really don't want any shiny items sitting out, they have a tendency to wander.

But back to the point, even though I have quite a few small engine units lying about, ( not running) I need to get something more appropriate for an actual farm. So I'm thinking that if enough people were sympathetic to my cause, NEEDA TRACTOR, and just sent me a dollar (or any larger amount you would like) by clicking on this paypal button

 

or sending a buck to the NADA FARM mailing address, (feel free to contact me for it, if you don't have our address by now ,( just click on the contact me at the bottom of any page), I'd go get a nice used tractor and some attachments so I could really function as NADA FARMER. And of course you could come visit and see your money put to good use. And if I get enough money, I'd run for President and straighten out the country, making it safe for real tractor owners everywhere, or maybe buy that dump truck.

Along with the insanity of thinking I might someday win a lottery I also have a dream of concrete floors on a farm. I'm discovering few farms have many concrete floors. It explains some of the things I wondered about, while looking for this place. The floors all seem to have an angle to them, for drainage I'm sure, or maybe they are just moving in a downhill direction, sort of glacial like, anyway I'm trying to level the floors and get some concrete down. I decided to dig one side deep and fill it with the other side.

There is evidence of a past attempt to get a 'sturdy floor' in the front building, plastic was spread and fine limestone spread on it, about 2 inches thick. Worked pretty well, except where the edges ran out under the rim of the building, and where the cars pushed it aside going in and out. So there were two mud tracks through the garage, surrounded by mounded up limestone, and as this didn't seem to be the first attempt at not buying concrete, the floor to ceiling height was getting smaller by the year. And quite a few osb boards had delaminated over the years, in various attempts at temporary flooring. So after I scraped the rotting OSB out of the way, and dug the top layer off, and saved it for later, I dug the floor down an additional 10 inches. And began burying things that won't rot, and will provide drainage beneath the existing floor. Such as all the shingles I have removed from the rotting roofs, and various pieces of fiberglass and plastic sheeting I have collected. I also got a roll of drainage pipe I'm going to bury along the center line and on the east edge of the outside of the building, in the hopes of catching all the drainage water and routing it away from the underside of the structure. If it works as planned there won't be any further damage to the poles, the building sits on, or the floor I'm adding. Sort of like doing it right, in it's own way.. Not the way most things seem to have been done to date. So here on NADA Farm, I'm making some big changes, but I still don't have a tractor. Seems there is a theme to this page, huh?

Notice the blue tarp on the roof of the garage, held in place by the local favorite method, old tires on rims. In an attempt to dry things out, for the replacement roof. Well, it worked pretty good. Unfortunately the wonderful Sunshine you see here, was not what we had the entire first day we were waiting to replace the roof. It rained most of the day. Of course, the forecast was for "Sunny and Dry" right up till the night before, then it changed. I have no confidence in the weather forecasters from now on, except to say they are going to screw it up! Anyway, after spending Saturday cursing the rain gods, we had a decent day on Sunday and got the new roof put on.

 

Isn't it gorgeous! It required careful planning not to get a pattern we couldn't support, and as the shingles were leftovers from dozens of other roofs, we had no real idea what we had to work with at the beginning. Still we managed to create a unique lack of pattern and cover the roof so it is water tight. And we didn't collapse the entire structure while working on the roof, a very real concern as the entire East side is basically ready to collapse under it's own weight. This is because the moving earth has pushed the foundation nearly out from under the wall that holds up the east side of the roof.

 

 

The area next to the "garage" will be rock based and drained to keep the walls of the building from being pushed any further to the west. And keep the water out, by being below the finished level of the interior floor. I learned long ago, a concrete block wall won't hold back a sliding mass of earth for very long, unless it is filled with rebar with a solid pour of every third cavity, which this wall obviously was not. I'm still undecided as to how I'll straighten the walls. But I have decided it will be easier to do if the floor inside is completed first. As the second side's floor is still a couple months away, there is no need my worrying about it at this point. This picture shows the condition of the nearly collapsed wall from the outside, after I dug around it, the rickety corner being the major source of support. Trust me, I was careful not to touch the wall while digging it out, finishing near the wall with a shovel so no accident of hydraulic manipulation (bobcat) would push against the remaining blocks.

I'm still amazed it's standing. I have to get a concrete floor on the inside yet, so I can jack this side up and straighten the walls.

Here, if you can see the "glow" in the cement blocks, that's the sun shining up from underneath. showing how near collapse the wall is. And it's worse behind the "insulation rolls", but I have no where to put them right now to record the rear walls condition. After this Friday, when I have the first half of the floor poured, and it cures I will be able to move my tools out of the east side and also begin bringing the machine tools down from Akron. When I get everything down here I will be able to do so much more, more easily. Then I really expect things to start moving at a reasonable pace, hopefully by then I'll have a tractor or at least the parts here to build one. I have already downloaded plans, from the 1930's, to build the machines I need, if the Pay Pal button doesn't work out.

 

Actually the Bobcat and I have been having a great time moving dirt, when it runs, I did run into a little problem or two, like this pebble I found while trying to create a place to put my trailer out of the way, and dry out the buildings floor, and keep the walls from being pushed in, quite a list of accomplishments for a little trench, huh?

 

 

 

This picture shows the pebble, and the new roof, and yes it's multi-colored, but notice the distinct lack of pattern. And if you think random is easy to achieve, well I've been told it's not. We aren't yet sure, if there isn't a secret message only readable from a particular angle. But I guess that will have to wait until I get something flying, to hover around it and check out the possibilities. If you see something let me know, it will probably be derogatory in reference to Workers Comp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This tree is sitting on about two and a half feet of dirt and 4 feet of rock, I'm not even going to attempt to dig this sucker out, I can get past it, and the tree is fine where it sits.

 

Well, I mowed the lawn for the first time, took all day, had to re-engineer the cub cadet, (which if you'll notice in the picture at the top of this page, had no mower deck under it,) I was just trying to lessen the effects of having every vehicle we used to move in , stuck up to the axles in the yard.The poor old thing hasn't been a mower for about ten years, I've used it to pull things and move small trailers around but the mower deck hasn't touched grass for years. I had to move a pulley around a little, and change the tension a dozen times to keep the belt on. In fact, the mower deck I'm using came from another 'Cub' I bought last fall, on Ebay. My Cub had a 'power deck height control' with stripped gears, so I swapped the operating handle, from the Ebay unit, and readjusted everything to work as a manual lift system. I wish the one I'd bought had a seat cushion, could sure use that upgrade, butt... It worked as a mower finally, and I got the lawn cut for the first time, and missed most of the trees (tiny tiny twigs in the lawn) we planted last weekend. Chris marked the twigglings with yellow tape so I could miss seeing them, you know Bright Yellow, the same color as Dandelions, which I seem to have a bumper crop of. Actually, if I had any idea how to make Dandelion Wine, I'm sure I have the raw materials.

I know it's silly to worry about the dumb animals that frequent the place, but in the spring I knocked down all the nests in the garage. I really don't need the birds crapping all over my machine tools, so I cleaned the place out, but as luck would have it, they came back and built their nests there again anyway. The building is still open, so they have easy access. Here are a couple in their nest, so I guess they can stay this year, I just won't put anything under them or their flight path till they take off this fall. They are kind of fun to watch, but they are not really comfortable with my being around them yet. They generally leave when I'm in the garage, and return at night. When I snapped this picture they were in for the night. Gotta be sneaky, to get the good ones.

I loaned my computer out, you know the one I drive into Cambridge to use, and get this website updated, and download my Emails with pictures and the like. Well it has been quite a while getting this page done and on the web, so I decided to add a little more to these pages. So if you are adventurous go back and see what I did to the last few. I think I'll use BOLD type to differentiate the new stuff for now. Here's a quick step back to the first change, just hit the next page button from then on to get back here. Really fun stuff huh? (GOIN' BACKARDS)

Now that I have gone back to update some comments, and add pictures, it becomes obvious I am fixated on this stupid garage, I mean how many times can I explain the same thing in different words? I guess the fact that my tools are in Akron, waiting on a place to be here, is kind of bugging me.. what a bunch of whining. I guess it goes to show that things really need a plan, even web sites, to keep from becoming the ramblings of a twisted mind, huh? Well, I promise no more garage talk for at least two pages, OK? I think I'll talk about the great opportunities I get to walk into the quiet of the wooded areas, and enjoy the solitude of the babbling, spring fed, streams running down to the creek bed. And the massive hawks circling overhead, and the incredible star filled night sky. I might even mention the fact that the fireflies are incredible, like a nighttime explosion of fireworks at dusk and some are so bright that they have me getting out of bed to look outside to see where the lightning is! I think that's what I'll write about next, OK?

 

Man, are we happy out here!

 

The Chores, Fresh Air, Green Acres is for ME.