We have a patch of southern dewberries within eyesight of the shop. Last year, TK ate off of them for a few weeks. We actually have three patches around the property, but it’s been too wet to venture far from the clearing. This was the first picking.
Jamie’s impossible garden is starting to produce! Everything has doubled in size, color, and production since recording this video. She’s been making salads from her lettuce and has already picked a few vegetables.
I had a road trip day through some dense fog. South to Pontotoc to drop off a busted
tractor cylinder for repair. Unfortunately, it’s beyond repair. This is the same cylinder I bent last year by moving root balls. I don’t know for sure, but I believe I bent it again, pushing root balls closer to the center of the fire, the morning after the shooting range video.
The sawmill has arrived! In partnership with TimberKing, I have a 1220CRZ sawmill to
turn my piles of logs into lumber. Day 1 with the mill was both exciting and disappointing. The tractor’s curl cylinder is MIA, so I can’t use the grapple or pallet forks, or any attachment on the loader. To load the first log, I rolled a log over two ratchet straps, strapped it to the loader, and placed it on the mill. While it worked, it was massively time-consuming. I only milled one log that day, with enough no-rain weather to mill many. That was the disappointing part. I’ve got so much to
cut up, finally have a sawmill setup, and the supporting machines are now the bottleneck. Blah!
In real-time, we experienced rain for 12 consecutive days. The entire property is a soggy mess, and the tractor can’t make much progress regardless of the cylinders. During this time, I took the cylinder to a hydraulic shop who had to use a dump truck to pull the ram
out. It is beyond repair. He said he could get a replacement, so I waited…and waited…and waited… A week passed, and “Nope, I haven’t heard anything from my guy.” I then took the good cylinder from the other side to a different hydraulic repair shop, where they said they could source a new cylinder for me. A week of phone calls later, and they still haven’t located a replacement. Same old song and dance from store #2. Two days ago (Friday afternoon) I found a cylinder that I’m told is stronger
than OEM, has a slightly different travel distance, and is way cheaper than OEM.
An OEM cylinder is $1500. I got a pair of stronger cylinders on the way for $420. I’ll have to go to O’Reilly Auto Parts and get four new, longer hydraulic hoses made, though. So there will be a bit more added cost. But at least if this happens again, I’ll have a MUCH cheaper source to
buy and repair without the time-consuming aspect of dealing with local shops. The tractor has been down since June 6th. It’s June 22. I’m ready to have my tractor back.
