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Today I became a grandpa for the second time! My granddaughter is four and my grandson was born at 2:03 today. 10lbs 6oz ! Praise god everyone is doing great ❤️ We are going to meet him in the morning ❤️

Hey all. So I've been away from this forum and the great people on it for quite a while now. Still snoopin' around from time to time though but not posting (much) and I miss the interactions that come from that. Reason being, life happened and about one and a half year ago, after a VERY stressfull period ,my better half and I were able to purchase our dream house, to be turned into a dream home. I cannot overstate how blessed we are this worked out since times are challenging, housing prices are up, economics not great, politics.. I won't mention. The dream was to have no (direct) neighbours, a good sized barn/garage/workshop and room for a horse/horses. I'll let you guess who came up with which dream On the same street we lived on we purchased this house which is basically a farm as we know it from the 50's, so built right after the second world war. Solid base, room for improvements. It sits on 2.5 acre land which is spacious by Dutch standards. Not to brag but we calculated that the property of my SIL could fit 28 times on our lot. Some work has been done, a lot still awaits. Here are some pictures of when we bought the farm and over the course of I don't know how many days/months/years 'll take you along to current state, and beyond. TLDR: bought farm, no time for hobbies, I show pictures of what I'm doing in the meantime Greetings from the Netherlands, Mark

Thanks guys! I'm pretty overwhelmed with all your kind messages! We feel very blessed to be able to live here. Yes! ..and yes! Might aswell give a full tour while we're at it View from the back at the front-barn-door. And the other way round. The white wall is where my workshop will be located. And the view from the first floor looking at the back wall of the garage/barn. I absolutely love the big wooden beams in here. Upstairs. Lots of potential. Doesn't look like much but the walls here are about 2.5m (8ft.) high. Living room with two bedrooms attached. One of the small bedrooms. Cosy dining room. Equally 'cosy' kitchen. Bathroom. Toilet. This is looking at the white door leading to the kitchen. This used to be where some livestock was kept. Few cows on the left with a manure gutter, they filled it but can still see the outlines in front of the 'step'. Few pigs on the front-right, behind the blue doors. This is on the other side, likely a horse stable. And even more stables. This is on the left side of the big barn. We were told this was were some sheep were kept. The part with the 'lid' I guess you could call it can be closed so that there's some extra shelter against the elements. That where sheep had their young. Below a map of the building, might help visualize things a bit. Greetings from the Netherlands, Mark

I enjoy growing different kinds of peppers. With the variety of colors, it's kinda like growing colorful flowers that are actually useful. I usually start them from seed in the early part of March. This year I grew mostly sweet peppers. One of my most colorful varieties this year is Chocolate Cherry Candy Stripe Peppers. The flavor of these is very close to green peppers, maybe just a tad bit more bitter. The colors are awesome though. Next ones are called Patio Snacking Peppers. With their yellow, orange, & red colors they have a great appearance. Most of the peppers on these plants point upwards when they grow. We have been picking these off the plant and eating them as they are or maybe dipping them in some ranch dressing first. Soon I will be making Cowboy Candy with these, a sweet & spicy treat. Next up is my Cherry Pepper plants. I may have went over board when I planted these, the plants have been producing like crazy. Most of the peppers on these plants hang down when they grow. . I have been pickling some of these already. I add dill, garlic, & jalapeno. The finished product is awesome as a snack, even better in a Bloody Mary. I did say that I planted mostly sweet peppers, the next pepper is not sweet but it pairs well with sweet. My Habanero's look exceptionally angry this year. These will be used to make Habanero sauce ( Awesome on wings). Habanero Jelly (Sweet with some spice, great on anything that you would put jelly on. Also great on grilled pork). I always keep some Habanero's in the freezer to add to sweet meals like Coconut Curry Shrimp. Now I'm hungry!! Happy harvest everyone.

Not really a "done to" but got my RS 20th anniversary banner hung up after moving a bunch of other stuff around.

Here’s a few of my herd, I’ve collected and sold them for the past few years, very early 78’ C-141 A, 76’ B-80, 71’ Bronco 14, 73’ No name 14, I actually have two but the other one is a Frankenstein. And I’ve owned an 800, 416-H, and a charger and a few others which have been parted out sadly or sold. I started this whole thing with my c-141 given to me by one of my dads friends, back in 2022, since then I’ve been through over 12 different garden tractors and now I’m sitting at 5 trying to keep them and take them to shows. Thanks

Did some maintenance on the 42" SD that I replaced with the 48" SD. New blades New idler pulley Scraped and wire brushed Oil soak then store till next spring

Pumpkin patch is in overdrive this year. Sunflowers, not so much. Wabbits worked them over pretty good.

Needed some bushes removed, have a 520 serviced and ready for sale, figured why not

A bit more progress, hubs done, wheel adapters done and it bolted up in place. Looking good 😍

Did a diesel fuel flush and gear oil change on the 161 before installing the ARK for the first time. Lessons learned...black hoods are too wide to clear the hydraulic pump and a shaker plate calls for an inch or so shorter belt It's always something.

Got the Bervac swapped onto 416. Also swapped rear hitch, larger wheels/tires from Workhorse. Still have a few more preventive maint items to get done. Got lift assist springs installed/adjusted & 150lbs of weight on hitch. Now I gotta figure out what to do with the Workhorse. Be nice to have it for parts but dont really want it sitting around...... 20260814_133023.mp4

More shed organizing..what kind of idiot has four spare 8 speeds “in-stock” (plus a 4 speed)

Trying to organize my spare tires/wheels, moved some into the new shed this evening. Left all my crummy tires and wheels in my old tarp shed.

Parked the C-160 and Mighty Mac in the neighbor's new (to him) trailer. Preparing for the Portland, IN tractor show. Holding off on loading the C-120 until I can get it cleaned up a bit. Nice 23' trailer with ramp/doors at each end!

Today I bought two planters for the Mrs. After unloading them into my wagon I thought it might be picture worthy so I snapped one while on their way to their destination.

I had to buy myself something after all the crap I went through all the years. I decided I wanted more tool storage but room is at a premium. There was a shelf bolted to the underneath of my work bench with just some odds and ends. I looked at it and thought if I remove the shelf I might be able to fit a roller cab under it. So I measured and looked around. A 5 drawer Yukon cabinet from my fav, " Horror Fright " would fit nicely with out the wheels. $359 not horrible but I get rewards money and stuff goes on sale all the time. I cut off the shelf and sliced the back of it off and reinstalled on the bench for bracing and waited.................. New sale today!!! Coupon for the cabinet! 50 bucks off!!! so off I went. Used my HF card and will get 5% cash back on top of the sale price Didn't want it sitting right on the concrete so I bought one of those stall mats from TSC and trimmed it to fit around the table legs.

Grew looking peppers! Here are some of mine for you to enjoy. This year I mainly focused on growing sweet peppers that we can freeze and eat throughout the year. My favorite sweet variety is Jimmy Nardellos. I also grew a few jalepenos for pickling.

August 17, 1933 MLB player Lou Gehrig plays his record 1,308th consecutive game.

Son Mark and I went crabbing to a new spot. Left at 5AM for Fort Smallwood State Park on the upper Chesapeake Bay. Beautiful park on the bay. Caught a half bushel and back home and in the steamer by noon.

Thanks Don. 😊 Meeha is doing well. She's been improving her ability to stand for several days .. a little wobbly at first. Trina says "drunken monkey". Yesterday she was able to lay back down for the first time. That's a big step in the right direction. Today we're experimenting with removing one of the meds, on vet recommendations of course.

August 18, 1956 Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog" and "Don't Be Cruel" reach #1 on the charts, staying for 11 weeks (a record for a single release).

Pulled up a couple more loads of firewood.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes fellas. i don't know how to act my age I've never been this old ... Was a good day spending it up here in northern WI. worked on getting a outboard running for my sister then went fishing on a private pond but got skunked. Went out to a cool place called Lost Land Lodge for Friday fish fry and old fashions which is a Wisconsin staple. Finished with white Russians and a fire pit.

A hoarder that has 5 spare 8 speeds and 30+ spare tires should have a couple hundred spare belts. Store em forever.

The center spindle on my 48"SD took a c#$p while mowing early this spring. I swapped it out with my spare 42SD and used it all summer. Yesterday I dumped my spindle bucket and found a good one. Cleaned , greased and back on the tractor. Picking up the tractor with the hoist really makes it easy to roll the decks under the tractor from the front.

So the feature is “non-running Teccy tractors”?

I wasn't at their high level meeting either... too busy keeping track of Pullstart doling out ice cream. Word on the street is it's a free for all and run what ya brung. Really ?? Does it matter? Long as it's a ...

There fixed that too ...

Haven’t had a Wheel Horse for about 28 years since I gave my 852 to a brother of a coworker to restore and never saw the tractor again. Just purchased a 520xi with 48” deck and single stage snow blower in good condition, 880 hours. Will pick it up Thursday as there is no rain in the forecast (Hoosiers will understand!). Semi retired Reliability Engineer so I over analyze everything. Looking forward to contributing and learning!

@Vinylguy comes through again! Thanks, Terry!

Well, I had a few parts hanging around cleaned up and primed so I thought I would brave the mosquitos and paint them using my paint spray gun. I have a little less blood but at least some parts got red.

August 15, 1979, Apocalypse Now, the acclaimed Vietnam War film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, opens in theaters around the United States. The film, inspired in part by Joseph Conrad’s 1899 novella Heart of Darkness, among other sources, told the story of an Army captain (played by Martin Sheen) and crew of men who are sent into the Cambodian jungle to kill a U.S. Special Forces colonel (Marlon Brando) who has gone AWOL and is thought to be crazy.

Picked up the tractor today…will be checking the flywheel key as suggested by @Bill D

Two "idiots" that I know of. Now at least. It was only one before your post.

Hmmm, looks like I need to get down there and do some tire shopping for a great deal on some new skins

The safety tread on the C141 was worn and peeling. Heat gun and scraper made short work of removing them. I had more on the shelf. Used four smaller pieces rather than cutting into a large one. Good result for a little effort. Started to quit for the day, but Edy was mopping the utility room and kitchen floors. So I was marooned to the shop for a little while longer. Tried putting a shine on the hoods of the 520H and the C141. I will work on the rest of the tins a little at a time. The mower decks will get spiffed up this winter.

The C41 has two rubber stops and springs under the seat/spring mounting plate. one spring was broken and one rubber stop was missing. After scrounging through the “extra parts” I found two heavier springs and two rubber stops. A few minutes later they were installed.

These are the only belts I use. About $30 at TSC and they can be returned for full refund.

That was one of my first firewood processing tool build projects. It's made of old posts recycled from a deck I built years ago and tore down less years ago. The trailer has had at least 3 axle setups that I recall. Its current iteration seems to work well. Big enough to hold quite a load and not too big for the heavy Cinnamon Horse to pull. A lighter weight tractor would be much less useful. I've been considering adding width to the vertical posts but it works well right now.

Finally got to mount up my JD brand front wheel weights. I painted these twice the first time just made a gooey mess, I dont know what kinda yellow paint they use but think that may be where the slogan ”nothing runs like deere” came from . FYI This style weight will NOT work without drilling new holes and are to wide/thick to work on the regular style wheels ie c series, older square or round hoods.

My favorite SI story revolves around Marketing Genius. Traditionally, February is the poorest sales month in Sports. Football is over, Baseball & Tennis are yet to come alive. That leaves Hockey & Golf. Enter the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue - It took the poorest selling month to the top selling month. And continues to do so...

Installed front wheel weights on my 312-8

#32 is running took a new fuel pump, carb, and spark plugs. The dealer put a new hydraulic hose on it $360. I put a new seat on it for now. they quoted $500 to fix the original. I am doing the best I can with spray bombs for now, while I look for and put on correct parts. It is looking much better than the heap I bought, and fun to drive. The rear fender decal is actually 2 parts. A replacement decal with the lower gray cut off. and a new chrome tape stripe cut to fit. When I found out how bad this tractor actually was I asked for some $ back. the seller never responded. It still has a miss but starts real easy.