Feeling my age

It all started on ebay. I should never have bid on that old derelict tractor, but my finger had a mind of its own, and awful a sudden there it was. I had won the auction, and an Allis Chalmers G model tractor was my very own. All I had to do was brave the elements, risk life and limb, dodge morons and the worst semi-paved roads in the nation, flatten my posterior by sitting on it for over 24 hours, and it was in the driveway. Now all I have to do is regain the ability to do anything other than limp around the house holding on to various body parts and groaning. Maybe when I grow up a bit I'll learn some restraint. At any rate, there are now 3 (count 'em, three) G models lined up in military precision under a shade tree next to the driveway. They are easy to keep lined up, since none of them run. Of course I have high hopes; combined with my vast mechanical knowledge and oodles of spare time, those babies should be field ready in no time at all. What was I thinking?

The tractors are part of a three-pronged attack we plan to implement. Weeds(plenty of), water (lack of) and bugs (way too many of) are our three big enemies. In my constant search for a way of staying on the farm all of the time instead of trudging to Huntsville part of every week, we are working on a plan. The tractors are our answer to weeds. Pushing a hoe around has its limitations, as satisfying as it may be, and this particular type of tractor is the best ever made for cultivation. They were only made for 5 years, 1948 through 1953, in Gadsden, Alabama. We now have one from 1948, one from 1952, and one that doesn't appear to have a serial number, so we don't know if its real or my imagination. But if it isn't real, we did a whole lot of driving for nothing. I'll get some pictures and post them, but in the meantime, do a search for Allis Chalmers G, and you can get some cool pictures. It's worth it. They look more like dune buggies than tractors. The ultimate plan is to convert them to electric, and charge them from solar panels, but for now I just need to get them going. The weeds aren't playing fair - they already started.
Water is an ongoing issue. Some of you know we drilled a 700 foot well last year, and capped it when we ran out of money before we hit good water. When I win the lotto next week, I'll pull the cap off and drill some more. We'll either hit water or molten rock sooner or later, and if it isn't water we'll probably take a vacation until the eruption is over. In the meantime, though, we're pushing as much water as we can through miles of hose, and hoping for the best. It's been a little over 4 weeks since we've gotten enough rain to germinate seeds. At least there's no mold growing in the basement. Not damp enough down there. But it will rain, sooner or later.
Bugs are loving it so far this year. Warm, dry, and plenty of weeds to hide in. But we've sent out eviction notices this week. We finally found something that is organically approved, and deadly to all manner of beetles and other bad guys, and it's coming to town today. If you're a bug, and if you want to live to see your children and grandchildren grow up to destroy things like you've been doing, you have until sundown to get out of this town. It's not big enough for all of us, and we've brought in a hired gun to take you out.

On a lighter note, my arms are scratched up from picking blackberries, we have juice from wild plums in the freezer waiting patiently for cold weather, when we prefer to make our jelly, and the main crop of tomatoes are starting to come on. Wendy has rescued the eggplant (we hope; man, that stuff is hard to grow in our clay!), and if it ever were to rain, all manner of good things would pop out of the ground. We've had a couple of spectacular crop failures already this year, but some things have been more successful than we thought they would, so on balance, the first half of 2008 has been a good one. Yes, that's right. We're at the halfway point. If there is something that you decided to accomplish in 2008, and you're not well along the way, get going. You've waited as long as you can.
I just remembered about 128 things I've been supposed to be pushing along this year, so I'll take my own advice and push along, too.