I wish it was snowing!

Well here it is early Sunday afternoon.

Had a great week, got to attend a Veteran's Day concert by the Springfield MO Army National Guard Band with my granddaughter. Great show held at the Marionville school. Kids had a grand time, especially the songs that had a strong beat to them = ie: marching song and the Service Songs. I sang along with "Anchors Aweigh". Last time I heard that song was on 9/30/1989 at my retirement ceremony.

Then on to working on the tractor and travel trailer.

Even better news from my two sisters who live way out east in the mountains of NC somewhere.
Seems my grandmother's dining room set won't fit in either of their new homes, so it is offered to any family member wanting it.
I piped in and volunteered to take it. "To keep it in the family" as with all the other heirlooms. Granny bought the set in the 30s if I am not mistaken, and it is well taken care of.

So after a wonderful visit on the phone with Mary and Carol, and a couple revisions along the way, this coming weekend Viola and I will be heading east to meet Mary and her Don to pick up a UHaul trailer full of the set. The girls are having "two men and a truck" load the dining set in a trailer for us. What a wonderfull gift, as I know the furniture will survive the trip from NC to MO.

On the sad note, the big bad 1 ton of mine, used to towing our mobile house, wouldn't start that morning, so jumper cables and it started. Later in the day, it would again NOT start. I hooked the cables up, got turned around on the second set of cables and "yeah" I hooked them up backasswards. by the time I got in the truck to start it, we had a major smoke scene going on, and by the time this old man got out of the truck and up to the front the cables were fried. Fried hell, they were toast. The dually now won't start. So after checking all the fuses, finding one blown (duh wonder why?), trip to my local parts shop "Hey tom what's up" and back home again, truck still won't start.

So looking at the battery cables... yep, rust and corrosion to the max.

So I have this 2001 Ford F350 crew cab super duty truck with a 7.3 deisel that needs negative battery cables replaced. Yep two batteries = two negative cables corroded. So back to my parts shop, "Hey tom what's up" and find out that one of the cables is listed at $109.99. NOT OUCH, NOT WHAT, NOT HOLY COW.... came from my mouth, just a simple "oh shit, you gotta be kidding me". 3 days to get it also.

So after talking with the Manager and deciding to use the local machine shop, off I went. $75.00, and 45 minutes later I was out the door with the two cables needed to replace my corroded ones. Now note, for once in my life I did things in proper sequence, yep the proper sequence. Before heading to the parts shop, Viola helped me remove the two cables from the F350 so I could take them with me to get exact duplicates.

So this morning I am ready to head out and put in the new cables. WRONG!!

MAN ALIVE, IT IS COLD OUT THERE. Temp o meter is below 40. If it was snowing I would have an excuse to stay inside and watch football and nascar. But it ain't snowing, so I guess it's get bundled up and head back out to get the job done.

Forget it, the truck can wait till this afternoon when it warms up some.

And in the middle of all that yesterday, Viola (aka Barngoddess1) tells me I need to put a couple round bales out for the horses and cows. So that is the easy part, just hook the bales mover to the three point hitch and easy..........

Tractor won't start! So on one of the trips to town bought deisel (off road deisel is now $3.03 a gallon). Hook jumper cables to tractor from My little mule, and it won't start. Finally got the daughter to pull me with the F250 and we got it running. Quickly delivered the two bales and headed for the Ford Garage.
More bad news. Fuel tank is leaking again at one or two previously welded joints. And to top it off the fuel injector pump is now leaking. ARGH>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

So set up and drain the fuel tank again.

So it's been a fun weekend so far.

Really great thing is that Derek (daughters friend) borrowed my 243 to go deer hunting. Haven't heard from him yet. But can tell him where for the past two days I have dodged a doe and her baby on the highway. Maybe next time hit them and bring them home to put in the freezer.

Even better, oldest daughter, Michele, popped in on Sat morning for a couple days to just visit with the wife and girls. Always great to have her here for a visit.

So it's now time to decide to buy another tractor, or invest more money in this one. Glad the deal to buy the property next door fell through.

So hunting for tractors like I have now, in any kind of shape is rough. Found one in Tallahassee Florida, motor is froze up, but the parts might work; maybe I could get the Jeep and Long roof to buy it for me and deliver it........... nah, long roof went and got a job, so now he is tied up 6 to whatever every day. In fact he told me he gets up a 4:30 in am...... hell that time doesn't come unless you have been up all night.

Oh well. keep looking for parts. Fuel tank runs from 470 to 700, fuel injection pump is 1400 with 300 core deposit.

So the saga of the Haven Lee Farm continues.

Have a happy day and remember as you go about the trials and tribulations of the day, it took the Long Roof about 700 and some days to find a job, but he perserved and something finally came through.

Remember to Celebrate Life and enjoy.

tom

Just for the LongRoof

So coming home from a wedding late this afternoon, the Barngoddess1 points out a parking lot full of classics.

In we go and as she sat in the truck, I walked around and took pictures.
That OleLongRoof isn't going to do me one better.

The first car I saw and recognized was a 57 BMW Pewee



yeap, one that the door opens to the front




After that I saw a 58 Chevy apache. When we lived in Connecticut, I owned two of these, one a short bed, one a long bed.




Then I came across my dream car…… should I ever win the powerball, I will own one of these

1968 Ford Shelby Mustang, one boss car



Of course I took a bunch of other shots, but it takes too long to up load, so will post again with those pics later... lets see, Lincoln, Packard, three rods, 59 Ford Convertable hardtop, etc.

So enjoy

tom

When it rains it pours

Well the other night the Barngoddess1 and I decided to put hay out for the little horses and little cows.

So hook up the bale spear to the loader of our favorite little deere and away we go.
BUT WAIT....
I fear the loader is not on the tractor straight, and where is that diesel fuel coming from.......
Oh no, oh yes problems.......

So we quickly put out the hay bales and back to the barn.

So Friday after work, we decide to take the loader off the tractor and figure out what is going on. The daughter and my noble assistant and I remove the loader from the deere, really easy actually, and the load sits out there by itself all alone now.



Then the deere to the Lee's Ford Garage and after spreading a bag of cat litter on the floor to soak up all the diesel fuel that poured out, we got down to figuring out what is leaking.

NO problem, we find that the fuel leak is just a overflow line popped off the tank.

But in the process I found that the front support, a major part of the frame is cracked completely through on the right side.
This is the cause of the loader not being level.
So off comes the gas tank, off comes the radiator, off comes the hydraulic tank,
and then




It's a phone call to the Bus
"Hey whatcha doing?" Sound familiar? all Lee boys are the same
"Nothing, what's up"
"Can I borrow your power washer?" Now the farm's power washer is still missing parts that I haven't quite got around to ordering. We have a lot of 'ROUND 2 ITS' here.
"Meet at Republic?"
"Fine, see ya"

To the kitchen sink and remove about twenty pounds of grease and grime and it's off to meet the Bus.

Back home, power washing helps and soon it is so dark I can't tell grease and grime from clean and neat, so quit for the night.

This morning was spent removing the power steering pump, pulling the front end off, and presto we have the cracked part ready for the power washer.
Bus the part is to the left (front of tractor) in this picture.



So now the Deere is sitting in the Lee's Ford Garage....... Jeep it's ok, it is a tractor not a car.....
minus the front axle and steering assembly, the cracked part is in the back of the dually to go to the welders tomorrow to see if they can fix.... if not.........
so here's a pic of the crack



backup plans hurt for this one part.....
John Deere has one new old stock left in the great USA, it's in Wisconsin somewhere and it is relatively cheap at $3,500.00. Yes 3500 dollars.

Cooks tractor in Clinton MO has been contacted to see if they have the part..
Ebay has been searched
Craigslist has been searched

We learn more tomorrow.

But wait it gets better.........

My little mule, F250 super duty, driver's window goes down today and refuses to go back up....
After disassembling the door, unable to tell if switch bad, or motor bad, try to put connectors for passenger window to driver's window and fried the circuit board...
So now, after moving everything in the Lee's Ford Garage back to the side with the Deere, the Little Mule is parked inside with the driver's window still down........



When it rains it pours.........

But at least we know how to fix things that are broke.......

"JEEP WHERE ARE YOU???????????????????"

Oh well, celebrate life.

ForSale, Sad but true

The above picture is of our 4 up team of miniature horses and the stagecoach during the Mt Vernon MO Applebutter making days parade. We had just come through the gauntlet in the backgorund that had the crowds less than two feet from the team.
The team did marvelous and didn't panic or startle during that gauntlet.

Unfortunately, my back has finally gone south, and I am stuck up here in the midwest, tried to drive one of the horses today and .......... pain pills didn't help, and haven't helped in some time.
We haven't had the coach and team out all year, and after much soulsearching and discussing, the wife and I decided to sell the stagecoach and 4 up team of miniature horses.

The ad is on craigslist @ Springfield Mo under Farm and Garden.




So if you know someone interested in driving a team of 4 miniature horses pulling a stagecoach, let us know.

Tom & Viola Lee

HavenLeeFarm.com

Well, it was bound to happen, the person maintaining our website was soo soo busy that she couldn't spend 5 minutes of her time talking to the Barngoddess1 about the site, so I refused to pay the fee for another year.

So Havenleefarm.com is no longer.

I have commissioned our daughter to find a host and develop a website.
I will advise what she finds.
So for now, no website "Havenleefarm.com"

tom

Major Decisions, Major Decisions

Aw heck, I am getting too old for this..........

This here little piece of Lawrence County we live on is a mere 28.5 acres.
and we have it pretty nice here.

House and barns on the west side of property, pond on east side..... highway 600 feet out south, and farm land north of us.

Now comes the problem........

The ten acres abutting out property on the west has come on the market.

And I can't figure out whether to spend the money and buy it, or just let it go....

Can't say too much about the zoning regs in this county, so could get some really bad squatters...... or might get a decent person who puts up a 300 k house.....

So now I have to decide to buy it or not........

oh these decisions.........

I'm too old to make them, but what the heck, I will probably work till I fall over, so who knows............

Billy Long and Roy Blunt get elected = don't buy....

Oh these decisions == aurgggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg

A bunch of lies

Now I am not a politician, nor one of those guys who raise hell about what is going on in political campaigns.

But I am against guys who lie and stretch the truth.

Over at Roy Blunts campaign web site, he is bragging that "HE" was the one to push the "Concurrent Receipt" thru and get it passed.

BS to the nth degree........
Roy Blunt did not support Concurrent Receipt until after enough congressmen (and women) had committed to the bill.

If Roy Blunt was for concurrent receipt,

WHY DIDN'T HE MAKE IT FOR EVERYONE? Not just the ones who are 40% or more service connected.

I AM ONE OF THOSE VETERANS, WHO HAVE A DISABILITY THAT WAS DETERMINED TO BE "SERVICE CONNECTED" AND I WAS GRANTED 10%.

I ALSO SPENT 21 YEARS IN THE SERVICE..... 7 OF THOSE YEARS IN SUPPORT OF THE US MARINE CORPS, AND THE FOLLOWING YEARS ON SUBMARINES.

I RETIRED IN 1989, and was granted 10% disability in 1990.

10% of my retirement pay was deducted because of the disability. The VA gave me the 10%. So since 1990, 10% of my pay was lost, and would still be lost, if the VA had not reevaluated me in the past 3 years and determined my medical condition has degraded.

ROY BLUNT YOU DIDN'T HELP ME ONE DAMNED BIT........

When I emailed your office for support of the concurrent receipt for ALL retirees, I got not a single answer back....

To claim you ensured the Concurrent Reciept was passed is bullshit, like the rest of the crap you pull............................

Roy Blunt is a joker and a liar.....

Tom Lee
A retired disabled military member who is fed up with Blunt and his bs.......