More Tractor Time

Though our grass really needed it, I was disappointed that it rained all day Friday because I wanted to take advantage of the slightly cooler weather to get a lot of work done outside. But as it turns out, Mother Nature never consults with me ahead of time.

However, yesterday turned out to be a better day, and I spent several hours on the Kubota tractor pulling metal T-posts out from around the garden and the area on the other side of the barn road where we have our fruit trees planted. Early in the season we put up the posts and deer fencing, but now that the garden is done for the year I wanted to get them gone so it would be easier to mow.

I mentioned in a blog post last week that I found a nifty T-post puller plate on Amazon that really made the job easier. When I tried to pull the posts before I got it, I found it was a two person job, but with this little device it’s easy for one person.

Some of the posts were really stuck in the ground and I had to wiggle them back and forth quite a bit to loosen them up before I could pull him out with the tractor’s bucket and a chain. But I got it all done and eventually had a bucket load of posts to go drop off out of the way.

This is what the garden looked like earlier in the season, with the deer fence and posts around it.

And this is what it looked like yesterday after I got them out and ran the tractor’s mid-mount mower over part of the area. You can’t see them in this picture, but Terry’s raised garden beds are still where they were and won’t be moved.

I still have some more to do today to finish getting the rest of the posts and deer fence around the fruit trees out.

Before I close today, I have to pay tribute to the man I consider to be one of the greatest singer/songwriters this country ever produced. Jimmy Buffett passed peacefully at his home on Friday evening from skin cancer and lymphoma. His hit song Margaritaville was the anthem of generations of beach loving parrot heads who followed his music and his concerts. Some people say it was Jimmy Buffett who put Key West on the map, for better or worse. I’ve always been a huge fan of his music, which ranged from fun loving laid back beach songs to tunes about boats and airplanes, and sometimes somewhat melancholy songs like He Went to Paris and The Captain and the Kid, about his seafaring grandfather. In announcing his death, a spokesman said that he died surrounded by his family, his music, and his dogs. That’s not a bad way to go. Sail on, Jimmy. You definitely left your mark on the world.

Today is your last chance to enter our Free Drawing for an audiobook of Big Lake Honeymoon, the seventh book in my Big Lake mystery series. The story begins as the busy summer season is drawing to a close in the little mountain town of Big Lake, Arizona and the locals are looking forward to a relaxing interlude before the first snowfall brings carloads of skiers to the high country. That all changes when a nearly nude woman rushes into a convenience store in the middle of the night begging for help. She tells Sheriff Jim Weber that her new husband has been murdered and she was taken captive by the mysterious killer, who seems to have disappeared into the thick forests of the White Mountains, touching off a manhunt for a phantom that cannot be found.

To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn this evening. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books and audiobooks to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed. After 90 days, unclaimed prizes revert back to the drawing pool for a future contest.

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us. While I’m sure a welder’s torch would do the job, I’ve got to think there must be a better way to remove ink!

Thought For The Day – Wrinkles only go where the smiles have been. – Jimmy Buffett