The Archives - May 2007

When the Sun Shines…

Make hay! We baled our first cut last weekend, and for the first time, with our own equipment and completely by ourselves, which was a milestone for Peachtree Prairie Farms. Here I am driving the Mighty 1950 Ford 8N (24 horsepower!):

The next photos show what's going on: The pile of hay (called a windrow) is to the right of the tractor (left side of the photo), and the baler scoops it up and compresses it into bales…

…which are then pushed out the back of the baler, where Tyler and Chad use hay hooks to pull it onto the rack and stack it.

The 8N tractor is actually a bit small to run a baler and pull the wagon, but as our property is mostly flat, it worked pretty well. We had a great time working together!

Munich, Germany

The largest construction equipment trade show (“Bauma”) occurs once every three years in Munich, Germany, and Caterpillar is one of the largest exhibitors at the show. I was assigned to attend the show this year (to do trade dress research), and was able to bring Chad with me—it was his first trip outside the United States of America. He made an excellent writeup of the trip on his blog, so I will point you there instead of recounting the trip here. Be sure to also read his posting on the Dachau Concentration Camp we visited.

Albian Oil Sands, Canada

On another Caterpillar project, I made a trip up to the Albian Oil Sands in Alberta, Canada. The countryside is just beautiful (in a rugged, frontier sort of way). It took three plane rides to get there, and it had the feel of "gold rush days." The oil sands is supposed to have the second largest deposit of oil in the world, and there's an awful lot of Cat machines up there moving the sand around!

When the Sun Shines…

You make hay! It looks like this will be the first year that I do our alfalfa hay field completely by myself, as the young man who normally cuts it is in North Dakota, and the hay needs cut, like yesterday (which is actually when I cut it!). It took me about twice as long to do the job, as I'm using a much smaller tractor than my friends, but it was quite enjoyable driving in big circles with the Ford 8N engine muttering away while barn swallows darted in and out around the tractor. The sunset was gorgeous, too!

My Beloved

For some reason, I couldn’t talk Beth into actually sitting on the hay rake for this photo…

Old Truck Project No. 2

Tyler and I have together been occasionally dismantling an old (1968) Ford pickup truck. We plan to restore the chassis with a new engine, and will eventually strip and repaint the body of my 1969 pickup to put onto this chassis (which is a heavy-duty model). Beth said the donor truck is starting to look “pitiful.”

Books I Have Read This Year

A General's Life - The Autobiography of General of the Army, Omar Bradley
Missionary Patriarch - The Story of John Paton (autobiography - good)
With Lee in Virginia (a historical fiction by G. A. Henty)
Anne (with an 'e') of Green Gables
Anne of Avonlea
Uniting Church and Home
A Holy Life (John Bunyan - GOOD!)
Anne of the Island
Anne’s House of Dreams
Anne of Ingleside
The Road to Unafraid (Jeff Streucker, Army Ranger - good!)
Yeager (autobiography of Gen. Chuck Yeager)
The Spontaneous Spread of Home Discipleship Christianity
A Farewell to Arms (Ernest Hemingway - a rather depressing story, IMHO)
The Courtship of Sara McLean (a book about Biblical courtship principles)
Life and Campaigns of Lt. General T.J. (Stonewall) Jackson
   (excellent story of a God-honoring man)
How Should We Then Live? -
Francis A. Schaeffer (deep, but good)
Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire -
Jim Cymbala (Pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle)
Jeff McLean: His Courtship
The Good Husband’s Guide to Balancing Hobbies & Marriage
10 Things I Want My Son to Know
Mighty Men—The Starter’s Guide to Leading Your Family
Patton—A Study in Command
The Origins and Background of the Second World War
The Book of Jasher
Ben Hur


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