I cut for a few hours Friday morning while the dark rain clouds approached from the west. I imagine the people driving by thought I was crazy. Later a few people Donna knows who live down the road commented to her about this. They didn't say I was crazy for doing this.... that I know of.
It rained and rained the rest of Friday into Saturday. I didn't start cutting again until Sunday afternoon and finally finished cutting on Monday afternoon.
Looking south. The dark rain clouds approaching were from the west. |
My tractor fits under the power line towers. I had disced and planted under one tower. Then the weeds grew. I had never tried to go under the tower when cutting hay as the offset haybine/tractor width was larger. But the weeds were thick. I made it with an inch to spare. But the inch and the cockeyed tower angle meant I was very close to rubbing on the tractor cab as I exited the tower. By the time I stopped to reposition I had rubbed the one inch bump where the radio antennae comes out of the top side of the cab. I still get radio reception but I have a hole in the top layer of my roof. My neighbor Curtis said we can fix/seal this. We use a fiberglass tub repair kit. Another item on my to-do list. A self inflicted item.
Look what my cutting turned up! A turnip. Ten or more years ago when I had a garden, one year I grew turnips. I tossed garden waste, and most biodegradable food items out in my hayfield. I guess turnips seeds can last ten or more years before growing.
Wednesday I was going to get the baler ready and maybe even bale a few rows of weed hay before going over to Joyce's house for a July 4th meal celebration. First I wanted to put the haybine up in "transport mode". But the hydraulics wouldn't get the haybine up the last 80% to lock the haybine in place. I checked the tractor's hydraulic oil level. I needed to add some hydraulic oil. I did, but the haybine still wouldn't go the last 20%. Curtis thought I may have gotten air in my hydraulic oil lines from the low level. Slowly work it up and down repeatedly and the air will be pressed out.
Thursday I tried some more. Still couldn't get the last 20%. I read up on this on the internet and watched YouTube videos. Nothing more than what I was doing. The tractor has four hydraulic hookups. I tried the other two. Now the haybine would only raise/lower 20%. I went back to the original two hookups. I was stuck at only 20%. What is going on?!
I talked with my neighbor Wyatt. He suspected I hooked up the hydraulic hoses wrong. "But why would it work for 80%?" He came over and looked. Yup. I hooked up the hoses wrong. What a moron I am! Still no idea why the hydraulics worked for 80%.
For the baler's four hydraulic hoses, last year I had painted the four hoses and four hookups four colors to prevent mixups. Now I painted the haybine's two hoses two colors to match the correct tractor hookups.
So Thursday afternoon - a week after I started to cut my field - I could finally start to bale my weed hay.
The sad saga continues...
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