Tractor attachments and implements

1st field use of hydraulic top cylinder:


This fall I got to use the hydraulic toplink.  It was great!! I could attach far easier, I could transport easier and I actually could mow easier.  The hookup is obvious.  For transportation I just lifted the tail wheel up and I was no longer dragging on the ground.  

But mowing was surprising.  I could actually mow closer to the ground and utilize the floating part of the floating 3pt hitch.  In the past I was really mowing while holding the tail wheel suspended.  Occasionally it road on the ground but for the most part it just hung suspended low.  But now I actually lower the mower to the ground and adjust the toplink so the mower would float over and mow properly as it should.  The grassy area looks pretty good!

Part of me can’t believe I waited this long to get the toplink.  I have had a tractor for 20 years and always wanted this, thought it would be helpful, but now I find it indispensable and I realize just how much this will save my back.


Eric

And Jay, regarding buy once cry once…

I think that philosophy is contingent upon different stages of life and different circumstances.

When I was less than half my current age I was an aggressive saver—I saved practically every penny, made due with less, and accepted imperfection as just a part of life.  And I am so glad I did.

I got used to living well below my means.  I could acquire a piece of machinery that was less than ideal but make it work anyway.  I made absolutely certain to pocket my savings before I could spend them.

When I first started teaching I lived in a hovel—I called it my dump, and I saved for three spending priorities.  The first, a new computer (I had Mac in a PC world.  In ‘97, that was a big deal).  Second, I needed a new vehicle (I purchased my father’s truck—but it was cheap, and worth it).  Then I needed a down payment for a house, which I estimated at $10,000.  I got the first two priorities in a year and the third after three years.  And in meantime I had to buy an engagement ring, a wedding ring, a couple of major appliances and a honeymoon.  Those other items were certainly necessary, but they almost precluded the down payment.  And it’s a good thing that I got the down payment because my new bride and I moved right into our brand new spec home!  

I felt (and still feel) that my sacrifice and savings all paid off in the end.  And there was absolutely no  way I was going to let my new bride live in my dump (actually I moved up that last year so as to preclude her living even one hour in my old dump).  And from that house we own our present one.

But today I am buying quality and I don’t mind spending if that’s the requirement.  I am on the other side of the savings equation. I have a few tractor attachment purchases that I will buy in the next few years and I want those to be the last purchase of that item I ever do.


Eric

Eric Hanson wrote:And Jay, regarding buy once cry once…

I think that philosophy is contingent upon different stages of life and different circumstances.

Absolutely - very few things have exceptions.

My accommodations during University fit your description pretty closely - dishes were washed in a plastic bin in an old claw-foot bathtub! But the price was right, the guy who owned the house and my sister both lived there and were both awesome, and it allowed us to leave Uni with far less debt than otherwise.

But I see too much cheap plastic, cheap clothing, cheap everything, and in fact, I would prefer to check out the thrift shops and hopefully get the same item cheap, but long lasting! And I will still do just that rather than buy crap, just to keep stuff out of the landfill, even though I have the money to spend on quality, but find it harder to find than it should be.

So I totally understand your approach when you were younger, and I'm really glad you managed it, and are here to inspire the next generation!

Oh, Jay, cheap plastic—hands down no way!  No daylight between us there!

When I was thinking of my youth, like you, I was defining “cheap” as making do with less.  Really, the word “cheap” is the wrong term.  

This makes me think of an experience I had just after college.  I was underemployed—making far less than my degree would suggest.  During the summer I earned $75 per week and still had bill to pay and food to get in my belly.  Making matters worse I had a girlfriend at the time who loved to spend whatever money of mine that she could find.  I was basically living paycheck to paycheck.

But at the job I had, we could cash our paychecks on the spot.  Out of that, I learned to save $20 right from that weekly check.  I took the twenty out, and put it under the plastic liner of a cheap 1/4” socket set that I kept in my toolbox.  Sometimes I kept a $50 bill out of the $75.  I lived extremely frugal.  I went hiking for entertainment.  I bought only absolute necessities.  By that December I had a job (that I would hate—but that’s how I got to teaching) and I had saved $500.  That was the hardest $500 I ever worked for or saved.

Years later, I was married (different girlfriend!  Much, much different!) and my wife (with me riding shotgun) was given an assignment by her residency to have dinner with prospective residents (she got a lot of these assignments what with me as a teacher, the prospective residents got a double whammy).  During this dinner, we were eating with a prospective resident from China (a villager, not metropolitan China as seen today) and an attending who was from Southeast Asia.  The attending was describing how he came to America with what he thought was a substantial amount of money—only to find out that he owed that amount exactly when his wife gave birth just after entering the United States!  The other explained how impoverished his village was and how they valued every penny they had.  I relayed my experience and said that while I couldn’t possibly match their experiences, my experience deeply impacted me and while I did not like the experience when it was happening, it was profoundly good for me.  They enthusiastically agreed.

In that regard, I have spent most of my life fighting any urge to spend money, knowing that I might need it later.




Eric