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Post by Andrew on Jan 7, 2020 9:48:50 GMT -5
One of the oldest stories on this site is The Next Generation and one of the sub-plots was Ken Sorensen continuing a family tradition by performing major surgery on farm machinery. That story appears to have been written in 1984. For those who remember the story, here is a Real Life update. 35 years later and a couple of states over.
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Post by Not Wes on Jan 7, 2020 11:06:49 GMT -5
Andrew,
Thanks for the historical note. About 10 years ago I sold my old Ferguson T30 tractor, I think built in 1950, in running condition for $1000. It needed work, but would start and run. Needed new tires for sure. The guy who bought thought he got a steal, and he was probably right. I just asked what I paid for it 25+ years before and was happy. I'd bought it used from my neighbor who was moving and wouldn't need it any longer. That tractor was only a year younger than I am. I should have researched the market more, though this was likely somewhat before the "old tractor" boom the article you cite mentions as going on now. It may have started by then? Mine wasn't anywhere near as big as those Deeres mentioned in the article. It was built by Ferguson Tractors owned by Harry Ferguson (Irish inventor) in the short period between the time he worked with Henry Ford on the Fordson and Ford-Ferguson tractors, and later sold out to Massey-Harris, which became Massey-Ferguson.
Not Wes
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Post by Andrew on Jan 9, 2020 4:40:17 GMT -5
Both the article and "The Next Generation" indicated that older generations of tractors were simply inferior, that $1000 may well have been a reasonable price.
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Post by Not Wes on Jan 9, 2020 12:40:04 GMT -5
Both the article and "The Next Generation" indicated that older generations of tractors were simply inferior, that $1000 may well have been a reasonable price. Andrew, The $1000 was entirely reasonable to me, but the guy who bought it thought he got a super deal on it especially as it ran. That indicated to me I could have asked a lot more for it and got it. I didn't think to ask him how much he would have paid. As to inferior, I'd tend to agree in a lot of respects, not agree on others. It was 60 years old and had had very minimal maintenance. It ran. How many people keep cars that long? Some I know do. A friend of mine has a '71 Volkswagen camper (bus). It's about 40,000 miles short of a million miles on the odometer. Of course there's been some maintenance, like on it's fifth engine and I don't know how many transmissions. The owner is 84 now and might not live (or at least be driving) long enough to garner the million miles he's hoping for as he doesn't drive it that much now. The tractor I sold doesn't have an enclosed cab with air conditioning, AM/FM stereo, or other goodies, so it's inferior in that regard. This sort of reminds me of the old joke the farmer tells of those city slickers who come around and show off their $75,000 BMW's. "Hell, I got a combine in the barn that cost me a quarter of a million bucks, and I only use it two weeks out of the year!" Not Wes
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Post by Andrew on Jan 10, 2020 11:02:58 GMT -5
To the word "inferior". I grew up in a farming area but not in a farming family so I have no personal experience. Have a look at Chapter 14 of "The Next Generation", the part where he is harvesting with an Oliver 70. The Oliver 70 was first introduced - under a slightly different name - in 1935 and it was replaced by the Oliver 77 in 1948. I'm assuming Wes knew what he was talking about when he described how totally outdated it was in 1984.
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Post by K Pelle on Jan 11, 2020 2:31:46 GMT -5
Actually, like "antique" and "collectable" cars, there is a very, very pricey market out there for older tractor - especially those that have been owned by one family and have been 'relatively' well maintained! Some of them sell for Thousands and Thousands of bucks. Just google "antique tractors" and check the listings of recent sales.
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Post by Kirby on Jan 12, 2020 13:11:55 GMT -5
In the late 70's I spent many hours servicing ranch roads with an early 70's 5 cylinder Deere. It had a 3 point hitch with a hard blade on the front. Extra weight bolted on the front, hub weights on the rear and a water antifreeze mix in the rear tires for greater traction. I would lower the blade until the front wheels were off of the ground, unlink the brake pedals so that I could steer with the rear wheels, put it into low range reverse, set the throttle, stand facing the rear (with my butt braced on the steering wheel)and use my right heel to press the correct brake pedal to steer. With all of the safety crud on modern tractors you could not do that now. The extra weight did affect fuel usage a bit but as cheap as diesel was then it didn't bother us much. I sometimes spent as much as 14 hours a day back dragging caliche roads/paths for the farmers and ranchers in the Texas hill country. Doing it that way meant that we didn't have to rent or buy and maintain a separate piece of equipment to service the roads.
Kirby
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Post by Andrew on Jan 23, 2020 14:50:51 GMT -5
I'm just re-reading another piece of fiction which seems to be dealing with agricultural machinery of this vintage - Chapter 29 of Lisa-Marie & Unca Tom. It's more about repairing things though.
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Post by K Pelle on Jan 24, 2020 2:45:02 GMT -5
I'm just re-reading another piece of fiction which seems to be dealing with agricultural machinery of this vintage - Chapter 29 of Lisa-Marie & Unca Tom. It's more about repairing things though. Yep, I'll admit I wrote that piece of "stuff" - actually in the midst of rewriting and hopefully finishing that tale this winter, but having a few computer glitches - it seems that half of the computer programs that I used for 'reference material' while writing that tale won't work on Windows 10. So right now I'm on the hunt for a decent older machine (Win 7 or 8) that I can revamp to work as a "Writing" machine, but will retain the Win 10 machine as my new online unit.
BTW, the story is being re-titled as "Clearwater Confidential" on my online website.
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Post by Colin on Jan 24, 2020 4:59:00 GMT -5
it seems that half of the computer programs that I used for 'reference material' while writing that tale won't work on Windows 10. So right now I'm on the hunt for a decent older machine (Win 7 or 8) that I can revamp to work as a "Writing" machine, but will retain the Win 10 machine as my new online unit.
Speaking as an IT hobbyist - which programs don't work on Win10? It might be better to search for replacements rather than try to keep running Win 7 which is now not supported at all.
Colin
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Post by Andrew on Jan 24, 2020 10:15:41 GMT -5
Yep, I'll admit I wrote that piece of "stuff" - actually in the midst of rewriting and hopefully finishing that tale this winter, but having a few computer glitches - it seems that half of the computer programs that I used for 'reference material' while writing that tale won't work on Windows 10. So right now I'm on the hunt for a decent older machine (Win 7 or 8) that I can revamp to work as a "Writing" machine, but will retain the Win 10 machine as my new online unit.
BTW, the story is being re-titled as "Clearwater Confidential" on my online website.
Well, I will admit to having known that. I noticed an unfamiliar story on your website and - having been to Clearwater BC on my tour-de-BC in Summer 2016 - had a look at it. As you say in the story blurb, after three words I knew what this was. The Clearwater in the title appears to be Clearwater County AB rather than the one at the entrance to Wells Gray. btw, when you changed "Gretchen" to "Noreen" in Short Fuse you missed one in chapter 21.
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Post by Not Wes on Jan 24, 2020 10:48:06 GMT -5
Wow, someone else who's maybe been to Wells Gray Provincial Park in BC. I've been canoeing there several times on most of the lakes. Murtle Lake to the east, and on Clearwater and Azure and Hobson Lakes in central. I've so far skipped Mahood Lake to the west because I understand it's overrun with power boats. Not having visited that lake, I don't know that for sure. Should check it out one of these days. It's a pretty place, can be quite busy at times.
Not Wes
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Post by Andrew on Jan 24, 2020 13:27:30 GMT -5
I was only in there for one half day, basically because the one who had the car key that day got up really late and then spent 90 minutes doing the most stupid things imaginable (he discovered a device to measure blood pressure in the store and wanted to test his there and then, MINE WAS THROUGH THE ROOF) before we finally got going. We did manage an hour or two on the Clearwater lake though. I no longer go on holidays with those two, basically citing "divergent interests" and that day in particular. It's a 10+ hour flight just to Vancouver airport for me and that was going to be a highlight of the trip for me, along with Mount Robson. All I got to see there was a bit of Kinney Lake.
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Post by K Pelle on Jan 25, 2020 1:46:19 GMT -5
Speaking as an IT hobbyist - which programs don't work on Win10? It might be better to search for replacements rather than try to keep running Win 7 which is now not supported at all.
Colin
Well actually I have about a dozen different programs that cover drafting, as well as photo and cartoon editing, a calendar program that covers centuries (corrected for 'official' changes clear back to biblical times) and another program can be set to give sunrise, sunset, tidal times, etc for the major cities of world. Then there is a full set of programs that allow me to keep track of character details and 'idiosyncrasies' etc. The whole lot was worth well over $1000.00 Cdn when I retired in 1990 and even if I could find 'modern' replacements, I couldn't afford them now that I'm living on a pension.
Besides, I do enjoy 'playing' with older computers and can keep them fully isolated from outside interference, so the age of the operating system isn't a major consideration for me. (Thumb drives are wonderful isolation devices!)
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Post by K Pelle on Jan 25, 2020 1:57:31 GMT -5
Well, I will admit to having known that. I noticed an unfamiliar story on your website and - having been to Clearwater BC on my tour-de-BC in Summer 2016 - had a look at it. As you say in the story blurb, after three words I knew what this was. The Clearwater in the title appears to be Clearwater County AB rather than the one at the entrance to Wells Gray. btw, when you changed "Gretchen" to "Noreen" in Short Fuse you missed one in chapter 21. Actually the posting of almost 2/3s of Short Fuse was an unedited posting and somewhat of a mystery, because I have NO RECORD and NO MEMORY of having posted it!!!!!!!
In fact it is a direct copy of an initial posting which appeared on ASSTR - but was never meant to be posted on Sunset Scribblin's - at least not before a complete re-edit because a multitude of changes need to be made to the copy which was posted.
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