Tractor Crisis

The farm is in an uproar, or at least the farmer is.

Back in the fall, hubby became unhappy with the big red tractor.  It was a combination of things, most of which I don't pretend to understand.   The biggest problem is that we lost the dealership that supplied the parts for the tractor.  Where we once only had to drive a few miles to get parts we now have to drive almost an hour.  That's not a good situation when you are in the middle of hay and have a break-down (is there any other time?).  Also, he had spotted a tractor that he liked, at about the right price.  So, in a moment of frustration, hubby priced his tractor to another farmer.  When he didn't hear from the farmer he decided to go on with the old red tractor.

Then, lo and behold, after Christmas the farmer calls and says he wants the tractor.  A little hemming and hawing takes place and the deal is struck.  The big red tractor moves on to another farm.   Naturally, the tractor hubby had his eye on to replace big red is gone.  So now we are without the big tractor with the loader and hay fork.  It makes doing winter chores of scraping out feed barns and moving big round hay bales a problem.  Panic arrives.

Hubby and son rush through the chores at night then head straight for the computer.  They research tractors and more tractors.  Questions float out of the office area.  Where is Winchester, TN?  What does UK mean (no we are NOT buying a tractor from the United Kingdom!)? How far is it to Eufaula, Alabama?  How much do they charge to truck a tractor here?  The perfect tractor was found...in Idaho about 100 miles from Canada.  Another looked promising but it was in Oklahoma. 

Finally one was found in Tennessee.  A call to the dealer sounded promising, so hubby and son took off to check it out.  They left early one morning and were calling home by lunch.  Not good.  The tractor was in worse condition than they thought and the price too high.  In low spirits they headed back home. 

They went back to the computer.  It seemed like they were always just a little late and the tractor had just been sold.  In desperation they even called a dealer in Des Moines, thinking that our son-in-law could check it out and hold it for us.  Unfortunately, that one was sold to a man in Oregon and already shipped out.  However, the Oregon man hadn't paid all the money yet, and if he didn't, then there were only two others ahead of hubby looking at it.  It seems farmers are snapping up these tractors like frogs on flies.

Yesterday, hubby walks in at lunch and says he has figured out the solution.  He's going to rent a tractor until he can find the perfect one.   He knows a farmer who mows right-of-ways along the highway.  Obviously, he isn't using all his tractors now.  So he figures he can rent one of the ones sitting idle.  This will allow him time to keep on looking for the perfect tractor.

Sounds good to me.  I've always wanted to see Idaho.