Wow!
If returning to homestead days means a late model Case-IH tractor and a very new looking New Idea manure spreader, I'm in!!
Just finished cutting, raking, baling, and picking up grass hay. Newest machine was the 1994 JD 348 baler. The tractors were a 1963 MF 202 (industrial version of the MF35) and a very thoroughly thrashed late '70's Belarus 820. (made in, guess where, Belarus! Primitive as heck but made so it can run in Siberia with almost no tools to maintain it.) The Belarus had to be pressed into service because the normally used machine, a 1959 MF180 blew its hydraulic pump running a rockpicker the week before the hay had to come down.
Haying without any air conditioning (no cab!) on those old tractors in the +40C (105F) heat just wasn't any fun. I guess that ain't hot to some of the southern US guys but up here it is a record high.
Geez, Patriot, you got as many repairs as my Belarus! I hope you are starting to see your way clear of a bunch of them now that you have been under the knife and maybe things can start to heal like they should.
I commend you--using your forced downtime to constructively plan ahead and ponder which way you want your business to go. It is probably therapeutic, too, figuring out what is next once you get offa your back and can start flexing your muscles again. Take care, though...it can be easy to get into a downer if you have to stay inside too long.
Jon.
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