Rob Crowe's 080906 Unpublished Article "Perseverance"

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It’s a Matter of Perseverance (AIA Unpublished)

I know you've all been breathlessly waiting for an update on my haying operation, just like waiting for a root canal, but I'll give it to you anyway. I figured I'd do some repair work on my main tractor before starting haying, but I had a little trouble getting the tractor up to the shop to get started on it, there were too many broken vehicles ahead of it, won't go into that. Anyway, I did get the 3010 somewhat close and took the steering unit off, figuring I'd just take it off, fix it, slap it back on and I'd be in business. Three days and five tries later, I finally had a properly working steering, at least temporarily. I took the time to power wash the tractor and proceeded to start the '06 haying season.

Things went fine for a while, got the first field done and moved the bales home, moved the 400 and haybine to Swatara and started cutting down there. That part went OK, the yield this year is pretty good because of the early rains. After a couple of days I had a good afternoon's worth of baling to do, hauled the John Deere A down and had my helper rake up the hay with the with the ancient 4-wheel rake, that went OK too. Hauled the 3010 and pulled the baler down, that went OK too. Hooked things together, oiled the drive chains on the Vermeer and started to bale. That didn't go OK. Baled up the first bale, tied it and opened the tailgate, when it reached the top I suddenly had a hydraulic oil geyser of "Old Faithful" proportions at the back of the tractor, lubricating every thing in sight.

I shut the tractor down and found that one of the 40 year old flare fittings had deteriorated over the years, causing the problem. I took the fitting apart, wrapped a tiny piece of cloth around the steel pipe, put it back together, thinking that might do the trick. Baled up another bale, tied it and opened the tailgate. When it reached the top, the line popped out again, another geyser. I then made the 20 mile round trip back home to get the flare tool, came back and used it to put a new end on the line, you guys that have done this operation can explain it to your wives and kids at this time. This time I just raised the tailgate to experiment, it raised it just fine but again when it reached the top, the added pressure popped the line out again. The old line was just too fatigued. Another trip home to see if I could find some new steel pipe, no luck, headed back to make one more attempt to fix it. I ended up cutting the old line quite a bit farther back into fresher metal, there seemed to be enough length if I re-curved the line. This perseverance ended up working, I did get about two-thirds of the hay baled up before darkness overtook me. A couple of other problems developed during the process, won't go into that.

Sometimes it seems like things just don't go right. Some days this is the case in my little haying operation and also seems to be the case on the national and international front. The Iraq conflict, the Israel versus Hezbollah conflict, the rise in oil prices, I'm sure I could find more, problems abound. It doesn't seem to end, and in reality, it won't. If one just concentrated on the problems, it would be continually depressing, and there are many in the media, government and politics that constantly harp on the negative events and happenings.

The bottom line is, sometimes you just have to keep plugging away at it. Fortunately we have a leader in George Bush who understands that. Persevere and win in Iraq, even though the "cut and run" democrats get more favorable press. Let Israel do the necessary things to protect its citizens even though the "ceasefire" advocates are almost hysterical. Even the democrats in congress are talking about easing restrictions on off shore drilling due to the increase in oil prices, promoting alternative energy like E-85 fuel and Minnesota's leadership in ethanol production are looking like great decisions.

There may be a few problems along the way, but sometimes you just have to persevere. Chances are, you'll get the job done.