Back Up and Running

Mike was able to get the baler part fixed and the whole contraption put back together. I was pleasantly surprised to see that after having all the parts strewn about the driveway along with many tools, c-clamps, and power cords, all the pieces fit back together and there were no leftovers as sometimes is the case!

I joke about repairs around here. It is an on-going, necessary, time-consuming fact of farming, repairs happen. It’s the figuring out and unique solutions that can be downright funny. And it’s not just Mike, we all do some unusual stunts to make repairs or quick fix something that eventually becomes permanent.

I find these quick fixes all the time when I am tearing out old fences. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I have come across a bit of fence line or broken fence post that has baling twine, barb wire and even duck tape wound through a hole in the fence, up to a tree branch, back down to the fence and up to the tree again.

Pondering the mastery of incorporating any and all things found in the old tool box, pockets and weaving items found in nature is rather awe-inspiring. But it really makes it difficult for any future repairs or removal of those fixes since the whole thing has to be dismantled in order to do anything more.

I’m just happy that the repair done on the baler was not so much a masterpiece artwork but a more contemporary, permanent fix that should last as long as the whole, I hope.