Not to be out done by Tractor Thief, who hinted to Clarence that if I change my attitude he might come out to finish cutting my wood, I built a rocket stove instead. With only 3 cords of the 20 cut and stacked, I had to act quickly. Snow had already fallen. The rest of the wood may be a waste now from the weather but I'll do what I can. I'm getting quite good at chopping but bought a manual wood splitter to cut smaller pieces for the new stove.
Had no time to blog, had to deal with winter at my heels and no tractor to do the necessaries. I loaned out my tractor which took 2 months to get it back. My hand forced, I had to call the police after lie after lie from, I'll call him, Tractor Thief.
He hid the tractor from view on his property, which meant that police would have to obtain a search warrant and that takes time. He screwed himself in the end though and accidentally called 911 while he had it out. The officer that took the call, by law, has to check it out anyway and it turned out to be the same officer that I reported the tractor stolen to. HA!!! He called Clarence right away, asking him to bring a 5 gallon can of gas and to drive the wrecked bucket to Tractor Thief's town home to fix it right quick. Instead, Clarence called the garage to pick it up and get it fixed proper. I was going to get a cop costume and meet the boys there but they had already picked it up. Would have made for some great pictures for the blog. The next day was Halloween and we had our first major snow storm. Still it was nice to have my tractor back on the farm. Damages were over $1000 and still counting. Split bucket, blown hoses, he continued to drive it without hydrolic fluid and I'm still working on getting a bent rod fixed as a result. It was already serviced last spring and in perfect running order. Another payment, along with all he helped himself to here that I couldn't afford... from the goodness of his heart. He has a history, from what I was told by everyone who felt bad for me, of scamming people. Poor Clarence lost his new chain saw too, on a promise of payment, part in cash, part in help to ready him for the winter...neither happened. What a greedy bastid. Looking into getting a heated cab and the fenders put back on with it's lights that Tractor Thief removed. Your tractor is like your spouse. NEVER lend it out and those who rape it, should be castrated. |