Surely EKat can throw in a few photos of old and new Zambonis? They're a kind of tractor, after all. Maybe even those snow-grooming machines she so likes.
This makes for a great Sunday afternoon read on one of the last lay hot days of fall (I hope). Great stuff here.
Loved Rich's story about the correct way being to "hang it out" and pee while the tractor is running. This is Guy 101! Ha ha!
I worked at a summer camp right out of college in Southern Wisconsin (Oconomowoc). I was the leader of a unit of younger teenagers and counselor. We lived in these giant surplus canvas army tents on concrete platforms. The camp had an old tractor (a Ford I think, don't recall much other than the fun of driving it) and it was a blast fer sure. Used it mostly for hauling a flatbed of camp equipment or a boatload of teenagers. More fun that you can swing a stick at. If I have photos, they are deeply buried.
There was also an old unregistered Plymouth Duster (or similar Mopar make) that was my "camp" car. Bald tires and beat up to hell, had some fun in that thing too, driving it around the dirt roads and fields.
TPFU!
Would definitely welcome eKat input on this thread!
My big unrealized dream in life is to be a snowcat operator. At least for one night to see what it's really like.
This is my tractor. just arrived today. needs lots of work. The crappy plow comes off tomorrow and the Fisher goes on. needs brakes, heater core,wireing,carb work, shifting linkage, etc, etc but man is she Cool!
There's a little spot on the Appalachian Trail, somewhere near Grayson Highlands in Virginia IIRC..been a long time ago since I was there... where you're crossing this big open area of rolling grassy hills. And someone took about 4 or 5 old tractor seats and sank the posts into the ground making a sort of park bench type setup.
Maybe I can find a pic, I sat there and enjoyed some medicinal and a nice sunset. Had to be the most comfortable a tractor seat in all my life (it helps that it ain't bouncing you all over and that you just spent the last 6 hrs hiking 20 miles with a pack)...EDIT: sumbitch, here they are:
OK, I agree... that Swedish Tractor video is the best! I'm a quarter Swedish and this COMPLETELY explains my younger brothers' behaviour over the years! Ha ha!
Probably explains some of my own, but I'm not admitting it! :-)
Funny (maybe) story: We were looking at some land up by Big Oak Flat, owned by this wonderful lesbian couple. We really hit it off and they spent hours showing us around the property, their property, and another neighbor's. At that neighbor's place they had a really nice John Deere. As we walked up to the huge array of disc, box scrapers, blades, roto-tillers, and just about everything you could imagine, the one woman, surveying all this, says to me with a wild look in her eye: "I have implement envy".
They left and moved to Hawaii, didn't they? Lost the best damn coffee shop in the world, that day..... oh man, to live in Modesto, climb in the Valley and coffee up at Buck Meadows, those were the days!
this is a pretty unique sort of tractor setup used for mashing down aquatic vegetation and churning up a flooded bed of mud in preparation for growing rice. When in use the thing is under water up to the axels. I'll try to get photos of one on the job tomorrow. Got here too late today - the sun was going down...
Let us know!