Old People/Old Equipment

Oh, goodness . . that title could certainly be taken wrong but I’m talking about all our garden and lawn equipment. Vince had a weed trimmer that he had gotten right out of college. That was an OLD weed trimmer. I think it was last summer he had to replace it. He had patched and pampered that thing but it was finally time for a new one. I haven’t asked, but I’m betting he didn’t actually get rid of the old one.

Vince always had a rear tine and a front tine tiller. Vince also has a Kubota tractor that he bought when we moved here so don’t ask me why he won’t buy the tilling attachment and use that. Every year I beg him to do it but nope . . won’t do it.

That last couple of times he’s had to use the tillers, it’s been frustrating. The front tine tiller is OLD . . at least 13 years old, maybe older. The rear tine tiller is newer. He bought it since we moved here so it’s probably 7 or 8 years old but both get a lot of use and our ground is pretty rough on them.

There are ongoing and recurring issues with both and the main one that drives him crazy are that the pins that holds the wheels on shears right off. Vince keeps extra pins but he goes through a lot of them.

Last week while using the front tine tiller, something happened inside the gear box and it’s a sealed box and cannot be worked on. He looked online, tried to figure out something but . . it’s toast.

Today he was out working with me in the garden and decided to till up a spot to plant some winter greens. He pulled the start cable thing and it broke . . luckily as the tiller started. Then while he was working, something else broke. He stopped and fixed that, then had to fix the pull cable. He has a new one but didn’t want to go digging for it so he made the old one work a few more times. Then, just as he got going again, a wheel fell off.

We have a new front tine tiller coming next week and at this rate, we may be buying a new rear tine tiller too or . . the tilling attachment for the tractor.

The funny thing was this: We were sitting here last week. He was watching TV and I was knitting.

Vince: Are we moving any time soon?
Me: Hmm . . that’s up to you! You say the word and I can be packed by morning.
Vince: No, really . . do you think we’ll be here a few more years.
Me: You know how I feel. You’re the only one who can answer that question. But, why are you asking me that?
Vince: Because I think I’m going to buy a new tiller.

We’ve moved a tiller from Kentucky to Missouri to Texas so I’m not real sure what moving has to do with buying a tiller or not but . . what do I know? The next move will be on us instead of an employer paying for it so I think he’s thinking about he he might lighten that load but in the end, he decided we’ll be here long enough to justify buying a tiller.