The search goes on

I count it a blessing that Cliff and I have not, to my knowledge, been covid-positive, not that we've been tested.  So many get tested and are positive even though they haven't a single symptom.  That's what confounds me about this virus; there are so many factors we don't know about or understand.  I decided Sunday to stay home from church rather than put people at risk, since  I'd been in huge crowds at the airports we went through going to and from Georgia; I'm sure there's a good chance that some in the crowd were carriers.  But when I don't go to church, the week just drags along.

Here's what we found out from our day of tractor-shopping:  Most tractor dealers have very little to sell right now, thanks to the pandemic.  One of the places we went had a used tractor that would have fit Cliff's needs, but we didn't get down there in time; someone else bought it.  Cliff would much rather buy a used tractor because it would save him some money, but everything is in short supply.  One thing we learned:  He can choose to buy a larger tractor than the model he has now, or he can buy a tractor with a cab on it the same size as his current one... but he can't have both features unless he comes across a decent used one.  The new ones aren't that much out of our price range, but it's too much.  We aren't borrowing money, as tempting as the dealers make it sound... zero interest, rebates... because we are on a fixed income and I don't want to cut things that close.  

Same size as our old one

Cliff took pictures yesterday of some more things he'll try to sell on Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, and other online selling spots.  We'll try to get those listed this morning.  The John Deere salesman we talked to Monday offered us a decent trade-in price on Cliff's John Deere, simply because Cliff kept it in such good shape.  We saw has a cab tractor Cliff really likes, although it's the same size as our present John Deere; he wanted a larger one, but a cab adds $2,000 to the price, and that puts us over our limit.  He also looked at a new Kubota that's the size he wants, but has no cab.

He really wants a cab:  He'd have air conditioning in summer and heat in winter.  Since he's developed asthma in his old age,  that's something he needs.  For the last few years, just mowing the pasture has given him difficulty breathing for days afterward.  The cold winter air isn't good for him either.  We are at an age when we don't have that much time to do things we'd like to do, and when a senior citizen has a dream he can turn into reality, he'd better do it sooner rather than later.  

We really haven't settled on anything for certain, but we are circling the wagons.  I'll show you two we looked at:

The dealer had rented this slightly-used Kubota to a grain storage facility down the road 
from him.  He took us to to see it.  It's in our price range. 

To my Canadian reader who couldn't comment on my blog for years and now wonders why she can finally comment, there was a setting I had never noticed:  when I discovered it, it was set to only allow people with a Google account comment.  Once I changed that setting, all my readers could comment.  

Another reader commented that her son's father-in-law is an Allis Chalmers man:  Well, that's my favorite classic tractor because my uncles and one cousin had Allis Chalmers tractors when I was a kid visiting on their farms.  Cliff likes them too; we had one that was our main tractor for years.  Both kids learned to drive on it.  Now he seems to favor the Olivers, but he loves all the old tractors: they were simple to work on and built to last!  

Speaking of which, either today or tomorrow the 1855 Oliver will head for its new home in North Dakota.

Enjoy your day, dear readers.  I wish I could share our weather with you this week. 

It appears we'll be waiting awhile to find out who our President will be for the next four years... and that's all I'll say about that.