Another Craigslist sale... two, actually

 Cliff put the two little Olivers on Craigslist Saturday morning.  Within two hours they were sold, and I removed the ads.  Normally we won't do that until the money is in hand, but this man is practically royalty:  He's the vice-president of Central States Oliver Collectors, so Cliff knew he was good for the money.  He has about fifty Hart-Parr and Oliver tractors, but he didn't have a 550, and it's the featured tractor in this year's show.  He will send us pictures of it when he has it all prettied up.

What are they doing over there at the bench?  Can you read the words on his jacket?  If you can't, click on the picture to make it larger.

 Oh, it's a pile of money!  I love piles of money!

 He took the obligatory look at Cliff's prize 1855.

He told Cliff he has any kind of parts we might need for any Oliver tractor, at a much cheaper price than what the dealers ask.   

Goodbye, little tractors.  I really wanted to keep the 550, but I bet we'll run onto another one before long.  

Today

The daughter's girls are here for the weekend, so I woke them up for pancakes this morning.  They've pretty much vegged out in front of the computers all day.
I've spent my day keeping an eye on Bonnie-the-cow, who exhibits signs of stage one of labor; but then, she's been doing that for three days.  We opened up the back door of Blue's old stall so she can have some shade whenever she needs it, and she's been spending a lot of time in there.  This morning I told Cliff, "I'd hate to see her have a calf on that filthy stall floor."
Cliff stopped his weed-eating to say, "Get the wheel barrow and haul some straw out there to put in the floor; that'll freshen it up."
Thanks a lot, Cliff.
I did it, though, and Bonnie was so grateful, she laid right down in the first load I spread in the corner of the stall.  
I spent some time sitting with her in the stall, eating cantaloupe.  She was curious and kept on bugging me until I gave her a bite.  Big mistake, because then she wouldn't get her snotty nose out of my dish.

Then I talked Cliff, bless his heart, into fixing her up with a fan.  She loves it, as you can see, and stands in front of it to cool off.  She thinks she's the Queen of Sheba.

Cliff spent the better part of the day mowing and weed-eating, but he found some time to work on his latest tractor purchase, the Oliver 550.  I have no idea what he's doing in this picture.  I do know one thing he fixed, though.
  

When we bought the 550, it had to be started with a wire contraption.  Cliff figured out the problem with little effort this evening, and now it starts with a key!  This brief video would have been better taken outside, but this is what you get.  
Most of the parts on the Super 55 interchange with the 550, and Cliff is going to take axles and other parts from that tractor and put them on this one, his pet.  Once he's taken the best from the Super 55 and traded for the more-worn parts on the 550, he'll sell the older tractor.  It's mechanically sound, and he'll enjoy getting it in good shape before he sells it.  I'm fairly certain he will make a few bucks on it.  
Good Lord willing, the 550 will stay with us for awhile.  

Shopping for a certain tractor

This time, it was my idea to look for a tractor similar to one we once owned:  An Oliver 550 or Super 55.  The reason either model would work for us is that the one we owned was actually a Super 55, but the guy who restored it dressed it in Oliver 550 clothing... a small detail which got us in trouble years later when we decided to sell it.  But I digress.  
Cliff's on an Oliver kick right now, so he's all for buying this tractor I want; he's learned to strike while the iron is hot, and it isn't every day I get in the mood to buy a tractor.  
Finding such a tractor is another story, though.  An old farmer right down the road has one in his shed that needs some work, but Cliff went to talk to him and he doesn't want to sell it.  Says he intends to get it running "one of these days".  Oh, sure.  It's been sitting there for at least twenty years, and he's about seventy years old.  But it is HIS to keep or sell, as he chooses.  
So I put an ad on Craigslist stating that we want to buy an Oliver Super 55 or 550.  We've had one call, and here's the tractor, a Super 55.  

(As always, click on the pictures to make them larger.)

This tractor had a couple of things going for it:  a recent overhaul, and brand new tires on the back.  Those tires are worth $500, and the overhaul would cost around $1,000.  It also had some problems, about which this fellow was very up-front and honest.  He was a really nice man.  
He was asking $1,800 for the tractor.  Do the math on the tires and overhaul and you can see it was a good buy.  This is why Cliff didn't try to dicker with him for a better price.  But in order to get it up to show quality, a person could easily sink another $1,000 into it, and Cliff would rather find one that doesn't require so much work.  He's also prefer a 550, but would take a Super 55 if it was in decent shape and priced right.  
When you're looking for a certain tractor, the thrill of the chase is half the fun.  

We went out back and looked at his other Oliver tractors, the ones he pulls at antique tractor shows.  And then we came on home.