Tractor Trouble

We ordered 1,000 mums yesterday, so today, I decided to use the tractor to clean out some drain holes around the farm with the backhoe and then take it off. I worked about a half hour in three places and then drove the tractor to the lower barn and took the backhoe loose. I pulled the tractor away from the hoe, then disconnected the hydraulic pump and pulled out of the barn. The point of taking the backhoe off was to hook up the plow and turn the ground over for the pumpkin patch. I hooked up the plow and drove to the patch. I raised the scoop up fairly high so I could see where I was going as I laid off the rows with the two bottom plow. It probably took a about forty five minutes to plow the patch. I lined up the tractor to finish the end of the patch and started to lower the scoop to go under a guide wire for an utility pole, but the scoop wouldn't go down. I messed with the joystick control and noticed that it was leaking hydraulic fluid on my pant leg. What the heck?

I fiddled with the control until I was able to lower the scoop enough for me to safely drive up the road to the house and put the tractor in the barn. I examined the valve body and determined it was leaking and not working properly. I shut the tractor off, went inside, took a shower and we went to Columbia and ate at Sonic. After finishing our meal I drove to the Ford Tractor Dealer and scheduled service for the tractor. They said they will pick it up next week, change the oil, oil filter, hydraulic filters, repair the valve and do general service on the tractor while they have it. No telling how much that will cost, but the tractor has a little over 400 hours on the meter, so its time to have it serviced anyway. We came home and washed Linda's Mustang and I dug some grass out of the flower bed we created about a month ago. Linda took the grass and filled in the gullies on the slope in front of the house. She drove the Mule down to the shed and picked up two bags of mulch and then spread that out in the bed where I had dug the grass.