Plowing And Paying

I was planning on plowing the patch for the mums, but when I was listening to the news on TV they were predicting rain, so I checked the radar on the laptop. There was rain appearing on the radar, but it was west of Bowling Green, so I thought I would have time to plow before the rain arrived. It was about 6:15 AM when I left the house. I unhooked the grader box from the tractor and hooked up the two bottom plow and leveled it. I filled the tractor with diesel fuel and headed to the mum patch. After determining which way to plow I laid off the rows two at a time. I was nearly done when the rain arrived as light sprinkles. It took about another ten minutes to finish the patch for the mums and then I did a smaller area for Regina to plant some garden plants. I figure people driving by thought I was crazy plowing in the rain, but the ground never got wet enough to make a difference by the time I was done.
 
I drove the tractor through the creek a couple of times to clean the dirt off the tires and then parked it behind the upper barn to let the rain gently wash the dust off too. I went inside and it was a little after 8 AM. I guess I'm a farmer now that I've been plowing before sun up. (giggle) I showered and headed to Columbia to pay for the tractor service. It was raining harder on the way there and water was puddling on the road. I parked and went inside, talked to the service manager and he told me what they had done to the tractor. They had put on about six new air, oil, and hydraulic filters, replaced two seals, replaced one high pressure hydraulic line, filled it with hydraulic oil, and welded the muffler stack back together. He said they were figuring the bill and I could go to the parts department to pay. I told the service manager that the tractor ran a bunch better and he remarked that the muffler leaking had clogged up the breather filter and the tractor wasn't getting enough air to run right. There were also two $50 charges for hauling, one for each way, that was included in the $516.77 service bill that I paid. Back at home later, Regina came over and we talked about a half hour even though Linda wasn't home. I noticed when I was outside that some of the trees around the farm and near the house were blooming. Linda called a little later and said Stacey and her were staying the night at Brent's again and that they believe they have sold the trailer on contract.