Truck muck
Every few days, I’m overwhelmed with the strangest feeling in Smallville.
I’ll be doing something, and it suddenly hits me: It’s all over. I live here now. I’m not going home to Madison at the end of the day, that when I turn off the lights and lock the door I’ll be inside instead of outside. This is home now.
I wish I were better able to put it into words, this feeling. It’s not a bad feeling at all, just unexpected when I get it.
It’s weird. I got so used to going to Smallville to work, then driving back to Madison to sleep, that I guess it’s still ingrained. It’s odd to think about the Madison house being gone, that it belongs to another family now. I don’t miss that house or anything; we liked the location (until it turned into suburbia hell) but didn’t have any particularly strong feelings for the house.
This new feeling is one of permanance, I guess. We can’t change our minds now and go back to the other house. Not that we’ve ever even entertained such a thought, except jokingly when something’s giving us fits, like the downstairs bathroom did. Hell, we joke about divorce, too.
I feel like I love the old house just a little bit more every day. Last week (or maybe the week before, the days blur when you’re over 40) I told Robyn I was so happy in Smallville that if this were a movie, she’d be killed in the next scene.
I’ve discovered something almost as complex as choosing a tractor: choosing a farm truck.
I need one, you know. Hell, I’ve needed one since we bought the house, but it wasn’t as high on the priority list as other things, like roofing, fences, and whatnot. But now that everything’s done financially, money’s not so tight and I can look at getting the truck I need.
Every week it seems I find a need for the truck. Just this last week, I had to buy a screen door to replace the one the cats broke through (fortunately, their fence is done and they can go outside now), and fitting the screen door in my little vehicle gave me fits. Regularly, I have to spend 10 minutes tying things to the top (on the kayak rack, no less!) to get them home. I promised my mom a cat house for their outside cat, and I can’t even fit a little 4′x4′ piece of plywood in my vehicle.
I need a truck. Nothing fancy, nothing new. A work horse that will only get driven when I need to get something big, or a lot of something.
A couple of weeks ago we re-did the front flower beds. I had to buy eight bags of mulch at Lowe’s because I don’t have a truck. With a truck, I could’ve gone to the co-op and bought a scoop of mulch off the mulch pile for a lot less money.
I also would’ve looked more manly doing that.
One of the biggest reasons I need a truck, though, is to save money. Any time I build something, I have to get the lumber delivered, for $20-$40. We bought a new dryer from Lowe’s. It came with a $55 delivery fee. Fence posts for the fence out back cost $30 for delivery. It really starts to add up.
The day is also going to come when I need to get the tractor, an implement, or the riding lawn mower serviced. With a truck (and a trailer), I can take things to the repair shop, instead of paying someone — particularly the tractor dealership, which is about 20 miles away — to come pick it up and return it.
My needs are simple: an old truck, no more than say $2500, that runs well. I don’t care how it looks, don’t care about the gas mileage or how many miles are on it. I just need it to be big enough to hold stuff and strong enough to pull stuff.
Unfortunately, I made the mistake of asking for advice, which is when I found out (again) that every person has a different opinion. Get this, get that, Ford sucks, no Chevy does, you want diesel, you want gas, watch the tranny (not the fun-to-watch kind, either), mag this, head that, V-8 something or other. It’s enough to make a city boy frustrated.
I do like the idea of diesel, because diesel engines run forever and can pretty easily be converted to use something else for fuel WHEN THE WORLD RUNS OUT OF GAS SOON. I even found a nice diesel Ford F-250 (1983) over in River City that I wanted to go test drive today:
They’re asking $3000, which is a little more than I wanted to pay, but it looks like a good solid truck. I dunno.
Then there’s this one, up in Tennessee:
I didn’t realize the colors were so similar until I saw the two pictures together
The one above is $2300 (not $2650 like the picture shows), but it’s not diesel. It might also be an F-150. I’ve looked at so many I get them all confused.
Yesterday on the way home from work, I spotted a truck in the co-op parking lot with a For Sale sign in the window. I can’t remember anything at all about it now, except that I think it was also a Ford F-150 (I’m not partial to Ford, despite mentioning no other brand here). It looked nice and solid, and best of all, the owner wanted $2000 or best offer. I got his number and may call him today. Offering a handful of $100 bills may save me a little money. Plus, it would be helping the local economy, which we try to do whenever possible.
I sure wish I didn’t make things so complicated, but I always get spazzy when I’m buying something I know absolutely nothing about. Damn me and my city boy lack of knowledge.
(and for the record, I’m going to feel like SUPER POSEUR driving a truck like that)
Warning: the picture below may offend your delicate sensibilities, if’n you’re CITY FOLK. Please avert your eyes if need be.
Miss Mama and Newt had a FINE rabbit dinner the other day. I swear, this
thing was as big as they are. You see a lot of animal death in the country. Circle of life, and all that.
We have about 100 cantaloupe plants like this, and I’m the only one
who’ll be eating the melons when they come in next month.
Our first scalloped squash (aka Patty Pan squash) is almost ready to pick.
Speaking of squash, Miss Mama loves to lay under it.
As I mentioned before, I finally finished the backyard fence yesterday afternoon. The kitties like going outside again, hopefully they’ll stay in the fence and not force me to run the zapper fence again.
One of the big gates. Thank God we live in the country,
where it’s okay for gates to look like this.
Mister Boogers wasted no time in making himself at home.
Tommy lays in the shade for a bit…
…then finds a dust puddle to roll about in…
…before being checked out by Miss Mama, his doppelganger.
It’ll take Spot a while to warm up to the idea of coming outside again.
Bitching at dad and the camera.
I caught Miz Poo doing the mouth-hanging-open-after-a-good-smell thing
that makes cats look mildly retarded sometimes.
Mom and Newt keep an eye on the girls. They love to watch them,
but have never made any effort at getting into the chicken yard.
Boogie spots a bug.
Wow! It has been awhile since I checked in and the chickens are looking oh so fabulous! And your handiwork is looking good too!
You should hire yourself out!!!!
Love Tommy’s toe nails. I bought those nail guards for Chrissy. She doesn’t want to know aboout them and I can’t get them on her.
It’s nice that your cats stay inside the fencing. Chrissy would jump over the top and head off into the woods if I tried that with her. She’s such a beast.
I think your gate looks nice. The only advice I can offer on trucks is what my BIL concluded about the necessity of a truck for his rural home and DIY hobbies. When he got tired of paying through the nose for gas because he used his truck for his hour long commute for his job with the forest service, he got rid of it and got a utility trailer instead. So far he hasn’t found any job that it can’t do, that a truck can. Plus there’s the savings on registration and insurance and engine maintenance.
You might try a utility trailer out first, because it’s easy to sell them later if you change your mind.
You mentioned “suburbia hell;” do you ever worry that the nosey questions you get from your neighbors in Smallville will get on your nerves in a similar way?
lulu
“…the mouth-hanging-open-after-a-good-smell thing that makes cats look mildly retarded sometimes”. Oh my gosh, that cracked me up. I’m glad to know my cat isn’t the only one that does that.
You put a warning up for the carnage shot and yet let us poor souls suffer freely when you post shots of snakes? Rabbit-guts are fine mister, but those snake pictures make me go to my quiet place :
I work for a lanscaping company and we have 32 Ford Trucks (from the 150’s thru the 550’s in size) because my boss believes they are the only truck to drive.
As Lulu mentioned you would probably be better off getting a utility trailer.
Great pictures!
re: utility trailers.
C’mon, guys, you know I research things before I make decisions.
My vehicle will tow 3000 pounds. My tractor weighs 2700 pounds, without the loader or the weight of the trailer added. Plus, who wants to hook up a trailer to pick up a 4′x4′ piece of plywood?
We’ve found our pets with such animal remains as well … although our cat hasn’t tried something the size of a rabbit. They must have done a good job sneaking up on it. All that our cat usually leaves us are frogs heads or half digested mice.
Occasionally during hunting season, our dogs will drag up parts of a deer carass … a leg, a head … those things that get left behind when someone field dresses a deer. It’s kinda of unsettling finding this carnage in the yard.
Fred, you haven’t told us what you are going to do with all the excess vegetables you will obviously have. Do you plan on canning or freezing them? Going to a farmers market in town and sell them? Or maybe donate them?
Just curious.
Don’t go frettin’ about the truck too much, Fred. I’m sure things will work out just fine for you. Tommy as a dustball cracks me up! I’m sure it won’t be so funny for Robyn when he tries to come in the house looking like that!
The girls and Frick are looking so grown up. Is Frick crowing yet?
Martin: We’ll freeze what can be frozen, and Robyn has made noises about canning. Things like melons I’ll probably try to sell, because I’m a greedy capitalist.
Teri: Not yet, but they all have their grown-up cluckers now.
That goofy look is called phleming. There’s a sensory organ in the roof of a cat’s mouth that responds to chemical stimuli. Using the organ is known as phleming. (It took me forever to Google the explanation because I was spelling it “fleming.”)
My husband and I call the Miz Poo look “ass-face”, as our cats always get it when sniffing each others asses.
I’m so envious I may have to stop visiting your site. When the Spud moves out, can I move in?
buy a 4×4… it’s worth it.
We have a new F150 and it will spin its way up a small hill without the 4×4 engaged. Also find the 8 foot bed to be quite useful, very glad we opted for the larger bed.
A 4×4 is good to have when the fields get mucky with mud and when you are starting off with a heavy load.
I love older trucks and SUVS. My 90 Nissan Pathfinder is going on 195,000 miles and there’s no computer under the hood to worry about.
A 1970 Dodge truck was one of my fav rides…
Have fun choosing!
Fred, I think you are making the truck thing more complicated than it has to be. All those work trucks are pretty much the same in my opinion. A truck is a truck. However, having said that, I think the Ford F150 might have an advantage because it has the box frame.
Actually I have no idea what I am talking about execpt that I live in Texas and have seen that Ford commercial that talks about the box frame. =0)
My husband drives a 1985 Dodge Ram and it still runs well.
Looking at those pictures tell me your homestead is heaven on earth for some very lucky cats.
Just curious Fred, I cannot recall if you mentioned your technology out that way. I have long wanted to move out to the country, but I do not know if I could cut the cord!
I told my husband about your truck wish and he said to make sure you get a long bed truck. You will not be happy with a regular bed with the kind of stuff you are hauling. You probably don’t want a fuel injected engine either because most old pickups will need some engine adjustments and most men would prefer to get a Hayes manual and a regular tool kit and try and fix it themselves than take it in to be tuned up. (although, most wives probably would rather you take it in so we don’t have to hear all the swearing that comes with the removal of a rusty bolt) Depending on how far out you are, a dual fuel tank is handy on a farm. Unless you are planning on towing large things with your truck, a diesel engine isn’t necessary. Diesel fuel isn’t convient to find either unless you live near an interstate. Anyways, I just love your entries and thought maybe I would give you more to think about.
Fred,
Congratulations! It’s official. You are country folk complete with the ole’ pickup truck. The bitchez are looking mighty fine now that have grown out of the gangily teenager stange. Boy, they were ugly ducklings or chicklings. I hope your kids stay in the yard and you don’t have to setup the ole zap o’ doom. One of mine got lost the other day - I was so scared. He showed up about two hours later and acting like nothings wrong. Big booger. I bought a tieout for him. He doesn’t like it and the condo association doesn’t either. I hope both get used to it.
I’m with Gertie: you give a warning for a rabbit carcass but none for all those snake pictures? Some of us are truly phobic, ya know! Out of self-defense I’ve set my browser to not load pictures on your site, just so I can visit without worrying that I’ll catch a glimpse of something that’ll induce a freak-out. =P
100 cantaloupe plants? If they all bear well, you are looking at 300 melons, all at once. You might want to check if there is a farmer’s market around and sell some of them. Better than that many going to waste.