Well, it's raining. I had rain marked for this weekend, so it is here. A nice little break and a good excuse to write this column. We have had a nice run of great weather. The land was getting just about dry enough to combine.
On the home front, we have had a dickens of a time getting our air seeder ready. The last guy driving it has lost at least two shanks out in the field somewhere, only God knows where. I hope we don't find it in a tractor tire, as every shank missing had a cultivator shovel attached to it. They are killers for tractor tires. Hard to see and can spear a tractor tire in a heart beat.
There doesn't appear to be any parts available anywhere for this air seeder. After phoning around to dealers, I phoned the factory at Vegreville, Alta. No parts for two weeks. That is a lot of good. We robbed from the outside and replaced the missing shanks in the middle. At least you are not leaving strips and missing in the field. The air seeder originally came out with one half inch C clamps to hold the shanks on. None are available! They have since upgraded to a 9/16th C clamp. I was able to find that size of clamp at Redhead. It would appear that Seedhawk uses that size of clamp. I was overjoyed. Something that would work. They didn't have nuts, but I thought that is a very common nut. I went to Keranda and I got some nuts that threaded on by hand. When we went to put them together, as soon as the nut got full thread, they would cross thread and seize. They wouldn't go on or come off. I have never seen anything like it in my life. Back to Keranda I go, no they are not metric. I thought I had the curse of Pierre Elliot Trudeau on my machinery again. I say bad words about him every time I get some odd ball metric crap. After a long fight, we ended up cutting the brand new C clamps off with an angle grinder. Geezze! Then we had to get the shank assembly back out from under the cultivator and I blew the holes out to 5/8ths. At least Bourgault C clamp parts and the nuts fit! What a deal!
The air conditioner on the tractor didn't seem to be working. So I bit the bullet and with some dread over how much the bill might be, I phoned Agland. I had to put my name on a waiting list and in a day or so out came Alex Donald. He got the mouse nest out of the air vent and found no power to the pump. There was a little switch that wasn't working. He said he couldn't fix it without that switch. I threatened to lock him in the basement until that air conditioner was working. He phoned his mother and she brought the switch home. He had the air conditioning working the next morning. It was like old home week. Bev fed him coffee and cookies!
Alex started working for me when he was about 12. He was the grease monkey, learned to change oil and service machinery. One time he didn't get the screen on correctly on Ronald's tractor and it fell off and was run over. Ronald promptly started calling him the "Terminator." When anyone in this family starts talking about the Terminator, we all know who they are talking about. Thanks for fixing the tractor, Alex. Good to see you again. He has given a girl a ring and plans to be married in a few months. Congratulations!
In Ottawa, reporters are all about the senate scandal. Patrick Brazeau, Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin have all been booted out of the Conservative caucus, but they are still collecting a wage as senators. Liberal senator Mac Harb is still collecting his senate wage. These people all need to be booted out of Ottawa and cut off further wages
Stephen Harper needs to start acting like the prime minister. Prime Minister Stephen Harper needs to clearly and publicly state that those who are dishonest and break the rules, those who feel "entitlement" to the public purse need to leave. There is the door. Get out!
It is that simple. He needs to repeat the message and repeat the message until the media get it. No more media questions about who knew what when. That just muddies the water over a clear case of dishonesty. Canadians do not and will not tolerate dishonesty in public office. We all have to work for the money we get.
Boot the bums out!
