Introductions

[bczoom]

Hey...

There's an "Welcome" thread and a "Invitations" thread but not something specific for people to check into when joining.

So, here's where I think we should introduce ourselves.

Please come on in and tell us a bit about yourself.

Welcome aboard (had to use that since Doc likes boats...)

Brian

 

[johnday]

Alright Brian, I'll bite.

Started on TBN, got ousted for telling guys about this forum.
Have a TC35DA with FEL, BB, disc, landscape rake, 3pt trailer mover, clampon hitch reciever [MadRef design]
Lincoln Idealarc 250 welder.
Licensed Michigan general contractor, carpenter, powerplant operator.
Wife, Jan. Together we rescue all kinds of critters, mostly cats and dogs though.
Still building my retirement home up north in Barton City Mich. on 21 acres, about 2 acres cleared, the rest trees and more trees.
Bored yet? Okay, I quit!

 

[Melensdad]

Me: Hi my name is Bob and I am a tractor-aholic.

CROWD: HI BOB

Me: I live 6 miles outside of a small town in rural N.W. Indiana, but in one of the most populous counties in the state. The north half is very urban, the south have very rural. I'm also only 1 hour away from downtown Chicago. I'm in my mid 40's, went to the same college as Dargo, but was 3 years ahead of him. The lovely Mrs_Bob grew up in Indianapolis, we met in college. She retired from commercial banking a couple years ago to become a H.S. teacher and works in town. We have 10 acres. I play with Kubota, NH, Cub Cadet and Ventrac machines. Like to try to restore old stuff, get into trouble and need friends with greater skills at restoration/fabrication to bail me out. Current project is a Snow Trac. Favorite tractor brand is Oliver.

CROWD: zzzzzzzzz

 

[Junkman]

If you call my office, you are greeted by "Good Mourning Morningwood Mortuaries, we are the last to let you down." I'm Mr. Morningwood...

 

[LarryRB]

If you call my office, you are greeted by "Good Mourning Morningwood Mortuaries, we are the last to let you down." I'm Mr. Morningwood...

It's nice of you to be respectful now., Last year it was "happy Morgans mortuary, you stab em, we'll slab em"

 

[bczoom]

OMG (or holy shi!!!) Bob, that's funny... The "Crowd" responses are just perfect.

 

[BoneheadNW]

OK, my turn.
My name is Bonehead, the name being given to me by one of my high school friends' mother (she was from Tahiti and pronounced it Bun-head). Believe it or not, I have a Ph.D in Chemistry, although most of my professional science career was spent in Immunology. I "retired" from a biotech company in San Diego and moved to the northwest 5 years ago. This is a much better place to raise our children, at least my wife and I think so. I now work as a firefighter/EMT in a small town fire department. My parents claim I am living my childhood dream- a firefighter who owns a tractor (my Dad is so jealous of the tractor he is driving my Mom nuts!). I too am in my mid-40s and have 2 boys, ages 9 and 3. I was "turned on" to tractors by one of the medics at the station and found TBN via the lawn and garden tractors forum. I have a 34" waist, I dislike insincere people, and my turn ons are Kioti owners who think they are hot shit........................

Sorry Vin!

Bonehead

 

[OkeeDon]

Hi, I'm Don. I live in the fastest growing city in the USA, Port St. Lucie, FL (seriously; officially declared by the US census). It's a nice place to live; it has also been named the safest large city in Florida for at least 6 straight years. I've been there 33 years, which is virtually a pioneer; my name is in the history book (seriously).

But, it is the fastest growing city in the USA, so about 3 years ago, Betsy and I bought 5 acres in rural Okeechobee, FL, about 50 miles inland, at the north end of Lake Okeechobee, the second largest freshwater lake completely within the USA borders. My daughter is the band director at Okeechobee High School, so she and her husband bought 2-1/2 acres in Okeechobee about 9 years ago. Our property is next to theirs, which is nice, because it puts us close to our 3 grandkids, 2 girls and a boy, 5, 3 and 10 months. My son-in-law is a county fireman/EMT and just finished paramedic school; he's just waiting for the state exam schedule before he gets the "big raise". He's a pretty decent kid as sons-in-law go; we work pretty well together, and he has borrowed, lost or broken only a few of my tools. Fortunately, he takes pretty good care of my TC18.

All we're waiting for to build our retirement house is a set of working drawings; so far I've burned through 2 designers and an architect with no progress; the latest kid looks promising. In the meantime, I'm moving dirt. About 4,000 yards, so far, with 4 big mountains of dirt yet to go. Some of it was moved with decent equipment, but currently I'm moving it 1/3 yard at a time with the TC18. I am having fun; it's a kind of mindless activity that becomes automatic after a couple of thousand bucket-fuls.

We just sold our North Carolina mountain cabin and are going to invest some of the proceeds in a new RV, based on the Mercedes-designed Sprinter van, most likely a RoadTrek. We've been sort of tied up for the past 6 years because we also care for my wife's Mother, who just turned 101 years old in August. However, we have a full-time caretaker, now, who will also stay 24 hours a day from time to time so we can get away.

I'm retired from owning a barbecue grill company, prior to which I was a free-lance computer programmer & consultant, prior to which I was a real estate broker, prior to which I owned a small fiberglass boat-building company, prior to which I was a cost accountant for a land developer, prior to which I was a state director of public education for the American Cancer Society. I've had a checkered past...Betsy is a physical therapist specializing in home health therapy visits under contract to the Visiting Nurse Association, loves it and will probably never fully retire. We're both 65.

Whew! I'm getting better at that. It used to take me 10 paragraphs.

 

[Melensdad]

Don, I've got a Sprinter cargo truck. It is an amazing little truck (it is our smallest delivery vehicle) and would make a great camper. It drives like a car, very smooth engine, responsive steering. When I need to haul stuff I usually grab that truck. You'll love it if you get a camper made out of a Sprinter.

 

[jpr62902]

"I have a 34" waist, I dislike insincere people, and my turn ons are Kioti owners who think they are hot shit......................."

Good golly, Bonehead! Did ya think this was a Playgirl tryout forum?

Here's my bio: Dad was a weekend farmer so I had some of time on some big machines: IH966, Ford 4000 & 5000, Case bulldozer and International loader\backhoe. Never got rid of the tractor bug after that. It's funny, though. I hated the smell of diesel back then, but now the exhaust is, well, intoxicating (I KNOW I'm not the only who thinks that way).

I've been a lawyer for the last 13 years (workers' compensation). I still can't decide what I'm gonna be when I grow up. My wife is a Rhodesian Ridgeback breeder (we've got 5 of the not so little buggers) and we live in sunny Lebanon, Ohio, which is about 30 miles northeast of Cincinnati (Go Bengals!).

 

[Dargo]

Uh, gee whiz. I played most sports, chased women and raced motocross in high school. I cheated on the entrance exam and got into the same college that Bob attended. I found that I wasn't that good at sports at the college level, so I relegated myself to only chasing women and I learned to drink. Since the college was a small private, all male, school I can tell you that Purdue was 26 miles to the north, and DePauw was 23 miles to the south. I was social chairman and sergeant at arms at my fraternity. If I met Bob, I was too drunk to know, or I threw him out. I entered the pentathlon in the school beer olympics every year. I was voted the most likely to be a lifetime party animal. Oh yeah, I'm a law school drop out. I wonder if I set a record; one day.

I quit drinking almost immediately after college and married 2 years later. Within 10 years we had 5 kids. I got a P.O. Box, and, strange enough, we stayed at 5 kids. I got fired from exactly one job and have never applied for another since. We live live in a tent and hope to get indoor plumbing next year. I don't really have a tractor, but I did see one once.

Oops, I have to run; the librarian told me that I've exceeded my time on the computer. I hope to have my own when we get utilities.

Okay, sometimes I won't give a straight answer. But, I now have to live with 4 women. I'd like to take back that wish I made in college about living with 4 women...

 

[Doc]

You guys are funny! Good stuff so far.

I'm an old geek. Played around in college, Psych major. Didn't flunk out but didn't study at all. Poor grades. So I joined the Navy. Got out of there with an early out to return to college. I found college much easier when you try, plus I was older and wiser. Accounting / Marketing majors. After some time in retail marketing, I found I enjoyed working with computers more than anything else. That was over 25 years ago. I now work with all sizes of systems daily. Capacity Planning and Performance Reporting is my specialty.
Just this year the wife and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary. 1975 was a good year!
We have 3 grown kids 2 girls one boy. Boy is still in college. Oldest daughter has graduated a few times. She's an architect. The middle daughter is still finding her chosen field .....she majored in partying at college and excelled. She's now ready to return to college and be serious about it (story sounds familiar ...just like ole dad, huh?)

 

[DaveNay]

Wow...I think I'm the kid of this household. 34, mechanical engineer and software programmer. Married for 10 years to my wife Vicky, no kids (yet ). We live on 15 acres in the middle of corn country with our 14 horses, way too many cats and a dog. We are trying to get a business started on the farm boarding horses and teaching lessons. Primarily our clients are children ages 5-15, as there seems to be a shortage of facilities that will cater to that age range in our area. My wife is a work comp subrogation manager for Farmers Insurance, maybe she knows you jpr62902?

 

[jpr62902]

I doubt your wife knows me, Dave, unless she deals with the Ohio workers' compensation system. Sounds like where you are, the system is privatized. In Ohio, the state runs it.

 

[Mith]

Hi, im Mith and I live in the South of the UK.
The rest is boring and unimpressive.

 

[Dargo]

Hi, im Mith and I live in the South of the UK.
The rest is boring and unimpressive.

Hey Mith, on our honeymoon we flew into Gatwick, rented a car for 10 days and drove as much as we could and saw as much as we could. What a fascinating place. I'd still love to go back to visit a place between London and Wales, I think it was just off of the M4 motorway, called the Terisha Inn (sp?). Amazing place with the nicest people. We stayed there for 2 days thanks in part to a beer called Tenents Extra.

Maybe it was just me, but the people in Wales were not as friendly as the people in England. They were even selling T shirts that said "Keep Wales clean, throw your trash on England".

Oh yeah, besides learning real fast how to drive in the "other" lane, don't you guys have any stop signs?! It took a few days, but I learned how to conquer a new lane in those "round a bouts", or whatever they are called.

I'd love to go back and visit there sometime. I'd think by now all of those parking tickets I collected in London will be forgotten. I'm told that I am really lucky that I didn't get the "boot". I still have the 7 parking tickets I collected while I was there, and that was in 1989.

 

[Mith]

Dargo,
I expect that the tickets will be forgotten.
Ha, I expect it is a bit of an experience your first roundabout, we dont have intersections or stuff like that, roundabouts are great, you dont have to stop, its just a game of chicken, drive in and hope the other guy stops. If its a lorry your out of luck.

Most people are friendly, especially to $rich$ Americans . I dont think the welsh like us, we always joke (like the whole Scottich kilt thing) that the Welsh do dirty things to sheep , I'll leave up to you imagination what some say (ps, I have nothing agaist the Welsh), sorry if there are any welsh people on here

Hey if you think you guys have good beers you ought to try some of the local ales, it makes other stuff look like rats piss. Had one the other week, brewed down the road, it was black as the night and 10% proof, I didnt have too much of that, but I did have to walk home.

I'm between London and Wales, drop by I reccommend Cornwall in the summer, very nice.

 

[bczoom]

Ha, I expect it is a bit of an experience your first roundabout, we dont have intersections or stuff like that, roundabouts are great, you dont have to stop, its just a game of chicken, drive in and hope the other guy stops.

If you changed one little law, it would make things a lot easier. Change it so the people ALREADY ON the runabout have the right-of-way.
In most states over here, that's the law. No problems. In New Jersey, they had it that the people coming on had the right-of-way. Too many problems and accidents. Instead of changing the law, they paid mega-$ to remove them and turn into intersections.

If its a lorry your out of luck.

What's a "lorry"?

 

[Dargo]

What's a "lorry"?

I'll give you a hint, don't step off the sidewalk in front of one!

 

[Mith]

Yea it is the right of way, seems like thats the way most people do it though, cept those wierd ones with traffic lights on them.

Lorry, think you guys call it a semi, like a really big articulated truck with a huge trailer and rubbish brakes.
Just down the road there is a really tight roundabout that a load of lorries roll over on every year, must be really scary being a car seeing a giant trailer falling in your direction, 'Bollocks, hold on Dierdrie, its just about to get a little cramped in here'

 

[DaveNay]

What's a "lorry"?

It's an actor. Made movies from the 1920s into the 1960. Quite often playind a character of questionable ethics.

Dave

 

[messickfarmequ]

Wow...I think I'm the kid of this household.

Oh not quite I am 25! i Graduated from College just about four years ago. My degree is in business infomation systems, its computer programming but substituting math with accounting. During college I worked for High Steel Structures doing application development. after graduation I worked for an IBM consultant doing application development and deployment for the State and a few local banks. I hated it. I am much more of a fast paced, hands on, people person than what I was finding at that job. "Messicks Farm Equipment" was started by my grandpa and is owned by my father and uncle. We have two stores, over 80 employees, and do more in sales volume than some of our favorite minor tractor brands. I am one of 11 salesmens and I do web & application development during the slower times of year when I am not selling tractors. I myself am married right out of college, the wife is a business loan cordinator at a local credit union. I love the out doors, skiing and paintball are at the top of the list. I also do light home renovations and build crazy stuff I find on the internet. Right now I am working on a Semi-automatic tennis ball cannon.

 

[LarryRB]

I love the out doors, skiing and paintball are at the top of the list. I also do light home renovations and build .

Gee, Neil
We have a lot of similarities. I'm a business economics major, although never used it, and I substitute paintball with a 30 odd 6.. I like renovations to homes also, High explosive grenades are the tool of choice. neighbors get upset sometimes, but heh, that's how the ball drops.

 

[DaveNay]

...and I substitute paintball with a 30 odd 6...High explosive grenades are the tool of choice.

What are your thoughts on some new forum sections?

...

Guns, archery, hunting...

Maybe we should just have a forum titled "Artillery"?

(Hey Doc, why doesn't the Pelt smiley work? you get this: elt: when you insert it.)

Dave

 

[LarryRB]

Maybe we should just have a forum titled "Artillery"?

Dave

Nah,
I'm just trying to rile Neil.. I think everyone here knows better... Only weapon left that I own is a 22 long rifle, and I only shoot it a couple times a year.,

 

[johnday]

Guess I screwed up my post, I was thinking "Look, I'm the first to reply". As soon as I get a little extra time I'll come back and reintroduce myself.

Hey Mith, tell us a little more about the Welsh sheep, is it true they've been taught to cook?

 

[BoneheadNW]

Hey Mith, tell us a little more about the Welsh sheep, is it true they've been taught to cook?

I hear that their wool really scratches up your thighs!
Bonehead

 

[Cityboy]

My name's John. Born in 1964. I'm a USMC graduate: University of Science Music and Culture (I borrowed that from one of the other Jar Heads on TBN..might have been BCZoom)

I was a tracked vehicle repairman, M-60 tanks, and worked in 5th echelon shops, meaning I overhauled tank engines and transmissions. Spent time overseas and damned near partied myself to death.

Wound up in the HVAC/electrical/maintenance trades by accident after leaving the Corp. I hold Class 2 Unrestricted HVAC and Electrical licenses in Georgia. Been with the same company 18 years and operated side businesses for most of those years starting with landscape maintenance and then HVAC/electrical contracting. I just work my day job these days and take college courses at night and online. I’m a supervisor with the company now and manage 5 unionized work crews.

Been married 14 years and have a daughter 13 and son 10. We live on 37 acres in central Georgia and I own a Kubota B8200-D and a JD 5205 MFWD, 522 loader and several attachments.

Having bored ya'll sufficiently, I'll stop here.

 

[Himmerhooner]

lorry nudda nam 4 a truk

 

[Doc]

(Hey Doc, why doesn't the Pelt smiley work? you get this: elt: when you insert it.)

Dave
__________________

I don't know Dave. I reloaded it, but still it shows up okay in the selection area but will not work in a post. I added some others, but I'll still try to fix the pelt one. I kinda like it.