Road Trip... the finale...

Ricky gave me these pics of his mower sickle last week... he said for my post about his road trip equipment... I think he likes it when I post about his farm equipment... don't you... Any way... here ya go... that road trip that we took all the way to North Carolina the week of Christmas was for a sickle... the thing with teeth sticking out the side of the mower... Now, what?, you may ask, is this thing for??? Remember we live out in the country. He'll be using it to cut shrub around the fence lines and in the bar ditch (at least that's what he tells me?). Hey, if it makes my Ricky happy, I'm all in!

The Allis-Chalmers mower you're looking at was completely restored by my very talented and perfectionist hubby. If you didn't get to read the original post about the restoration, link here and see the before and after pictures.

My Ricky... what a man! Think I'll keep him...

Just livin' the life, down here in French Lique!

Ricky D gets a new toy...

Richard is lovin' his refurbished Allis Chalmers lawn tractor. He loves it so much, he bought it a new part. He found a composter on ebay and only paid $*** for it... wow... what a bargain? (I could have gotten a real nice new wine refrigerator with those $$$'s)... but I digress...

Anyway, in our front yard we have three 30-year old Sycamore trees with leaves as big as a 5-inch saucer. Every fall, Richard rakes the fallen leaves into several giant piles and then hopes the wind will come and blow them across the road instead of back into our fence. Sometimes it works... sometimes... not so much... Which brings me back to the fabulous buy he got on ebay...

He received his wonderful new pride and joy piece of equipment today via UPS, and promptly hooked it up to the front end of his refurbished Allis Chalmers lawn tractor. Then he put a big pile of leaves in to chop.

Wow, garden mulch!

Now I'm impressed... guess I'll be waiting a little longer on that wine fridge....






Just sippin' wine on the front porch this evenin' with my sweetie... down here in French Lique...

Richard completes a project!

This is the before....

Now those of you that don't know Richard, might not understand why this is such a momentous occasion in French Lique... so I will explain. Richard is my wonderful and sweet husband. He is a mechanic by trade having worked at the same company for nearly 35 years. He has but one single flaw... yes girls.... just one. He is the KING of procrastination. Richard is a perfectionist, and as happens with many perfectionist, if he cannot do something absolutely perfectly, he will not do it at all. His perfectionism often takes form in incomplete projects. We have a 1965 Corvair sitting in his shop... and two junkers for parts behind the shop... restoration... incomplete. We have a 1960-something Farmall Tractor sitting in the shop, parts everywhere.... restoration... incomplete. Now this is not to say that these projects will never be completed, but for the past 5-years.... well... nuff said.

And this is the After...

So when Richard came into the house this morning to invite me outside to the shop.... well, I was in a state of disbelief. There in the shop driveway sat his newly restored Allis-Chalmers combo mower/tiller/disc tractor... PROJECT... COMPLETE. Here are a couple of pics so that you may understand what it takes to be a true perfectionist... and why, here in French Lique, when Richard completes a project the whole town cheers!

Here's to you my darling husband for a job PERFECTLY DONE! There's always so much to shout about here in French Lique.