I borrowed my neighbor’s small excavator to dig out some mequite-roots which I’d paid to have scraped-off by a local “Land Clearing” guy…
Frankly, I was at fault for imagining what the end-result might be… I had imagined a piece of cleared land…. instead, I got a $800 invoice and a a half-acre of tree-stumps that I attempted to “grade” the prickly-pear cactus and tree-branches that were left behind…..(Threw me against the steering wheel of my M-Kubota and bent the front blade of the Land Pride “land-plane”.) (don’t know how I‘ll get that H.D. blade/brace straight again.)
The land-clearing-guy has twice asked me to leave a “review” at his website…but I’m reluctant to do so …because I feel he didn’t fairly inform me what result to expect… His parting comment was for me “to use some pruning-shears to finish the job”.
Anyway…. per advice offered here at OTT… I looked into renting an excavator to dig out the stumps…. a local company rents one for $250/day if I pickup/dropoff….. I planned to do that…when I recalled my neighbor had a small excavator with a 12’ Bucket I’d borrowed once to dig a dog-grave. I used it for about 15 mins and filled it with diesel as a “thank you”. I sometimes lend time/equipt to this friendly neighbor …and his “man” delivered it again to my place yesterday in response again to my request to use it for a half-day..
It was slightly small for the job and took longer than I expected…and frankly,… I quit prematurely for two reasons….
1- it really didn’t have the strength to do the job… it hung up repeatedly and took too long to do each stump… I only got about 8 stumps up…
2- on the 8th stump …steam suddenly blew out of the radiator-cap and the machine shut down. I tried once or twice to restart and it blew steam and dark smoke….so I quit to let it cool down for a half-hour.
It then started again…and I drove it over to my diesel-tank and refilled it with fuel…. texted the owner…wondering how much it was going to cost me to fix his little excavator if it turned out to have a blown head gasket or worse…a cracked head….
I decided to ”own up” and tell him what had happened and offer to have it repaired…….picked up my phone to text him….and saw that the owner had texted me earlier which I hadn’t noticed … “to watch the temperature…it has been overheating…and I replaced the thermostat and radiator cap..and it seemed to be “OK” again…”
I called his “man” who came over and picked it up with the trailer… and I mentioned to him that it had “blown steam” as I was finishing with it….. and the “man” said , “Si… it has done before.”
I asked, “Did I make a mistake..?” and the “man” shook his head No.
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That long winded story is to say that…. Maybe it’s a lot better to “rent” than “borrow” from a neighbor who you’d like to remain friends….. and can be a LOT less expensive in the long-run should the equipment have an issue.
I also thought about it… If the neighbor wanted to borrow My Tractor….. would I want to reciprocate..?? or would I prefer to operate the tractor For the Neighbor… since I’m protective of equipment. Borrowing from the neighbor or friend….. it’s only right to expect a reciprocal request… Do I want to be in the position of loaning out my equipment to someone else…even a ”friendly neighbor”…??
Late in Life for me to Learn some things.
Frankly, I was at fault for imagining what the end-result might be… I had imagined a piece of cleared land…. instead, I got a $800 invoice and a a half-acre of tree-stumps that I attempted to “grade” the prickly-pear cactus and tree-branches that were left behind…..(Threw me against the steering wheel of my M-Kubota and bent the front blade of the Land Pride “land-plane”.) (don’t know how I‘ll get that H.D. blade/brace straight again.)
The land-clearing-guy has twice asked me to leave a “review” at his website…but I’m reluctant to do so …because I feel he didn’t fairly inform me what result to expect… His parting comment was for me “to use some pruning-shears to finish the job”.
Anyway…. per advice offered here at OTT… I looked into renting an excavator to dig out the stumps…. a local company rents one for $250/day if I pickup/dropoff….. I planned to do that…when I recalled my neighbor had a small excavator with a 12’ Bucket I’d borrowed once to dig a dog-grave. I used it for about 15 mins and filled it with diesel as a “thank you”. I sometimes lend time/equipt to this friendly neighbor …and his “man” delivered it again to my place yesterday in response again to my request to use it for a half-day..
It was slightly small for the job and took longer than I expected…and frankly,… I quit prematurely for two reasons….
1- it really didn’t have the strength to do the job… it hung up repeatedly and took too long to do each stump… I only got about 8 stumps up…
2- on the 8th stump …steam suddenly blew out of the radiator-cap and the machine shut down. I tried once or twice to restart and it blew steam and dark smoke….so I quit to let it cool down for a half-hour.
It then started again…and I drove it over to my diesel-tank and refilled it with fuel…. texted the owner…wondering how much it was going to cost me to fix his little excavator if it turned out to have a blown head gasket or worse…a cracked head….
I decided to ”own up” and tell him what had happened and offer to have it repaired…….picked up my phone to text him….and saw that the owner had texted me earlier which I hadn’t noticed … “to watch the temperature…it has been overheating…and I replaced the thermostat and radiator cap..and it seemed to be “OK” again…”
I called his “man” who came over and picked it up with the trailer… and I mentioned to him that it had “blown steam” as I was finishing with it….. and the “man” said , “Si… it has done before.”
I asked, “Did I make a mistake..?” and the “man” shook his head No.
======
That long winded story is to say that…. Maybe it’s a lot better to “rent” than “borrow” from a neighbor who you’d like to remain friends….. and can be a LOT less expensive in the long-run should the equipment have an issue.
I also thought about it… If the neighbor wanted to borrow My Tractor….. would I want to reciprocate..?? or would I prefer to operate the tractor For the Neighbor… since I’m protective of equipment. Borrowing from the neighbor or friend….. it’s only right to expect a reciprocal request… Do I want to be in the position of loaning out my equipment to someone else…even a ”friendly neighbor”…??
Late in Life for me to Learn some things.
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