We drove four hours round trip today to look at a used Gator. I had hoped for clarity, but came away confused: it's not precisely what we want, and nine years old with over 1100 hours on the machine. But it's half the price of a new one, and would probably be sufficient for our current needs. But future needs? Who knows. Is it worth spending more of our quickly-shrinking savings? Who knows? ("God knows," the boys would say.)
And mechanical things confound us. We've brought the chipper in for repairs twice already, and it's ready to go in a third time. Phil says its a design issue with the motor itself.
I suppose that beating myself up for a purchase that hasn't worked as smoothly as I would hope, I should remind myself that we purchased it (like the babydoll sheep) for a specific reason, and, based on our research, it was the best choice we could find.
Which leads back to the Gator—is this the Gator for us?
The bees slowed their incredible consumption, though they still finished off almost another ten pounds. I'm thankful that, as many times as I've had to replenish their feeders with hundreds of circling bees, I haven't been stung, or even threatened. They crawl on my arms and tickle me! (And give me the heebie-jeebies!)
Today is my last day as the mother of four under eight. I realized today that, though after Joe's birthday on 8/8, we'll have boys aged 2-4-6-8, it is mathematically impossible (assuming a full-term birth), even if I were to get pregnant this month, for me to ever have boys ages 2-4-6-8-10. And the Lykoshes will finally have an even-numbered year without a family member added.
We made three types of pork sausage today. The boys and Phil helped cut the scraps and run them through the meat grinder.
All three types were good.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
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I don't know if input helps in these decisions, but for what it's worth, we have almost always regretted second hand or "equipment that will do for now" purchases. The same goes for all livestock purchases. I have also learnt to listen to God's inner voice, which in me is characterized by a lack of peace and "joy" with a choice. Always dead on. Bye
ReplyDeleteReally helpful feedback. I think our gut response, for both, was to say, "This isn't the one." But then we'd think about how few Gators are for sale, or look online to see that a similar Gator was selling for the same price but twice as many hours, and we'd vacillate.
ReplyDeleteBut to have a reminder to stay the course, and to compare the inner peace and joy, which we have definitely experienced--it helps us with the decision. Truly, I thank you.