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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
ah now, tractor tires! those are the big ones, for the rear of the John Deere, with the V-shaped tread, that we used, as did nearly every backyard, for the sandbox...
formerly known as etaoin...
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
An old tractor tire, agricultural vehicle type when no longer serviceable could be used as small sandbox. One caveat, old tires of any sort are capable of breeding mosquitoes, including some vicious disease carriers. http://www.vdh.state.va.us/epi/wnv042902.htm Scroll down to 4th paragraph.
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 8
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 8 |
A book that I read when I was a child was called "Are you my Mother?" A little bird had lost its mother, so it went searching around for her, asking various things if they were its mother.
One of the things it asked was a steam shovel, which replied in the only way it could... "SNORT!" (The snort being a blast of steam out of its pipes). My sister and I thought that that was actually what it was called, a Snort. One day at Primary School the teacher asked the class what this thing in the picture was, and my sister said "A Snort". Everyone laughed at her, and she came home, furious with my mother, that it had never been pointed out to her that it really wasn't called that.
I still think it's a great name for it, though.
/silen
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
I can remember seventy years ago when "steam shovels" were powered by
steam, and made a loud noise whenpower was applied. But that was long
ago. They are all diesel powered now, or maybe
diesel-electric, and they don't "snort" any more, just growl a little louder.
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Terrific children's story "Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel" or mebbe it's called "Mike Mulligan's Steam Shovel" by Virginia Lee Burton or Virginia Burton Lee. I'm having problems this morning with big chunks of words in my brain unsure which direction they should lie.
Anyway, that story is a classic, and there's also a cartoon based on the book that's done very well. Highly recommend it for kids in elementary school, all ages. Gives you a good sense of the steam shovel and its demise. I cried at the end of the cartoon because I am the world's biggest sap and can cry even at steam shovels who come to their ending.
Hey! Guess what! We have four of those Bobcat kind of tractors on the farm across the road. I just noticed 'em yesterday--brand new ones. I have no idea what the farmer is going to use them for, but they look pretty cool and modern sitting in a yellow row by the woods.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear WW: One of the nasty things about big tractors is their compaction of soil.
The red clay I have seen in Virginia might well be susceptible to this. The bobcats
being so much lighter might avoid this. But I'm surprised the guy would need four.
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Dear wwh: I suspect there's some kind of land clearance going on or road work. This guy's farm is very, very small and I don't think he's gonna use the bobcats on his farm. However, some very small subdevelopments are popping up out here, and he may have been subcontracted to do some work. That's my theory. If I see him out front sometime, I'll ask him about those Bobcats.
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 4
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 4 |
Damn book-larnin'. Nobody who's ever used one would call it a Caterpillar. It's called a cat.
Cats are yellow. John Deere products are green.
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
I used a Bobcat some 16 years ago on the Duke Farms Estate in Somerfield, NJ. They are less general-purpose than a tractor, being primarily loading shovels (we used it to skip around the animal quarters clearing manure, since it turns on a sixpence). A more generic name for this kind of vehicle is skid-steer loader, so called to underline their key feature: their hydrostatic transmission allows you to spin the wheels either side in different directions (like a tracked vehicle can do) so it literally spins on a slick floor within its own length. On wet brick flooring outside the dairy, we used to turn fancy donuts...! Here's the real thing ;) http://telepresence.dmem.strath.ac.uk/jen/lego/skidsteer.htm
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
wow! that is some serious Lego® building! actually, I would guess those are Technics®, the next step up from the basic Legos... cool...
formerly known as etaoin...
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