Sad

Everything about having 10.5 acres of former rain forest trash dump is not "paradise". There are the mosquitoes, the uberweeds, strange trees that grow over 1 foot a week, and mud. Most of the time the mud is on the surface and easily visible to the eye. The tractor has no problem navigating surface mud with its 4WD engaged. This was not one of those experiences. This is like the D9 collapsing in the lava tube without the drama.

When we bulldozed the lower property we buried a lot of the trees we cut. I had the plan to put rock down in these areas...a plan that never was enacted....and lo! The foresight proved correct.

I was backing into one of the areas. The dirt was dry on the surface - shielded from the rain by one of the supertrees mentioned above. I backed to the base of the tree...if you have ever driven a tractor there is the ever present temptation to move to mow places it shouldn't because it can do such a fine and quick job which would take hours with a weed wacker. So, I'm backing up and the dry ground turns to mush and mud bubbles up as my almost 4 foot tall rear tire sinks in almost half way. Stuck, stuck in the muck by the super uber tree

The 4WD only ripped up the ground where it could get traction and dug the tractor down where it didn't get traction.

My flail mower weighs about 500lbs. So I thought if I dropped that I would have a better chance. So I hoofed it up the hill and got the truck with tools to disengage the mower. That done I tried again to get the tractor out. No luck. Stuck in the muck by the buzzing biting mosquitoes.

In the past, I would have sworn loudly, cut a few weed trees in anger with the ax (more satisfying), and still been pissed off, but I have been here before with our previous farm and learned that anger can only get something broken...

I had a tow rope in the truck. But there was no place for the kind of traction needed to get the tractor out. So I settled for pulling the tractor up just enough on two wheels to load rock under worst of the two stuck rear wheels. I called Karen on the cell...knowing it would take both the truck pulling and the tractor driving to get out.

So while Karen made her way to the land, I hauled a couple hundred pounds of rock and loaded it beneath the tire.

And when Karen arrived, within a few tries the tractor was freed.

The reason I wrote this story in long form is that it was a lot of work to get the tractor unstuck and the mower is still down there - waiting for drier weather for its liberation...and a lot more rock.