ninefinger
Gold Member
Late July of 08 I made good on my desire to have a tractor. In previous threads I have spoke of that experience, what a good dealer Steve of Spaulding Tractors is and the friendship that has developed to the point that he has called and checked on us through the ordeal I am about to relate. When I bought the tractor it was a toy, a gentleman's tractor. No longer, she has become a tool. She had lived a sheltered life here, very few scratches on the loader bucket and none on the sheet metal. She is a 2210BD. Late September 09 we just happen to be in the path of what they are calling a 500year flood. Water got up to the ceiling fans in our house and within 18" of going over the peak of the roof of the house in the bottoms that my youngest son lived in. At 5 am that morning when I was leaving for work the water was already above the rear bumper of my 1995 F250, already too high for the Explorer of the Blazer to escape. Went to our son's house to wake him up so he could start putting things up off the floor and move his car to the end of the street with my truck. Long story short by 9am water was already in his house and in his car, up to the door sill of my truck. Getting to my truck to move it yet again to higher ground was an adventure in itself. By 10:30am water is up to the bottom of his windows and surrounding our house. We had moved the Explorer and Blazer to the highest ground in the back of the property eariler and the water was rising about 18" every 45 minutes. His car had already been lost and our only escape was through the back fence and through a new subdivision that was starting to develop. Trust me when I tell you that trying to cut chain link fence with a flat blade screwdriver and a brick in a driving rain is a sure enough chore, at this point all my tools are under 5' of water. Get two links cut and realize I can work the strand up and unlace the fence. TOO MUCH hedge and a couple of small trees hold the fence, jump on the tractor and start ripping at the fence with the loader only to find hog wire behind it. She ripped it all out scratching and gouging the loader cylinders and some sheet metal. Through the fences I am faced with underbrush and silt fence thankfully the flail mower was hanging off the back, leveled the loader about 2' off the ground and started pushing through to make a road, engaged the pto and dropped the flail all the way down using it as a mower as well as a drag blade. When I got to the silt fence my son operated the loader as I chained the steel posts and pulled them up, cleared a bit more and now it was time to pull the vehicles to safety. Dropped the flail, use a chain instead of my top link, I know where the toplink is, I have to have it to hold my guickhitch off the back tires, wade through the water,chest deep, retrieve the top link and long chain. Wade back hook up to the Explorer drag my wife(she's driving) to the subdivision road, go back for my son and the Blazer, water is up to the bottom of the hub caps and get them to safety. The little tractor was great. When I bought I could have new Blue,Green, or Orange but I wanted a tractor, sheet metal not plastic. I made the right decision, the right dealer. I may have another tractor one day but this one will not leave my pocession and the "new" one will be one of Steve's Yanmars. From toy to tool she has done so much clean up around here it is unreal, sheet rock, bricks, debris, appliances, everything she has carried to a dumpster. I have chains looped to the d rings on the bucket, one hanging on the rops as well as a shovel. She is scratched and muddy, we have barely had more than 3 days since Sept that we have not had rain or snow. She was never meant to work like this, sit outside in the open, but she has endured and continues to endure. I love this tractor. She deserves to be bronzed like a pair of baby shoes. Sorry for the long wind and misspelled words. The days are still long here. First time online since Sept.
