Intolerable Stupidity

There is an old saying which I made up that goes: "The last day of planting is never the last day of planting." Not to make grand and dire claims from insufficient data (as is the custom of the day) but this statement is always true. For example, this year, on the last day of corn planting, there was an incredible dew/fog event that made it impossible for me to get started until 1:30 PM. That was all well and good, but then I had trouble with the pressure on my fertilizer. It turned out that this was caused by a clogged filter. While Dad and I were playing with the clogged filters, we casually watched a tornado form. Then the tornado changed directions and headed for us. So the first last day of planting was not the last day of planting.
This filter thing is important because I could not remember for the life of me whether or not I had run the planter after cleaning the filter and before running away. This haunted me, because the number one rule when dealing with fertilizer pumps is to never, ever, leave them empty at the end of the day. That is how pumps get destroyed. So I was half expecting my fertilizer pump to be ruined. Unfortunately, I don't think this thinking at all justifies the stupidity which followed.

Here are some pictures. I don't really feel comfortable talking about it. It makes me feel stupid. It is enough to know that by the end of the second last day of planting I had become convinced that I had ruined my fertilizer pump by leaving it empty pre-tornado.





And so we have the end of the second last day.

First thing on the third last day of planting I drove to town to get parts to make my new pump fit onto my planter.
You should notice, with how I chose to retrofit my pump to my planter, the incredible proximity of the pump to the rear tire of the tractor. The filter has to be turned just-so so as not to cause damage.

Anyway, I don't think I needed a new pump. The rest of the morning was spent trying to fix even more things that weren't broken.

Here is a picture of the individual filters I removed at some point. Notice how they are sitting on the open tailgate of my pickup. That is a bad place to put things...

Anyhoo, I was able to finish planting.


As soon as I was done I turned the knob to raise my hitch to it's full height since I don't ever raise it that high in the field. The tractor got a nice shower.

I wonder who twisted the filter out of position and didn't put it back where it was? This of course, had to be fixed immediately so as to not to ruin the new pump.

I let Dad mess with that problem while I sprayed the field to finish. Don't worry, there was even more stupidity accomplished with this step having to do with a missing gasket on the nurse trailer. This also resulted in a painful, if superficial, wound on my right hand. Not a big deal, you say? Did I mention I had a gig on the evening of the third last day of planting?


At least I had a spray buddy to take my mind off of the events of the day.

I finished up, patched my hand up with pain-relief Neosporin, and made it to the concert with ten minutes to spare.

The end of the third last day of planting.