When Jim first mentioned buying a bulldozer…well,I think ….I might have…. laughed in his face. Not very kind, I know. But that idea came out of left field. And what did we know about bulldozers? I mean, sure Jim had been on a dozer before but just because I’ve been in a plane doesn’t mean I can fly it right? Dozers are called heavy equipment for a reason people! They have tracks and undercarriages and hydraulics that are far beyond my understanding. I won’t even go into the engine and hoses and millions of other parts that I don’t know the names for. So for Jim to think we could buy a dozer, use it effectively and know how to maintain it-that was a BIG stretch in my mind.
Jim was determined though. He talked to everyone he knew with big equipment including the grading guy that had done the driveway for us. Jim asked everyone tons of questions. I am not exaggerating! Jim can talk for hours about nothing, so give him a subject he wants to learn about and he is unstoppable or unhushable (I don’t think that’s an actual word but it should be. Ya know, a kinder version of unshut-upable!)
Jim talked about dozers so much that my kids can tell you more about dozers than they can our car! I am not kidding! My girls can spot a dozer and practically tell you the size without looking. My son screams in delight when he sees a dozer-any dozer. For weeks his favorite thing to do was watch U-tube videos of bulldozers in action. Ah, family bonding time. On the bright side, I think they may have a leg up on a grading business one day.
Jim was a dog with a bone. He looked up dozers online and put the word out to basically everyone he knew that he was looking for a dozer. Now, let me pause here to say I am VERY proud that Jim did not buy the very first dozer he looked at…..because I really thought he would! And the first dozer he looked at was HUGE. It was like a D10 which is nearly bigger than our house. It was a monster and I was terrified of Jim buying it and destroying the world!
He showed great restraint and self-control though. He said he had to come home and talk to the warden. (I think he meant me….Hmmm, I still can’t figure out why he referred to me that way though….) But anyway, he didn’t buy that dozer or the next few he looked at. I was sooo surprised! I was also very relieved and thankful for his patience.
Then a guy from our church called and said he knew a guy who was selling his dozer. So off they went to look at the dozer. It was love at first sight! No, I wasn’t there, but he came home with that starry eyed look and talked of nothing but that dozer’s power and ability and how it had the capability to do this and that and on and on he went. Looking back I can’t believe he didn’t buy that dozer on the spot! He talked of nothing else but that dozer all weekend. The price was a little higher than I wanted to spend though so I wasn’t as easily convinced and to be honest, I still had doubts. Big doubts. We both agreed to pray about it and see where the Lord led us over the weekend.
At the end of the weekend, Jim felt sure this was the way we were supposed to proceed. He felt led to this dozer and felt strongly that the cost of a used dozer would be a fraction of the cost of the estimates we had gotten to do the work. So, we bought the dozer. Well, actually he went to buy the dozer and I stayed home and alternated between sessions of ferverent prayer and attacks of mild hysteria and panic. Just a normal day I guess.
Jim was so happy with his new toy, and completely ready to get to work. Boy howdy, did Jim jump on board the farm plan real quick like! He wanted to work on the farm every spare minute. He wanted to help me clear pastures he said. Yeah, he actually said that. Let’s be honest here folks. He did not fool me for a second. I knew what he really wanted to do was to get on his new toy and KNOCK STUFF OVER!
I do realize that there are ALOT of dozer pictures in this post. I guess I was trying to give you perspective on what I lived with for months. Dozers everywhere!!! Haha! Sorry!
Jim LOVES knocking stuff over with his dozer! He loves his dozer and anything it can do actually. He spends hours on his dozer and never realizes when he looses track of time. I think he has secretly named his dozer, but he won’t admit to that.
However, his plan was in action and already he was making progress. He was able to clear this small pasture along the driveway that had looked like a war zone after the logging. It was lovely!
Jim was happy. I was happy. Even our kids were happy. We were one big happy family, smiling and laughing. (I know you can’t see my kids faces in this next picture but they were smiling and laughing…. I promise!)
Happy, Happy family. Everything seemed to be falling into place. Life seemed perfect and better yet, life seemed simple. Ah…..I love simple. Now why can’t life stay like that?????
