#171. or, Lift with your brain.....not your back

I have the answer to one of those burning questions that probably keeps you up at nights pondering, until you finally fall asleep at 5 in the morning, then snooze right through the alarm clock making you late getting your kids up and to school.

How heavy is the transmission and differential cover on a 2950 John Deere tractor?........

Freaking heavy enough, that if you try to lift the thing by yourself, you're probably going to taste yesterdays breakfast. That is of course assuming that your digestive tract works as poorly as mine does.

Back in the day, (because I'm old and get to use phrases like that now) I probably would have been able to pick that thing right off the floor and tuck it nicely in, right between the cab and the transmission where it needs to go. Most likely without a second thought. But, that also might be the reason why my joints snap and pop in the morning until I can get them thoroughly lubricated with coffee. It's also the reason why now the phrase, "lift with your legs, not your back", seems like much better advice than it did, say.....10 years ago.

When I was young. Young and invincible.

These days, I tend to do more of the heavy lifting with my brain, rather than the limited brawn I seem to have left. That's not meant to be a resounding endorsement of my intellectual wealth. Truth is, I'm not the smartest farmer on my block, and if I was, I probably would have made my million inventing something like vacuum cleaner slippers so you could just shuffle about sucking up dust bunnies. But I'm not a millionaire, so clearly, limited brain power to match my limited brawn.

I try to exercise my brain. That's partly what this is. An exercise that sends my brain off toward something other than crop planning, marketing, the direction I want to go to remain viable, and all of the varied things I need to get done in the limited window of reasonable weather we have left. The thing about exercise, is that some days, it's just easier to sit on the couch inhaling potato chips. But also, once you get off your ass and do it, exercise at some point magically transforms itself from a chore, into the thing that makes you feel good.

So that's how it is. I like this exercise, and even though I most likely won't even come close to the goal of reaching 200 posts by the end of the year I had set for myself, I'm still plugging away. Doing brain squats, if you will, to keep from becoming a bleary eyed, drooling mass, slouched in the corner in full mental shut-down. Hopefully, in 10 years or so, it won't be my brain, along with my body that cricks and pops when I try to get out of bed in the morning. And if I'm lucky, both will still work well enough together to be able to figure out a way to get the transmission and differential cover back onto a 2950 John Deere tractor with a combination of both brain and brawn, and still be able to bend over to tie my boots the next morning.

..........just in case you're wondering, coffee and toast with honey. And it tasted much better coming in from the outside than from inside up.