Between the River Hills & the River Bottom

[cliftonbros89]

So Friday we set out to get things done.

After checking on some of the cattle and taking care of Ben I got the tedder ready to go.

I’d had both trucks loaded with corn to be hauled off so I took them to the Mill to finish filling the contract.

The price actually came up some on corn on Friday so I made another contract. One for May and another one for July. We contracted some corn for over $4. We haven’t been able to do that in about 2 years.

While I hauled the corn off dad started baling the rye. We didn’t even bother raking it. Just baled up the wind rows from the cutter.

While dad ran the baler my uncle and I gathered up all the bales.



After we gathered up all the bales I set off to ted the fescue that dad had cut the day before.


After I finished that I set the 2520 up on the rake.


We weren’t for sure, but were hoping to get back in the field Saturday. So I got things ready if we could. So that meant a good equipment shuffle again.

Hooked the harrow to the 8400.


The 8760 to the field cultivator.


While I worked on the dad the guy arrived to wrap the rye. Dad worked on that with him.

I could even see them over at my uncles. We had 187 bales all together. Not as many as last year. But I’m sure the weather may have been a factor for that.

Then before I called it a day I checked on the cattle at the retirement farm.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Saturday I started giving the cattle some corn. It’d been a few days.

Gave the calves some hay and mineral.

While waiting for hay to dry I went back to the 4010 briefly.

I had to cut out some bushings on the hitch super. Damn things were in there good.

After lunch I started raking hay. It was super windy so dad followed just behind me to get my rows before they blew away. With gust of 30+ mph the dry hay didn’t want to stay in place. But we finished it up. Another 57 bales.

We managed to save a little bit of time. My uncle and my b-i-l helped gather up bales and put them in the barn. While we finished up.

By the way, dad drove around in the morning to check fields to see if we could to some work. But still just a bit wet. Heard a few guys trying to plant. But we decided to hold off. Especially cuz, guess what, a bit more rain last night. Did amount to much. But just enough to screw things up a bit more.

 

[DynoDave]

OK, so we have hay, rye and fescue (grass?).

Can you explain how these are used throughout the seaons?

 

[Farmall450]

That grease/caulk carrier is nice. I'm not sure it'll keep caulk from drying but it will definetly keep hot grease from leaking and rolling around making a mess.

 

[jblnut]

It's been a while since I've had the downtime needed to do any major reading and catching up on my favorite threads on the GJ. I knew you guys were wet down South but I had no idea it was this bad !!!

We've been able to get all our corn and small grains planted before Mother Nature started messing with us. If we get what we're forecasted to get we'll have over 5" of rain total from last Friday until the coming Friday. That will shut us down until into June most likely.

I enjoyed the 3pt mower story. We've got a number of things around here that Dad has to keep just in case we need it one day. He always has a look of "see I TOLD you we'd use it one day" when he uses something we've moved 234 times in the last 15 years

 

[cliftonbros89]

OK, so we have hay, rye and fescue (grass?).

Can you explain how these are used throughout the seaons?

The rye hay is baled as a silage hay, green, and wrapped for hay for the cattle in the winter. When bales and wrapped at the right time it’s a good and nutritious source of food for the cattle. If it’s done right it’ll be the first hay the cows go for.

The fescue hay, a very common type of grass we bale dry. Still a pretty good hay for the cattle too. A bit lighter, not as rich as a clover. If it’s good and clean doesn’t have a lot of weeds or anything else the cows will usually eat it pretty good too. It’s what we will usually always feed our big calves after we’ve weened them. They’ll eat it and with it not being as rich as other types of hay it seems to settle the belly a little better.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m by no means a professional when it comes to the cattle part. I’m just going by experience.

We’ll usually keep a variety of hay around. Quite a bit of fescue, clover, and in the last 4 years rye. We’ll also have what we refer to as stubble clover which is clover grown as a second crop after wheat. Sown in the later winter in the wheat to be cut mid to late summer for hay. So it’s usually shorter, less full clover mixed with the straw, or wheat stubble. Now the cattle don’t always enjoy the stubble clover as much, nor is the nutritional value as good. But occasionally it can be a bit of a filler in between feeding the rest of hay. Extends the supply a little further.

 

[cliftonbros89]

That grease/caulk carrier is nice. I'm not sure it'll keep caulk from drying but it will definetly keep hot grease from leaking and rolling around making a mess.

My main idea was definitely for the grease tubs. I don’t like putting a leaky, sleeping tube of grease in the gun that’s covered in dust in the gun. I was sure it’d keep the caulk from drying out necessarily either. But at least it’ll keep it clean.

Got it through Northern Tool. It also doesn’t take up as much space as I thought it would.

 

[cliftonbros89]

It's been a while since I've had the downtime needed to do any major reading and catching up on my favorite threads on the GJ. I knew you guys were wet down South but I had no idea it was this bad !!!



We've been able to get all our corn and small grains planted before Mother Nature started messing with us. If we get what we're forecasted to get we'll have over 5" of rain total from last Friday until the coming Friday. That will shut us down until into June most likely.



I enjoyed the 3pt mower story. We've got a number of things around here that Dad has to keep just in case we need it one day. He always has a look of "see I TOLD you we'd use it one day" when he uses something we've moved 234 times in the last 15 years

We have been majorly wet. We’re to the point of about 3 times the average amount for this time of year. There has been a little corn planted around here. But not much. What has been planted has just started to finally come up. Anything I’ve seen that has come up has not been a good stand. It’s been slow coming up, and what has come up has a yellow color to it. Definitely not looking good. There’s going to for sure be quite a bit of ground going to beans that wasn’t supposed to be in beans this year. Especially in the bottom ground. With constant seep water coming in from the still high river it’s going to take quite awhile to dry out.

The bad thing is with the soybean prices already falling an over supply of soybeans due to lack of corn really isn’t going to be good for the prices. I have a feeling this could be a year to change the minds of some of the “big city” investors from the last 10 years buying up a lot of the local land for a ridiculous amount. Those guys were getting in the game when soybeans were going as high as $16 and corn was getting over $6 at a time. They may be second guessing themselves a bit.

I just about got one of those “I told you so” looks when he fired that mower up. He actually played around with it a bit more yesterday while we were waiting to get to the hay for the afternoon. I have a feeling he’ll be using it quite a bit this summer. Even if he doesn’t need to. He’ll do it just to do it. It’s a little funny how we differ on ideas sometimes of things to keep around and hold on to. We’re often at opposite sides.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Well sure enough more rain in the early hours of the morning. But at least it was under a half inch this time. But enough to need some more dry time. So I took the day off. Lessened chances of rain for the week. So we’ll see. Maybe we can get a bit more done this week.

 

[Farmall450]

My main idea was definitely for the grease tubs. I don’t like putting a leaky, sleeping tube of grease in the gun that’s covered in dust in the gun. I was sure it’d keep the caulk from drying out necessarily either. But at least it’ll keep it clean.

Got it through Northern Tool. It also doesn’t take up as much space as I thought it would.

If I order something there (cold cut saw) I'll have to throw it in.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Well it finally happened! We got some corn in the ground.

We started by loading up dad’s truck with seed corn.

We moved the 8400 and harrow down the road and also the 4440 and planter.

Dad was running the harrow and my uncle volunteered to run the planter.

Dad set off to fix some re-washed spots with the harrow while my uncle and I loaded up the planter and made sure things are set on it.

After I got them set and going I went back to get started on spreading fertilizer on the bean ground.


In between waiting for fertilizer I went to check on cattle.

So calves were out in pasture they weren’t supposed to be in. But I ended up sliding in mud, then went in a hole and was hung. So that held me up a bit.

Later dad finished at the farm he start with the harrow. So I helped him move and then took off to another farm with the cultivator.

The rain washed up several of the spots we had already fixed. Then also washed some spots from knife tracks from anhydrous, even though we had already harrowed over them.

Dad followed behind me with the harrow again.


I kept at it with the cultivator.


Dad finished one farm with the harrow but then took over the planter for my uncle.

I finished most of the corn ground up that way and fixed some of the spots in a few beans fields too.

After I finished with that I had some more fertilizer so I wanted to get in spread off before I called it a night too.

I finished up about 11:30. So almost all the fertilizer is spread. 115 acres of corn is planted. But our run didn’t last long. A surprising chance of rain was due to arrive in the morning.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Between the River Hills & the River Bottom

Sure enough, more rain.

Another 3/4” of an inch... it just doesn’t stop.

So it was back to the shop.

I got all the new bushings, seals, and pin back in the load control shaft. So that part is finished.

But dad started messing with a bunch of the electrical on it.

We checked on all the cattle. Fed corn, fed mineral.

One of the cows over at my uncles wasn’t looking too good so we loaded her up and took her to dad’s. We put her with the other couple old cows there in the lot so we can keep an eye on her.

I also washed up the Kubota.

It’s due for an oil change and there’s a noise coming from the back axle that isn’t sounding too good. So something else to work on again.

That was the most for the day. Now more rain tonight. Pretty good chance of some severe stuff. Rain and wind on the way.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Guess how the day started? Rain!

Over 2” all together since yesterday morning. So now with that much rain here and a bunch north of us the river is set to rise again.

As you can see it’s dropped. But it’s set to go back almost as high as it was last time it created.

So it was back to other jobs this morning.

We were in need of several cattle rubs. Picked up 3 new ones and hung all of them up. Fed some mineral, checked the cattle, took care of Ben.

One of the groups of cattle busted our old wooden mineral feeder. So I picked up another one of the AmeriAg mineral feeders. Although they have to take turns using it they hold up real well.


I backed the Kubota in and took the bed off of it and the panels underneath to check things out.

But I had to babysit the smokers in between things.


Dad always smokes pork butts for the graduation for my sister’s preschool, it’s tomorrow, so he had 4 butts going at one time. He had a doctors appointment this morning and then had a levee district meeting this afternoon. So I had to keep an eye on them.


I took the axle off of the Kubota. I was hoping part of the noise I was hearing was in that. But the shafts, u-joints, and bearings all look like they’re in decent shape yet. So I’m afraid the problem is inside the transmission. So it may not be good. I’m not quite sure what the issue could be. But it sounds like I may have a few days to look it over.


I finished my day at the retirement farm.

Pretty slow day. Now there’s a chance of another early morning shower. Each time they show it on radar it’s weakened a bit. So we’ll see if it amounts to anything. Then more coming by Sunday...

 

[welder57]

Any bad storm in your neck of the country? Saw where the capitol got it bad yesterday and last night.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Any bad storm in your neck of the country? Saw where the capitol got it bad yesterday and last night.

No luckily, all of that stayed north of us. We only ended up with about a tenth of rain. There’s some west of us that we may get some rain out of later this morning if it holds together. But nothing severe.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Last few days have been busy. Fairly productive too. I’ll have to do a full update when I get a little time.

 

[Farmall450]

Last few days have been busy. Fairly productive too. I’ll have to do a full update when I get a little time.

Looking forward to it.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Soon. When I get a bit of a break. We finally wee able to avoid a day of rain. But more on the way.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Should catch a bit of a breather tomorrow. Update on all the activities soon.

 

[Farmall450]

Sweet!

 

[cliftonbros89]

Ok. So here we go...I’m going to forget a lot of details.

Last Thursday since it had rained we were back to hauling corn.

The bin was low enough we had to start the sweep.


Dad and I both hauled some loads off.

The mill we were hauling to had some difficulties. So were backed up in line for awhile.

We started also loading out of a smaller bin so we could load both trucks at the same time.

So the 4010 finally had a job.

Kept loading


We experienced some electrical difficulties on the smaller bin due some ants that invaded the breaker box.

We quit a bit early for the nephew’s preschool graduation.

On to last Friday...

 

[cliftonbros89]

Friday was a year to the day that I wrecked the truck last year.

But I was off in a truck again. We had the trucks loaded from Thursday and hauled them off but the mill couldn’t take anymore that day so we went to other work.



So I ground a few batches of feed.

In the midst of feed grinding the 4020 started to overheat. So it went to the shop to cool off.

So I tagged in the 4010 to finish the job.

That afternoon the Pioneer guy came to deliver some bean seed.

We loaded some of them straight on to the auger wagons so they’d be ready to go.

The MFA guy who go us started with Climate FieldView came by to bring us a Trimble monitor so we could use the FieldView setup in the older stuff that doesn’t have GPS (which is everything except the 9770 combine the the sprayer).

So he helped us set it up.

That evening we were going to be able to start some field work again so we moved the 8400 and harrow up the road along with the 4440 and planter.


The harrow we used to try to somewhat straighten up spots that washed ...again...due to all the rain.


Dad started planting, with all the added monitoring systems and wires included. He seemed pretty intrigued with it.

While we did that I ran the harrow.

And ran for awhile after dark til I finished the farm.


After that I need to check the cattle at the retirement farm.

One of the younger cows was hiding somewhere, she’s usually the first one to show up for corn.

I hiked around for a half hour til I was finally able to locate her.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Saturday...no holiday weekend for us.

After getting things ready to roll I set out with the harrow again.

Dad went on in the planter.

I did that for awhile and then spread some fertilizer. Which I’d also done Friday.


I also had a new tool arrive Saturday.

An e-clip tool that is just right for contrary e-clips in those SCV couplers

After fertilizer it was back to the harrow.


Then fueling up the 8760 and 8400

Then fixing washed spots.

I prepped the fields while dad was behind me planting.


Then down the road to spread more fertilizer.

Then a chance of rain was on the way so I had to put things away.



It was a late one.


I harrowed up a deer shed while I was on the go. Not big by any means but I also enjoy finding them. Especially, when the don’t end up in a tire.


One cool thing about FieldView was being able to watch dad on the move on my iPad. We was having trouble with something. We were on 2 different farms and I was able to pull my iPad out and guide him through things over the phone. I was able to pull up exactly what he was seeing in the cab and could then see him planting in real time in the field.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Now Sunday.

Back at it early.

I set out in the harrow again and dad set out in the planter. But was soon able to set out to do some spraying as my uncle took over planting.

Kept things rolling.


I kept my uncle rolling with the planter.

I tried to keep him filled so he had as little down time as possible.

I had some more dirt work to do which included a spot washed really bad that required the loader and box blade

I found another deer shed at the farm. This one looked better than the one from the day before.



Then it was back to the cultivator.


Then for the end of the evening I checked on cattle.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Memorial Day we were still at it and ready to start drilling some beans.

We switched the Trimble and FieldView system to the 8400 for dad to try.


And headed out to get some stuff done.


Lots of equipment on the move.


Dad had a problem with bolts on 2 closing wheel arms on the drill along with one of the wheels. But quick fix and he was back at it.


So in addition to everything else going on my b-i-l’s brother was going to make some rye for hay. He wasn’t sure his baler was capable of baling it with the bales being heavier and greener than what he’s used to doing. So he asked us to do it.

So I did that while dad drilled beans. I baled 171 bales but the rest was a little too green to be baling yet. So we had to stop.

I did receive a bit of a payment though.


I kept dad going in the drill though.


He finished where he was and I headed back to the shop to get the planter to ready for beans.

Another long day.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Tuesday along with the rush I had to search for **** on the internet. My uncle had misplaced the seed rate chart for beans from the owners manual. I called the dealership to have them email me a copy. Luckily after 15 minutes I was to impatient to wait for it and managed to find it online.

The dealership did email it to me...over 2 hours later...

I took it to my uncle and got him loaded with beans.



I loaded the auger wagons with more beans so they were ready for both the drill and the planter.

I also got things ready for dad to get some spraying done.

Chemicals loaded, tanks moved, ready to go.

Then I took off the bale the rest of that rye.

222 bales all together.

The 7230 hit 4000 hours too.


Then kept moving.



Even after dark.

 

[cliftonbros89]

No pictures for Wednesday. But we had a bit of a shower. So I got back to looking over the Kubota and the 4020 overheating situation.

But the rain didn’t amount to much.

So I set out to the last hill field to do some ground work. Dad started spraying. My uncle started planting. Dad started with the drill. After I finished dirt work I took over the drill while dad finished the spraying.

So we finished up fairly quick with things and managed to get everything moved back to the shed just before more rain moved in.

 

[Sifan]

Covered a lot of ground in a short period of time! Looks like you missed a couple of rains we got. FYI in case you've been busy and haven't seen news, Modot is scheduled to close Chester bridge at noon on Saturday.

Stay safe!!

 

[cliftonbros89]

So today. We had a slight shower. Just enough to give everything a drink. Luckily, all the heavy stuff stayed south of us.

My one of my girlfriend’s other cousins joined me yesterday and he joined me again today. Just turned 16 awhile back to its good to have someone who can be a farm uber for us.

He helped me put the Kubota back together. Issue wasn’t in the axle as we thought. It seems it’s in the transmission. So not sure what we’re going to do with that just yet.

The 4020 radiator was choked up pretty good so we took it off for a good cleaning. Also thought it’d be a good idea to give the cooling system a flush. There seems to be some play in the shaft of the water pump...so we decided water pump replace it is. So we did.

We checked the cattle, loaded up the back rubs, put out mineral, picked up parts in town. We kept pretty busy. He’s doing pretty good.




Pretty productive day.

 

[cliftonbros89]

So here we are. Within about 2 weeks all the hill corn and beans are planted, fertilized, sprayed. Just over 700 acres all together. So of the corn is already coming up. Corn prices have gone way up. One place hit $4.50 today. Beans are going back up too. But reports this week shows progress across the country is still down.

But the river is on the rise. Again. It hasn’t hardly gone down to begin with. As of now set to go to what may be the second or third highest level on record. In addition to that our bottom ground is soaked, I’m not just talking about the ground outside the levee that’s under what’s likely 25+ foot of water. A pump on our end of bottom broke down.
They can’t replace it until the actual pump has been inspected for damage. There’s a brand new pump waiting to be fired up that’s never been used. But the Corps of Engineers says it has to be “dry tested” before it can be used. So between the rain and the continuing strong flow of seep water we had a lot of water that is just standing in the fields. About 500 acres that we can’t touch. No idea when we’ll even be able think about it.

So that’s where we’re at.

It’s a hell of a job.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Covered a lot of ground in a short period of time! Looks like you missed a couple of rains we got. FYI in case you've been busy and haven't seen news, Modot is scheduled to close Chester bridge at noon on Saturday.



Stay safe!!

Yeah I’ve head all about the bridge closing. Heard yesterday.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Well that took awhile to do. I forgot plenty of details on the small stuff. Lots of hours in the last couple weeks. But still more to do. With the exception of the little bit we’ve had I think this has been the about the longest dry spell we’ve had. Possibly for the year so far. It’s suppose to be dry until later next week. It’s s little weird.

 

[1Garageman]

It seems like there has been crazy weather all over the USA! Here in Ohio we had 20 tornadoes touch down the other day. Other states have had a bunch of tornadoes, and huge storms that have caused flooding. Mother Nature is definitely not cooperating this year!

 

[cliftonbros89]

It seems like there has been crazy weather all over the USA! Here in Ohio we had 20 tornadoes touch down the other day. Other states have had a bunch of tornadoes, and huge storms that have caused flooding. Mother Nature is definitely not cooperating this year!

Yeah I’ve heard on the news that we’re definitely not the only place. Illinois has plenty of flooding. Arkansas too. There were several bad storms on the other side of Missouri just a few weeks ago. Plenty of other places too.

 

[Farmall450]

It's ungodly wet here. Might be seeing a few hundred acres of poverty grass around me.

 

[cliftonbros89]

It's ungodly wet here. Might be seeing a few hundred acres of poverty grass around me.

I there are a ton of places wet. Luckily the hills here are dry now. For now at least.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Not a very busy day today. We’re sort of in a lull between things right now.

We started the day hauling off the last 2 loads of contracted corn. These 2 were for the landlord.

Got back, ground feed, put out some hay for the calves. They also had the electric fence messed up so I fixed that too.

Since the 4020 was fixed I decided to get it cleaned up.

Then the 7230 needed a wash too.

Along with the 7510.


We’re hoping to cut some more hay tomorrow so I put the hay cutter on the 7510.


The 4010 had some issues starting today so I gave it a wash job too

We’ve been using it to grind feed. But when we used it on the auger last week I noticed the SCV couplers dripping oil. So we got a rebuild kit for those, also need to figure out the starting issue.

So in the shop it went.

I checked things over on the 4020, 7230 and 7510. I fueled them all up and greased them all.

I wanted to have the rake ready to go for when we need it so I hooked it to the 2520. I washed them both and greased both of them too.

But the rake had a flat on it so I was going to take it off to get it fixed tomorrow.

Only problem was one of the nuts didn’t want to come off because the stud broke loose and just wanted to spin in the hub.

So I showed it who was boss!

So other than having the tire fixed and getting a new stud and nut it’s all ready to go.

Then came the hay cutter.

I greased it up good and checked it over a bit.

All the knives were starting to wear so I flipped them all over to a fresh sharp side for this round.

So it’s all ready to roll.

We’re going to be cutting a few different fescue patches, including some at the retirement farm. We want to put the 3020 on the tedder and it’s still out at the retirement farm. So I got it ready to go and hooked it to the truck to take it out there.


The 3020 needs a good bath too but that wasn’t an option right now. But it’s ready for hay.

Then I checked on the cattle.


So like I said. Not a very busy day. But some what productive.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Quick rant.

The stud for the rake wheel was junk so I knew I needed to find a new one. By the time I was able to make it to town it was already 8. So no Napa, no CarQuest. I knew Deere didn’t have the exact one and the odds of them having a similar one isn’t likely since majority of Deere hubs take bolts and don’t have studs.

So my only options at this point were AutoZone or O’Reilly’s. I hate both of them. I went to AutoZone since it’s not far from my house and O’Reilly’s is on the whole other side of town.

Some tiny little gal who looked like she didn’t know anything and a very large guy who looked like he’d be winded if he had to walk to the other side of the counter were the ones working.

I told them I needed this wheel stud, which I had in hand. Of corse they immediately asked what it was for so they could type it into the computer. I told them it was for a Frontier hay rake which they wouldn’t be able to find in their computer. So with that being said they were already lost. I told them it shouldn’t be a big deal it was a SAE fine threaded stud, and was pretty positive without double checking that it was likely a 9/16”.

So they went to the back where the wheel studs were and the gal searched. But then within a few minutes decided she needed to wait on someone else. The guy said they had a program on the computer to look up Ag parts. But he couldn’t figure out how to operate it. I was nice enough to look up a party number which I told him I was sure wouldn’t cross reference and gave it to him. Sure enough it didn’t.

So he went to the back. I think he looked a whole 45 seconds before giving up.

I asked if they just had a bin full of random studs since it seems to be so hard to locate one. He replied that they were separate but the bins just had part numbers and no sizes on them.

By this time I was growing a little impatient. It’s just a simple 9/16” stud. How hard can it be?

The gal went back to searching. So finally I just went back with her. Sure enough
The bins did have part numbers, but the tags also had the size on them. So this guy didn’t put forth any effort or really has no idea at all what he’s doing. The gal kept looking through the metric ones. I told her yet again. I’m 95% sure it’s 9/16” and I know for a fact it’s SAE, no metric. But I was ignored. I even found a 9/16” that was too long and showed her it was the same thing. Again ignored.

So I suggested if she could just look up a 9/16” wheel stud, and either find the lengths of them or at least get part number and locations so we wouldn’t have to dig through all of the bins full of studs, which might I add were poorly arranged. But she acted like there was no possible way to do such a search on computer.

At this point I gave up. I’d been there over a half hour and it was a huge waste of time.

How do these people get these jobs?

 

[rixtrix1]

Quick rant.

How do these people get these jobs?

I think they are trained to be that way. You go in and they ask what you want: " A water pump for a 2002 Ford F-150 with a 5.4" . They go to the computer and the first thing out of their mouth is " What year is it?" They can only follow a routine, but never listen to the customer, as you found out. It seems to be this way in the food service industry, too: "I'd like a cheeseburger and a Coke to go." Their response; " Will that be for dine-in or carry out?" The few good ones become store managers, then move on to dealerships where they make a lot of money because their brains actually work. I don't see how these people will ever make enough money to enjoy a good life with something to show for their efforts. Obviously, your family has got it down to a science!

 

[cliftonbros89]

I think they are trained to be that way. You go in and they ask what you want: " A water pump for a 2002 Ford F-150 with a 5.4" . They go to the computer and the first thing out of their mouth is " What year is it?" They can only follow a routine, but never listen to the customer, as you found out. It seems to be this way in the food service industry, too: "I'd like a cheeseburger and a Coke to go." Their response; " Will that be for dine-in or carry out?" The few good ones become store managers, then move on to dealerships where they make a lot of money because their brains actually work. I don't see how these people will ever make enough money to enjoy a good life with something to show for their efforts. Obviously, your family has got it down to a science!

I figured it all comes down to training to. I just can’t understand how you wouldn’t be able to at least train your employees how to identify the difference between a SAE and metric bolt. Or something similar. It just seems crazy to me.

I know dealerships are different. As they should be. I know from experience certain employees aren’t always the best at their job at a dealership either. But wouldn’t you want your employees to have knowledge on what they’re selling? Wouldn’t you want them to excel? I think it’s s lot easier to enjoy what you’re doing when you have knowledge about what it is your doing. Or can at least learn more and further your knowledge on what you are doing.

Maybe I’m going a little over the top. But that type of stuff really bugs the hell out of me. If I were even a manager at a place like that I would want my employees to have some sort of idea what to do instead of having their brain just immediately shut down when the “what model is it?” question isn’t answered for them to type in the computer.