Visiting the Patient!

When we arrived at eriska we inherited an old tractor and whilst it was not the most efficient and I am sure in todays world would never conform to any health and safety regulations it did fulfill ne criteria which was that it was here! After a few years we managed to invest in a new massey Ferguson 135 and had it specially adapted to the needs of eriska. It was converted to take half tracks for use around the island, especially pulling wood from the depths of the hills side and had a strong PTO link added to allow us to use machinery such as circular saws and hydraulic splitters.

It has been at Er iska for as long as I can remember and indeed I can even think back to days cowering in the lee of the wind behind the wheel when when we were planting trees in the remote field, which was eventually to become my Parents house Lymphoy, and now those trees are over 10M tall. Anyway we have used and abused the tractor whilst at the same time it has dug us out of a few tight spots, and got us into some, whether through our own stupidity or lack of judgment but it has done sterling service and plans were in place this year to retire it and replace it.

However the local mechanic pricked my ears up when he offered a good sum for the carcass of a machine and on questioning explained that firstly they don't make machines as reliable today and indeed the value of the tractor was in the engine which would run for ever and if we were to give it some TLC and attend to the safety issues he could see no reason why it would not survive for many years to come and we would see this retirement as premature. Ever keen to look after the old Chay was tasked with investigating this option and to cut an long story short 4 weeks ago the tractor disappeared for a full makeover. A list of tasks was set down but no time limit was set so when Chay returned from holiday not surprisingly he questioned where the tractor was.

In reality we had been diverted to other tasks so yesterday at his first opportunity he dashed into Oban to check out progress and reported back that te patient was well and well on the road to rude health. It looks like we will have the MF 135 back for Christmas and in full service again after the New Year. If only an oil change and filter service could give us all back 30 years!!