Nigel Best

"My meaning may be learned from Homer; he, you know, feeds his heroes at their feasts, when they are campaigning, on soldiers' fare; they have no fish, although they are on the shores of the Hellespont, and they are not allowed boiled meats but only roast,"

@lilchiva @LeConneatois Ability to conduct informal/illicit trade with strangers, smell a rat, make a deal…even through screen is a practice, like a martial art. Setting out with a trailer 4 hours one way is the conclusion of phase one.

@LeConneatois @NigelBest5 You can still negotiate in person. This way you've done all the tire kicking stuff and get on with the deal. If you show up and something's very different than has been discussed, it's totally fair to change the price or call it off. It just eliminates a lot of low-ball offers.

Mrs asks “are you dealing with a bot?” as I negotiated sales terms with a buyer four hours away for a truck flatbed with rotten plate/sheet but solid bones. I interrogated my buyer and found him competent to do adult things. I demonstrated faith by marking the listing pending.

@LeConneatois “Negotiating terms” as in what does a deal look like? how do we do this? why would I hold off the other suitors in favor of your proposition? will I let you come be in my presence to deal? Is it worth your trip? Does it smell off? Not my first rodeo dad, thanks for the advice.

@NigelBest5 Don't negotiate with People who are not physically in your presence. A few keystrokes represents minimum investment, and likely a waste of your time. Craigslist and Facebook marketplace are the playground of smartphone phoneys.

@16forbs That and maybe 2 cans of expanding foam 🤷‍♂️. He says he’s a welder, gonna put a new skin on the bed and eventually skirt and build in boxes below. I like his style.

@NigelBest5 I see nothing wrong with this flatbed that 8 gallons of rustoleum won't fix.

Could you cut out, tack and fully weld that heavy gauge headache rack in the 8 hours spent driving? The draw bar? The first time? Do you even know what this means? Maybe you’re the bot.

In response to Mrs, I’m skeptical that there is enough of a market to fake the secrets of redneck math, blowing a day and $100+ fuel to do this. The complexity of timing, new material cost, and never having built one escapes the bots.

@Eternally1776 I’m with you in that there are pedophile cannibalistic satanists that would like us to starve and would like/are trying to modify the weather. As a traditional catastrophist I’m inclined to blame our star, galaxy and other complex processes that are natural and cyclical.

@NigelBest5 I don't know if you're with me in the idea that this is all completely planned by people who understand the warm/freeze cycle all too well. I was out wrapping my peach, plum &pear trees in the middle of the night, my mulberry had all its leaves zapped...they don't want us eating.

It was 90f in MO for the first day of spring today. I have three substantial burns going tonight to clear up pasture brush and deadfall that doesn’t qualify as firewood and one can only handle so much Hügelkultur. Shit stacks.

@CimaronH 40 year old memories for me. I do remember him saying it was a three on the tree manual transmission….

@NigelBest5 JFC! I wonder how he packed off the bleeding

Old school feels when the hand model for the Case 1845c Skid steer service manual is missing a couple of important digits resulting in perfect unobstructed camera angles of the starter assembly. He’s featured in Section 4007 65 amp Alternator A187873 as well.

@CimaronH His son said he dragged himself to the truck, drove past the house where his wife and kids were and 6 miles in to the hospital. Just looked up his obit 1915-1994, pretty tough old piece of boot leather.

@NigelBest5 Good god!

@CimaronH I did a lot of hay for a guy in the 80’s. In the 50’s he cut off one leg and half through the other with a front deck mower mounted saw blade. Don’t think he had four complete fingers total on both hands. Took most of his advice warily.

@NigelBest5 My first real machine shop owner/boss was missing a half finger. I noticed it when he was teaching me to run the horizontal band saw, a typical starting point for kids. The irony was also perfect, especially since he was pointing with it to warn. He died a few months ago.

@CimaronH I’ve worked and taken a lot of instructions from amputees, it just feels familiar. Most of those dudes are in their 70-80’s now though I see a young one once in a while.

@NigelBest5 Hahaha! That is so perfect!

@Eternally1776 It’s abnormal here, and a mess. We’ve had several 70’s-80’s this winter. The green up had started the we had a couple mornings of 12f early this week. Burned a lot of blooms, nuked lilies/daffodils and the baby green grass has gone beige. It’s 90 right now.

@NigelBest5 90 degrees in mid-March?

@maenadea Oh no. 🙏

My son was hit by a car yesterday. We’re going to find out if he wakes up in a couple of hours. Brain surgery. Everything feels very odd, and I can’t sleep.

@RolandGunnTN It’s stewardship, it’s expensive and it’s not market driven.

People who have never owned land don’t really understand the upkeep involved in maintaining it at just a basic level, at least in the Southeast. Clearing downed trees, grading roads, bush-hogging etc. in the South if you don’t maintain land ecological succession comes quickly.

@TURBOPOSSUM As to brush and erosion, Ben Franklin “if you can keep it” or some such.

@TURBOPOSSUM Biggest thing is you have to secure access to/control over it. “Ownership” is the best you can do. Leasing/renting is paper silver. Pretty sure a deed recorded in the courthouse will be more defensible in the end of times.

@prairie_posie We’re on a modestly busy at times state highway, have a bridge on a hill on a curve at the corner of the farm. We occasionally get a good surprise Jake braking when a driver gets caught out. I’m usually “HELL YEA” just like kids getting into a two stroke diet bike

nice afternoon with the windows open then semi jake brakes down the hill... semi jake brakes down the hill... semi jake brakes down the hill... semi jake brakes down the hill...

@longstoryfarms The has become my single issue of late. There’s an adjustable height tilt cart for sheet goods that’s on the list but for size and versatility this is like discovering fire. Doors, table tops, sheet goods, beams…

@NigelBest5 I saw the video you posted of the guy moving sheet goods with his and my back called me stupid the rest of the day.

3 3/4 x 11 x 102” red oak. Wish I’d had this my whole career. The dog isn’t really helping.