Shopping verses working

We are working on our free stall barn...a long overdue project.

 First things first, we have some post holes to dig.  Duane was going to do what he does best, spend days reworking his uncles old post hole digger.  I argued that we just need to buy our own, besides I am planning on putting up a lot of fence in the spring.  Then he tells me that the digger I want costs more because of the skid steer we have.

I think we need to ditch the skid steer with the funky attachment requirements.   It was another money saving fixer upper of his.  Nobody likes to drive it because the steering is worn out and it jerks all over.

So yesterday we went traveling with the kids across Michigan looking at skid steers, used of course. I like to shop, but I am also cheap.  Not quite as cheap as my husband, but cheap and scared of going belly up in this crazy economy.

I do believe that we are having a new (used) skid steer and new post hole digger delivered next week.  Duane just has to relax and not second guess himself too much.

I know, it looks kind of rough, but it is actually only 3 years old with low hours.  Manure has a way of making paint disappear, and this skid steer came from another dairy farm.  As long as the working parts work, I'm okay with the paint job.  We'll splatter our own manure on it and no one will be the wiser.

So my bottom line is that he spent some money and the day with his family in exchange for spending several days working alone in his shop on someone elses junk to save money.  I call it a fair trade off.  Besides, this is our first real farm purchase together sense taking over the operation.  I am very excited about that.