The bigger they are the harder they fall

Apparently, at some point today dad remarked to mom that C and I were having too much fun over at our house using the folks' tractor for a bit of around the house cleanup.  It was kinda true, even though I think he said it in jest.

Today's task was driveway and yard cleanup.  Our driveway is gravel, just like God intended, but it had not been maintained in quite some time.  Right in front of our tiny garage leaves and dirt had built up over the past 30 years to the point where there was 4" of mud on top of the gravel when it was wet.  With the aforementioned borrowed tractor and loader I was able to scrap off the top 2-4" of gravel/dirt to reveal a mostly gravel driveway below.  I think that was a major improvement, but we'll really see the next time it rains... snows?

The real fun took place when C and I started attacking the volunteer trees growing in our yard, and in some cases, into our house's foundation.  For the most part, C ran the tractor and loader and I was on chain duty duly giving the universal signs for "loader bucket up" and "loader bucket down."

We progressively used more and more powerful means of pulling up the trees, starting with just using the loader's hydraulics, then also rocking the tractor back and forth and finally, using the 3-point-hitch's hyraulics and rocking back and forth on the tractor.  We left a few divots and some serious depressions in our yard, but it wasn't exactly a putting green before this work, and the house looks a lot less deserted now.

For a couple of non-sportspersons we still pull off a trophy shot pretty, don't ya think?