Here we go again.

You can just feel the enery change in your vineyard at this time of year. The sounds are different, everything is waking up. It's time to roll out the spray rig and fire up the tactor. There is something about this time of year that brings out worst in me. But we are going on our seventh leaf at Lenné and I have finally come to expect some type of equipment disaster at the beginning of the year. Take a look at last year..I think it says it all. Yes I had my problems at the beginning of the 2006 vintage with equipment, but this year was bound to be different. I had another year under my belt, I was on top of things early and was lucky that Scott Huffman (you may remember Scott as the former winemaker at the corporation up on the hill) got the tractor up to speed and put me ahead of the game.

Well the first thing to do was to hook up the spray rig and make sure the new rebuilt pump was working. As luck had it, as I was installing it I accidentally tipped it on its side and broke the oil collection holder. That pretty much killed spraying for a couple of days as I had to wait for the new part. Thank god for cell phones as I called it in ten minutes after it broke. I have all the replacement part companies in my address book-they come in handy.

After that, I decided I might as well get the loader off of the tractor. You would think dropping a loader is an easy thing, but not when you are trying to put it into a narrow space on slightly uneven ground. Why you would put it in that space is a topic for another day. Whatever the reason the loader shifted as I was backing up and started to pinch the hydraulic lines. I had to open the cab door and carefully inch out, turning my wheels back and forth watching carefully upfront to avoid pinching the lines. My biggest fear was that I would severe a line or break a metal connector.

That really shouldn't have been my biggest fear. The open door that was now wedged between the tire and the cab should have got my attention. You really need a sixth sense when dealing with moving parts, you can never focus solely on one thing because something else rears up and bites you in the ass. I got bit. The door was stuck and not realizing it because my eyes were focused on the lines, I backed up and heard an explosion. I ducked. The tension finally snapped the door into a million pieces and scared the hell out of me. The good news is that the hydraulic lines are fine and me too.

It's always something in farming. I was on the phone again and $350 dollars later my new window was on its way. I'm not complaining though, there is nothing else I would rather be doing, even if I am picking tractor glass out of gravel.