As you've most likely figured out from previous posts, my in-laws were quite frugal. They maintained and repaired things if at all possible. (This was true for everything but Maurie's cars, which for some reason he purchased new every few years.) The concept of not trying to repair a broken piece of machinery or electronic gear was alien to them, they had a hard time accepting our modern "throw away" society or the fact that it might be less expensive to buy something new than find someone skilled to do required repair work. A bit of this undoubtedly due to the Kiwi DIY mentality.
As a result our farm tractor is a reliable yet vintage David Brown 850. I'm sure the folks at Piopio Honda smile when they see it brought in for work, since most of the farmers in the area have shiny new tractors and quad bikes. My father-in-law continued to ride his old two wheel farm bikes up to a year or so of his death at age 89, with an incident or two down the hills near the river that required the intervention of neighbors coming to his aid...
So while a quad bike is probably in our future for jobs around the farm, and John lusts after a small digger to help make farm tracks, lift stones, and pull out tree stumps, we both know the tractor stays.
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