New McAlpine Family Addition!

A very large stork will be headed north from Louisiana soon to drop off our little bundle of joy!

This is my new (used) Ford 1320 tractor. It is a lot like the Ford 1310 that I owned for seven years and used at my Moon Hollow farm. It is the same size class, has the same 3-cylinder diesel engine, but was built in 1992 as opposed to the older-model 1310, which was built in about 1977. It also has a few added features such as that protective roll bar that you see in the photo.

I have known for a while that I needed something bigger than my dinky riding mower to keep the four acre lawn at the Tower House under control. Three weeks ago Lee Ann and I stopped and looked at a Ford 1520 that a guy had for sale on his front lawn near Caesar's Creek Lake. It was beautiful, the cleanest used tractor that I ever saw, but just a bit too big - and too expensive. He sold the tractor that same day to someone else, preventing me from changing my mind, and I kicked myself for not buying it despite the fact that it wasn't the ideal tractor for me.

Since then I have been looking locally and online for a 1310, 1320 or something similar in a John Deere or Kubota. I didn't intend to get interested in something so far away as this one, but even with freight delivery charges it is a lot less expensive than the 1520, and exactly what I wanted. But I am buying it SIGHT UNSEEN - the quintessential eBay experience. Gee, I hope this works out. I should know in eight days max.