Spring is here and we're working outside in the "yard" again. One of our tasks is to spread about 40 cubic yards of pine bark in some planters. If that seems like a lot, remember that we have over 300 feet of road frontage. Subtract the driveway and we still have around 280 feet of front wall with planters along the inside and outside of it. Plus, we've got a couple of large areas behind the house to cover.

We found the bark at a large sawmill in Feira do Tres, about 7 miles from home. Then we had to find a way to get the stuff out here. A friend put us in contact with a young man who has some large tractors and trailers and who, for a fee, will haul stuff for people like us. His largest tractor and trailer are shown above.

The trailer can haul about 10 cubic yards and the fellow made two trips for us on the day these pictures were taken. It's going to take me a while to spread this bark, so we'll wait a while to get the other 20 yards.

I can move a yard or so per trip with the little garden trailer attached to our mower. How much depends on how soon I get tired of shoveling it into the trailer, which is a lot more work than dumping it out and spreading it in the planters.

When the fellow brought the first load, we told him we wanted to take pictures of his rig - with our little mower beside it. He agreed and remarked that he had seen a mower like ours but hadn't seen a Deere garden tractor.

After he had delivered the second load, we spent some time talking to him about this particular tractor which, if it were a car, would be advertised as 'fully loaded." It's air-conditioned, has a radio-cassette, CB radio, and just about every extra amenity that the manufacturer offers. He says it's very quiet inside when the windows are closed. He has two other smaller tractors, both of which are also John Deere machines.

Farmers around here seem to prefer Deere tractors over the other available brands available. There are several European brands, though. I've even seen a Massarati tractor. (The only other American brand I've seen was a Massey-Ferguson.)

But this man's sold on Deere. And he even let me sit in the driver's seat to see what a real tractor feels like.