Its a good thing to have Amish neighbors.

Cameraflage · **Posted:** Tue Jun 09, 2009 11:59 am

Greetings, all. I posted a couple of these in the New Members thread and it was suggested that I post them here as well...you should all get a kick out of these.

So here's the story: I got a new set of tires last fall. General Grabbers AT2's, 245/70R16s, from my local tire dealer.

Big, beefy tread, supposedly good on slickrock, wet pavement and snow (which is a good thing, since theres a lot more snow here than slickrock.)

Of course, I wanted to try out the new tires. My wife and I drove home and immediately headed for the old tractor trails that I had cleared in the woods behind my property. Almost as immediately, we got stuck in the swampy area just on the other side of the property line. The mud wasnt deep, but it was greasy and offered no traction.

My old Ford 2N tractor isnt running, and I knew my little Cub Cadet garden tractor wasnt anywhere near capable of pulling us out. So I went to visit my Amish neighbor, John.

John's tractor wasnt running, either (yes, the Amish out here use tractors), so he brought over two of his Belgian draft horses.

We hooked up the tow strap and John said whatever magic Amish word that gets the horses pulling.

The 2hp extractors had the Jeep out in no time.

And the moral of this story? Keep on good terms with your neighbors, even if they live in the 18th century.

03CDKJ · **Posted:** Tue Jun 09, 2009 12:06 pm

AWESOME!!!!

03CDKJ · **Posted:** Tue Jun 09, 2009 12:09 pm

and the 4th pic is my favorite...

The KJ looks TINY compared to those horses!
And they're just sitting there like... Freaking morons.... :roll:

TAHOE · **Posted:** Tue Jun 09, 2009 12:44 pm

Gentle giants that are as strong as horses. Oh that's right, they are horses

Cool pics!!!
Makes me think of the movie "Richer or poorer" w/ "Big John"

03kjsport · **Posted:** Tue Jun 09, 2009 12:59 pm

first interesting thing ive read on here in month's. very cool story. welcome to the site. beautiful horses. nice looking kj.

Hood297 · **Posted:** Tue Jun 09, 2009 1:44 pm

Awesome story! Amazing what a little horse power will do. :lol:

jsc7002 · **Posted:** Tue Jun 09, 2009 1:54 pm

haha that is awesome!

tommudd · **Posted:** Tue Jun 09, 2009 2:01 pm

So John has a tractor?
None of my neighbors back down home have tractors only horses, everyone says down there that the ones with tractors are called Half A**ed Amish.

My wife said she wanted to become Amish since no taxes, cars-trucks, don't have to pay for gas/diesel etc until she found out that no TV either! :lol:

Plus I don't think they have one of her, ahhh background in any of their communities :shock:

Cameraflage · **Posted:** Tue Jun 09, 2009 2:17 pm

tommudd wrote:

So John has a tractor?

East Side Amish are rather liberal. LED lights and flashers on the buggies, with lots of reflectors (too many dead Amish in car/buggy encounters), a phone booth off the barn (for their produce stand business, allegedly), and tractors. A lot of the young Amish carry cell phones as well. It all depends on what the local bishop allows. Its fun to see them using one of their Belgians (they have 10 now, I think) to pull a reel mower around the yard.

Of course, the downside to having Amish neighbors is that they sometimes forget to close the gates to the horse pasture, and the next morning you find a dozen huge horses standing in your backyard.

(I don't miss suburban living at all)

tommudd · **Posted:** Tue Jun 09, 2009 2:31 pm

I always enjoy it when they clean out the barn on a nice warm spring morning...ahhh the smells , love the fresh country air , I hate anywhere that has over 10 people in a 10 mile square area

Mike08Liberty · **Posted:** Tue Jun 09, 2009 3:37 pm

That's awesome!!!

to the site!

Getting rid of the Buckeye stuff might help the looks of your Jeep a little ...
:lol:

sorry had to do it ... :lol:

Tokyojoe · **Posted:** Tue Jun 09, 2009 3:41 pm

We called those people Memonites. They drive cars also. Amish in my area where I grew up (around Lancaster, OHIO) don't have tractors or electric lights on their buggy's. They have the big reflective triangle though.

Cameraflage · **Posted:** Tue Jun 09, 2009 4:39 pm

Mike08Liberty wrote:

That's awesome!!!

to the site!

Getting rid of the Buckeye stuff might help the looks of your Jeep a little ...
:lol:

sorry had to do it ... :lol:

Hey, there's a reason I got a scarlet and gray Jeep!

If only Ted Ginn hadn't been tackled by his own players after running back the opening kickoff.....aaaaarrrrrrggghhhhhhh.

Quote:

We called those people Memonites. They drive cars also. Amish in my area where I grew up (around Lancaster, OHIO) don't have tractors or electric lights on their buggy's. They have the big reflective triangle though.

There's a few Mennonites around here, too. The Amish out on the west side of Cleveland, out near my wife's family in Wellington, are pretty conservative (black buggies, no reflectors, no tractors, etc.)

jnaut · **Posted:** Tue Jun 09, 2009 4:50 pm

The Amish use tractors? Boy, talk about shattering the image. At what exact level of technology to they eschew? Anything past mid-20th century?

Xodius · **Posted:** Tue Jun 09, 2009 4:54 pm

Cameraflage wrote:

tommudd wrote:

So John has a tractor?

Of course, the downside to having Amish neighbors is that they sometimes forget to close the gates to the horse pasture, and the next morning you find a dozen huge horses standing in your backyard.

(I don't miss suburban living at all)

I have no problem with the horses or whatever left overs they might leave in my yard. Sadly in Vegas the closest thing we have to that much excitement is some tourist passed out in your front yard...now their left overs I do mind!

My wife still bats around the idea of moving to Colorado...might not be such a bad idea but I am not a fan of snow...shoveling it to be exact.

2006 KJ · **Posted:** Tue Jun 09, 2009 5:29 pm

where at ya east of cleveland? i'm real close to the ohio boarder in western PA.. have some good wheeling if your interested!

dog_party · **Posted:** Tue Jun 09, 2009 6:10 pm

Oh man! Those picts are priceless! We SO need to have a Rig Of The Month contest for "Best Recovery Pict."

You already have my vote Cameraflage!

Cameraflage · **Posted:** Tue Jun 09, 2009 6:12 pm

jnaut wrote:

The Amish use tractors? Boy, talk about shattering the image. At what exact level of technology to they eschew? Anything past mid-20th century?

It all depends on what the local bishop allows. Tractors are ok for use on the farm for plowing and tilling, but they won't use a lawn tractor to cut the grass, or a rotary mower. They will, however, use a weedwhacker to do the trim (I have no idea how they come up with whats allowable and whats not - horsepower? displacement?)

They can also use solar power...John has a 2'x4' solar cell on one of his outbuildings, but I'm not sure what it runs. They also like LEDs. I've often seen John or his kids out at night with a small LED light clamped to their straw hats.

Some of it has to do with being on the utility grid like everybody else. No phone in the house, but cellphones are popular. No electricity in the house, but theres power in the barn for lights and irrigation pumps.

I had worked at a local factory during summer break from OSU that was about 1/3 Amish. As part of their work, some of them had to be able to drive vehicles around the plant property (delivery trucks, pickups, towmotors, etc.) So here's some 17 year old Amish kid, never driven a car in his life, behind the wheel of a towmotor. Fun times as the kid wheels around the factory at 30 mph with the fork tines at eye level.

wingnuts · **Posted:** Tue Jun 09, 2009 9:41 pm

I didn't read everyones comments ,but this is just awesome.

Now think about it on the other side for a second, you know how we talk about pulling out a wrangler our something along those lines, just think how this made him feel........................

sometimes I wish I could go back to a simpler life like that, hell we all may end up there at some point and who will be laughing then?

Cameraflage · **Posted:** Tue Jun 09, 2009 9:52 pm

2006 KJ wrote:

where at ya east of cleveland? i'm real close to the ohio boarder in western PA.. have some good wheeling if your interested!

Troy Township, south of Burton, in Geauga County....and yes, I might be interested, but be aware of how my tires behave in mud.

Its a good thing to have Amish neighbors.

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