Let's look at this logically. You have ten acres. Five acres are forest. You don't need a tractor for the forest. But even if you have to drop the odd tree for firewood, a garden tractor will tug the log out for you and not need near as much room as one of the tractors in the photos. Three acres are in pasture. A garden tractor can "high mow" those 3 acres once or twice each year with no problem. Your main need is for the 2 acres of manicured lawn plus blowing snow from the 400 foot driveway. Once again, a garden tractor will do both tasks because that's what they were made for. I have nothing against the tractors shown in larso1's post but ask yourself this. How easy will it be for you to navigate one of those tractors around trees and other obstacles on your lawn as well as trimming alongside garden beds? How about near the house or outbuildings? Tractors like those are pretty unwieldy. Do you want to buy a lawn tractor too so that you can do the areas the big tractor can't do? And how large a garden are you planning? One of those tractors in a small veggie garden would be massive overkill whether you put a tiller on the back or you went with a two furrow plow, a set of double discs and a drag harrow.. You would have to invest in all that equipment and would only use them for an hour or so each year. And then where do store all that iron? Outside in the elements or do they take up big space in an outbuilding? Now if you said you were planning a one acre garden, then that would be different. But I'm guessing that your garden won't be larger than 2000 square feet.. The most common snow blowers for those large AG tractors are the three point hitch type and those require you to back the tractor into the new snow all the way down that 400 feet of driveway. Driving a tractor in reverse for long distances is not a fun job in nice weather. Imagine doing it in really cold weather. A 4 foot blower on the front of a GT makes a lot more sense. You can even put a fully enclosed cab on a GT for the winter and take it off for the summer. If there are no steep grades involved, then you can get by with 2 wheel drive providing you use chains, wheel weights and even tire loading during the winter months. Snow blowers allow you to drive on cleaned driveway areas almost all of the time once you become proficient in the art of snow clearing. gator made a suggestion to you regarding an appropriate site that specializes in Case and Ingersoll tractors. I will tell you right now that $2400.00 for a 1987 Ingersoll is way too much money unless it comes with a quite a few options and attachments. If you click on the link below, you will be transported to that site. Here is a link that might be useful: CCI

wow, woodsworm, I wish I were going. We could do that. I live in Winston Salem. If you feel like driving over some weekend, maybe you can find some stuff in my yard you might like that I wouldn't think to take to a swap. Rootdigger is taking my special trades and bringing back my trades. Hope you can make it to the High Point swap in a couple of weeks. Vickie

I was just searching for tips on highway riding and came across this thread. I just took MSF course a month ago, bought my first bike (Harley Sportster 883) 2.5 weeks ago and have put on a little over 100 miles on it. The bike was intimidating at first, after only having experience on 250cc in the course for a few hours on the parking lot. So I took it to the parking lot to practice what I learned in the course. A week later my buddy and I agreed to go for a ride. Even though I was very nervous about riding on the roads, I decided to just go. My thought was "I would not be more ready later than I am now." It was very challenging and I made a few scary mistakes at first at very low speed, but I was getting better as the ride went on. We ended up riding about 30 miles with speeds up to 45 mph that day. I rode once more with him and then made a 30 mile trip on my own. It was even more challenging than it should have been cause it was drizzling and the roads were wet. It feels great to be on the bike, although challenging for me. So now I am contemplating to challenge myself a bit more and go on the highway on saturday morning, even if its just for a few miles. Of course I'm nervous about it. I also have advice to people who are very nervous to ride: First, read the tips that are found on this site: http://ridingsafely.com/ridingsafely3.html Second, if you think motorcycling is for you, then let go of the fear and just relax and ride. If its not fun for you and you're glad when the ride is over, such as one poster posted on this thread, then I highly advise to stop riding. I just bought my bike 2.5 weeks ago and can't wait for a good/warm weather so I can ride it. I even take a ride around the block if I don't have time for anything else. I LOVE it. Yes, I'm scared, yes, I'm nervous, but I do my best to leave it behind me while I'm riding. I'm not telling people to go on the highway if you're not comfortable with it, but you must enjoy it and ride without fear. As this site on safety says, riding with fear will get you into trouble. Ride safe and enjoy! p.s. As I've mentioned, I'm a beginner rider with almost no experience. So this is my opinion from my short experience and from what I've heard from experienced riders.

Cool Casey!! Looks like something you put together with a green marshmellow. lol Lovely photo Rita. My parents had their 50th this January, but we had the party in December so we could avoid the MO snow. Here is a picture from our pontoon ride in Branson a few weeks ago.