May 11, 2026
Since Bruce got his tractor, he decided it was time to put it to use.
Since this post has a lot of pictures, I am going to see if I can do a read more. It may or may not work.
On April 29, he practiced using the backhoe after looking at the manual.
Bruce did this several times. He “dumped” the bucket on the left and right sides.
Once he felt confident in his ability to use the backhoe, Bruce drove the tractor over to Pine Tree One’s partially pulled up stump. Bruce began his reign of destruction by starting small.
We looked at the results of the using the backhoe.
Roots were broken and a dirt was moved successfully. Time to continue with the destruction of the stump of Pine Tree One.
Bruce’s faithful minion carried out his commands, leaving a swath of destruction behind.
Bruce was surprised at how beat up he felt after using the backhoe. I wasn’t surprised. I remember my dad coming in, all beat up and worn out after using his tractor all day. My dad got bigger tractors later and they didn’t beat him up. He liked the air conditioned cab.
I watched Bruce playing with his tractor, ready to yell if things looked dangerous. Once I decided he knew what he was doing, I went off to plant the pepper and eggplant seedlings from the starter kit.
I took the dirt from the 5-gallon buckets from last year’s pepper crop and reused it. Some buckets were only a third to a half filled. I used that dirt to top up buckets that had more dirt in them. Once the buckets had been topped up, I combined the dirt that was left over into a couple of the 5-gallon buckets. I transplanted most of the pepper seedlings into the buckets. I also transplanted several eggplant seedlings into the 5-gallon buckets. I added a layer of earthworm castings to the top of the soil.
The eggplant and pepper seedlings left over from lack of buckets, I planted in the new short garden bed, B1.
My sweet potato slips had arrived last week. I put them in a vase to let them revitalize. I planted the sweet potato slips into the rest of the new short garden bed, B1.
The sunset was beautiful .
It was a very destructive day and a productive one.
Blackberry Homestead 
It’s a good day that ends with a gorgeous sunset after some destruction and simultaneously a productive one. Well done.
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So many exciting things to cover, and you did it well!!
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It was an exciting day!
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he practiced using the backhoe after looking at the manual. I just wanted to note that this may be the first time in the history of, well, forever, that a guy read the manual before playing with the toy.
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Well, the backhoe is a very expensive toy and he didn’t want to break it. You’ll notice he just played with the front loader without even looking at the manual. Normally, he doesn’t bother reading manuals. He just laughs at me when I suggest it. Often, he’ll have me look at the manual so I can tell him what he is doing wrong. 😂
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Bruce definitely looks like he is enjoying his new toy. Those sunset pictures are gorgeous! How are you feeling?
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Bruce is really enjoying his shiny new toy!
I am feeling better. I still feel uncomfortable. Medical speak for “I am still in pain.” 😂
So many people have admired the flowers you sent! The lilies sparked several comments on the post since no one recognized them! They are still beautiful!
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All 3 of those bits of news are good, but especially the part about you feeling better. 🙂 🙂 🙂
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🤗 Thank you!
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You are very welcome. 🙂
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🙂
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Bruce is having too much fun with his new toy!!😂 You two are amazing! Can’t wait to see the fruits of your labor when it starts coming in!🌞💜
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He is loving it. He kept trying to justify it, and I finally told him, “If you want a tractor, get a tractor. You don’t have to justify it. If it turns out you don’t want it, you can sell it.” That did it. Of course, he wanted a tractor. 😂
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Six months from now and the entire Muscle Shoals area is bare and devoid of any trees. We know who to look for.
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Hmm, his name will be Bruce!
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