phases of the moon.

ESVADuke

Member
I remember my Dad (also a diviner) would occasionally come out with some old folk tale, like:

If you cut off a cow's horns on the wrong phase of the moon, it'll bleed to death. (I don't remember which phase)
or
if you did a hole and refill it, depending on the phase of the moon you will either have not enough dirt of dirt left over. (I don't remember which phase went with which outcome)

So I've just added a new one:
If you take the sheet metal off an old tractor, paint it and try to put it back on, it will either be too small or too large depending on the phase of he moon when you took it off and tried to pout it back on. Only in rare instances will it fit.
(again I am delinquent in keeping track of moon phases)
 
Never ever have I had enough dirt to fill the hole after tamping
a post tight in the ground . Of course the tin wont fit no
matter what faze of the moon you try putting it back on . Ive
never done anything more than tip an old cows horns or I was
taught shell not stop bleeding no matter what faze the moons
in
 
Dug 1000's of post holes. Always heard
that a waxing moon would have too much
dirt and a waning moon not enough....
Does seem odd that sometimes you don't
have enough dirt to fill the hole
 
Always cut pigs or bulls when the zodiac sign was going away from the heart. I guess I never compared that with the moon phases.
 
I have also heard if you set posts in the wrong phase they will lean or even raise up. My wife works at a hospital and says all the weird crap happens on full moon nights!
 
I've put dirt on top of a tarp to keep from disturbing the grass in the yard.

Yes, there was enough to fill the hole and mound it up so it could settle.

Don't think it had anything to do with the moon other than the rear view while I was digging!
 
My good old neighbor used the phrase "below the knees" when talking about the zodiac sign best for castration. Whatever that means.
He weaned calves by the zodiac signs, and there wasn't much bawling as compared to the random way that I wean them. I wish I had paid more attention - too late, he's gone.
 
An old timer who dug graves by hand said that sometimes he wheeled excess dirt away from a filled grave, and other times he had to round up more dirt in order to get a grave filled.
 
Here in mid Mn. when they test for good gravel, they auger a hole & then put the
dirt back in the hole. Good gravel will not fill it to the top.
 
My Dad ran a farrow-to-finish hog operation, so his farrowing barn held 50 sows from birth to about 8 weeks for weaning. We always castrated
the males around 4 weeks, so my brother and I got the duty every Saturday unless it was Christmas or the Fourth of July. We ran it like that
for years without paying any attention to the phase of the moon. It was rare that we lost any from castration - maybe one every 6 months.
Lost one or two baby pigs from a Sow laying on them, but the cause of death was obvious, and the day and phase of the moon were totally
random.

One of my younger brothers is a pretty good gardener, and almost always plants his seed potatoes on Good Friday. Except here in Wisconsin,
when Easter comes early in the year the ground is still frozen. I usually call him in those years and ask him if he wants help drilling some holes for
planting. LOL
 
My grandfather talked about the dirt and post holes. I never believed it until I helped my dad on some fence. We put in about a dozen posts and never had enough dirt to fill the holes. Went back two weeks latter and put in more post and had extra dirt for every hole. Tom
 
When my Dad used one half a stick of dynamite to blast holes for end posts there was
not any dirt to backfill around the post no matter what phase of the moon he was in.
 
My dad had a bunch of crazy ideas about doing
things on the right phase of the moon, like
slaughtering cattle, chickens and hogs. I told him
slaughter plants process critters on any day that
ends with a Y , all month long. Just superstition.
 
Bruce: Like you, I was reared on a dairy farm which meant a lot of fences. I remember a lot of fence building with my father and grandfather. Unlike most of the other farmers around us, we only used wooden posts for end posts. Heavy duty steel for line posts many of which are still in place after 80 years. We preferred swamp cedar for end posts and big ones. Filled up the post hole. We would then tamp the dirt down tightly with either a shovel handle or a big straight crowbar. We would routinely run out of dirt. I suppose because we were packing it very tightly. As a kid, I often wondered about that. Never heard of the moon phase theory until now.
 
I had a good friend who farmed full time.

He wouldn't plant in the spring unless the moon was right. I never saw where his crops were better than the neighbors.
 
I remember my dad also mentioning a
certain sign in the almanac for deporting
cattle.
Some people with lyme disease also mention
symtoms more active on full moon.
 
I remember back in the mid 60's to mid 70's the Ford cars and light trucks with "3 on the tree" shifters, following a full moon there would be a run on them, broken from power shifting.

The dealer would have them lined up on the counter, sometimes they would be out.
 
My problem was getting the dirt out of the hole. I helped Dad put railroad ties 3 ft deep for corner posts. I probably said think that's deep enough, at least 4 times. Stan
 
I don't keep up with the signs of the moon, but I do know for a fact that if the signs are right, you can lay a board on the grass and if the signs are right, several days later you can pick it up and the grass is still green and alive. If they are wrong, you have a dead patch of grass. We have 3 kids, my wife nursed all three of them. When she was ready to wean them, some older lady would always tell her when to do it by the signs and they all stopped quickly with no tantrums. Her friends would take several days of whining and crying to get theirs weaned. I know guys that will not cut brush until the signs are right, so it won't grow back.
 
Did you perhaps grab the wrong sheet metal? Maybe it belongs on that tractor you sent to the scrap yard 3 yrs. ago. Look around the shop and see if you set the right sheet metal under them old pallets.
 
neighbor Le Roy told me more than once mow your thistles on July 4 next year you won't have thistles it seems to work.
I miss that old guy he was a friend and neighbor.
 
I started out thinking they were the way to go. On the second one or thereabouts I realized they were a bad idea....you obviously know why.
 

I took it off to replace the radiator, wiring, fuel return and heater lines, cleaning, painting and misc. other stuff. Painted the sheet metal and tried to put it back on. The part over the fuel tank sits too low rubs on the tank and not enough space for the hood. The hood spacing might be from brazing a broken tab on the bottom of the front cowling, I have an idea how to fix that.

It was/is a surprise, got all the hard stuff done and went to put it back together and now I have another puzzle.
 
(quoted from post at 07:35:16 02/22/21) Cop told me they a lot more arrests and problems on full moon

As I have stated before, my day job is a Corrections Deputy. Yes, a whole lot of crazy crap happens on the the full moon. Why? Who knows, but there is something to it.
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top