Big or small?

Have you ever wondered which is better???   Something that is bigger or something that is smaller?  There was a time when we all said "Bigger is better", but then we also said "great things come in small packages". And when you were growing up - who didn't need to have HUGE speakers. Big cars, big stereos, BIG BIG BIG was in. Well have a look at these photos - then you can answer the question - which is better????


A bit of history before we get to the first one. My parents still live on the farm in Saskatchewan where I grew up. While their farm is not huge (by western standards) - it is rather large (by Ontario standards). (That would be 960 acres in total or SIX quarter sections)  (I pulled this off the internet for your information - In farming communities a square plot of land which is 1 mile by 1 mile is referred to as a "section" of land. It contains 640 acres. A section is usually divided into four equal parts which are called "quarter sections", and this is the size plot that farmland is typically sold in. Each quarter section consists of 160 acres. In western Canadian farm communities, the grid roads are spaced at 1 mile and 2 mile intervals thus providing some of the dividing lines between sections, and access to every quarter section."





We had cows and other animals as well as planted wheat, oaks and barley. My dad "retired" from farming a number of years ago and now rents the land out. This year, he has rented to someone new. The other night (- yes 10 PM AT NIGHT), the combines (YES WITH AN S) rolled in to start harvesting (YES START AT 10 PM)

Have a look..............

Yes not ONE, not TWO, not THREE, BUT FOUR combines rolled in to harvest his modest fields!!!   

When my dad did his own harvesting, he has ONE combine with the head (the width of the "thing" at the front that cuts the crop) was FOURTEEN feet wide. EACH one of these combines has a head of FORTY feet.  I laughed as I told him, they probably had to make one round around the field each and they would be done!!!!    Well - the farm isn't that small, but they arrived two nights ago - I bet they have already moved on.

The fuel truck also stopped by - and I bet that wasn't just a couple of jerry cans in the back of a half ton pickup, but rather a full fledged FUEL truck!!!!!   My how times have changed. 

Now when the combine grain hoppers are full - they need to emptied. We used to have the "red" truck which by today's standards is pretty small. A lot of the farmers now use SEMI TRUCKS to carry the grain. In the case of muddy fields, the semi's do not work because they will get stuck, so they use GRAIN CARTS.

A TANDEM WHEEL four wheeled drive tractor and a MASSIVE grain cart. Hard to see in the picture, but the auger on the cart is MASSIVE and they can empty that cart into the semi (sitting on dry ground) in no time flat. The auger is folded at the front of the cart, but diameter is about 16 inches!!!

And in case you are wondering how much BIG costs - my dad estimated that this was about 2.5 MILLION worth of farm equipment - just these units. YIKES - farming ain't what it used to be!!!!!!!!!!


Pretty hard to get a perspective here, but I would bet that those tires on the tractor are at least 5-6 feet high!!!!   Apparently they plug in the GPS on the combines (and tractors for seeding) and basically let the equipment do the driving on their own. PERFECTLY STRAIGHT!!!!!   No waste. Oh my!!!!!!!!!!!!!  These babies are equipped with computers, stereos, - if you have it in your car - they have it in the farm equipment!!!!!


Meanwhile in the city................    I was driving down the street yesterday and I had to take a second glance as I wondered what the truck in front of me was pulling behind him. Oooops - the truck switched lanes, but the item "being towed" did not change lanes. OH MY GOD. It is a toy - NOPE - it is a REAL CAR.

A SMALL car. This is a FIAT, but an older one. It is smaller than the little one that has become so popular these dates.  That car beside is not a huge car, so you get the picture!!!!

Many times, I wish I had bought a smaller car. I HATE the gas mileage on mine. Well it is relative to what I had before. If I had the money - I would keep the bigger car for the highway and get something small for the short trips. Of course - I could just get my butt on my town bike and then not have to worry at all about gas!!!!!


Almost out of blogging time this morning. I have so MUCH more to say, but I better get myself organized for the day.

Sorry - there isn't anything quilt related here - but tomorrow there will be.


Have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!


Ciao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!