The neighbor with the 963 got a visit at the lake by his wife and grand-daughter.
When the 3-year old asked grandma why the tractor was stuck in the mud, she winked at me and told the little girl "Because a man tried to do something."
Surprisingly, I was actually able to start the backhoe tonight with a jumper wire feeding juice to the fuel injector pump, so I got the rear boom stored in a more convenient position, and suspect once I get an excavator over here, I'll have the backhoe out in a day.
Of course, both front tires are completely flat. Can't see enough of the rears to see if they also are.
I'm optimistic, though. The guy with the excavator showed me a lot about how to use them, and dug quite a ramp down to the backhoe and got down to solid rock. About the only time I've felt fortunate to live on mostly rock.
