learning to speak tractor

I am picking up a new language lately. I'm learning to speak Tractor. Except there is no Rosetta Stone for this language. So I'm learning by immersion and dropping myself into the land where others speak this language fluently.

I've been following tractor sales on Craigslist and finally found a few that I thought looked good. They fit the horsepower we need and were in our price range. So I called my Uncle Jake to ask him what he thought of the ones that caught my eye. And lucky for me, he was with his brother out in Colorado, so I got two born and raised farmers on speaker phone as I told them about the tractors I was looking at. It was going well for a while, but then they started asking me questions.

"Becca, does the tractor that you have now have PTO?"
PTO, PTO what could that stand for...it can't be Paid Time Off. Farmers definitely do not get Paid Time Off. "Oh man, I'm sorry you guys, I'm not fluent in the acronyms at all. What is PTO?
"Power Take Off"
"Oh. Right. Yeah... I have no idea."
"That's okay. But do you know what horsepower your kubota tractor is?"
"Hmmmm. No. Not a clue. It's a cute little tractor though..."
"And tell us about the baler you have. What kind did you get."
"Oh man. I am so sorry to sound like such an idiot. I don't know. Oh wait! I have a picture of it on my wall calendar. Here. Well Elsie is blocking the front part of the word and Rory the back part, but I can read CORM. So maybe McCormick or something like that? It's red."
"International."
"Sounds about right. I'm so sorry guys. But I will remind you that I was raised in Apple Valley and this is all new to me. But I am trying, and I thank you for trying to help me..."

I hope they found it a little bit hilarious. It is humbling to be learning so many things from the ground up. I would say pride is probably the number one thing you have to rid yourself of while trying on a new lifestyle like this. There's not time. Just be humble, ask questions and be okay with making mistakes. Because it just happens. And sometimes you sound like an idiot. That's okay. I am getting more and more fluent every day. In fact, I just watched six youtube videos on moco's, you know, mower conditioners, the implement that combines cutting and drying in one process? Like a haybine or the new discbine...

Are you impressed our what?!! I'm basically at the fluency equivalent of being able to ask where the bathroom is. And I'm learning more every day. Next I'm heading back to youtube to learn about hay rakes in case we don't want to spend the money on a moco.