The most universally capable modern homesteading machine we know of is a commercial-grade compact diesel tractor. We like Kubota tractors, John Deere''s 20- to 48-hp 2000 class and New Holland''s Boomer line. Even the smallest models--which look like sturdily built lawn tractor mowers--are equipped with powerful diesel engines and industrial quality transmissions and running gear. They also sport a three-point rear hitch that will mount commercial farm land plows, harrows and rakes and provide attachment points for a hay or field corn cutter bar or silage chopper, a sprayer or buzz saw. These tractors include a hydraulic system that will power remote motors on the chopper''s flails, the sprayer''s pump or the saw''s blade. They''ll also mount hydraulic cylinders to pull the plow up or dig it in and hold it down and will run any number of other hydraulic attachments such as a front-end snow thrower or plow blade, a bucket loader to carry soil, gravel or building bricks, a rear-mount backhoe to dig trenches, a forklift to raise bay bales into your barn loft, an electric generator to power the house and barn if the power lines go down in a storm, or a pump to fill a pond or empty the cellar after a flood. A modern, small diesel tractor is a major investment for a ranch or truck-farming operation--but one that will expand your homesteading capabilities beyond muscle-power, and will pay off every day for a lifetime or two of strenuous use.

You can try banning gimmes, but just understand that some guys will always beg for them. Last year one reasonably mature human being who occasionally writes for this magazine rode 75 miles through England and sat through most of dinner without saying a word because he had not been conceded a three-foot putt on the final hole at Formby Golf Club. He assumed that (a) because his team had already lost three ways and (b) because the putt was only to tie a press, it would be given. He was mistaken, having underestimated the killer instinct of his "friends." For weeks afterward he would still say to perfect strangers, "Let''s say you''re on the 18th hole of a match, you''re 3 down and ..."

With the merger of R&B Falcon with Transocean Sedco Forex, the latter now owns 57 jackups, 15% of the world''s fleet. The next largest owners are ENSCO (38), Noble (33) and--following its merger with Marine Drilling-- Pride (33). Significant fleets are also owned by Rowan and Santa Fe (24 each), and Global Marine (23). And Diamond Offshore and Nabors list 14 and 13 rigs each. International owners with significant fleets include: Maersk (11), National Drilling Co. of Abu Dhabi (10), Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (8), and Petromar and CONDC with seven each. Including several "subsidiary" classifications, 59 owners are listed this year.

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