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First and foremost I would like to thank everyone for making it such a great contest. The Cannonball Staff and I have more than enjoyed listening, looking, and laughing at all the zany descriptions you sent in. This year it was extremely difficult to determine the ultimate winner. First place goes to Lawrence B. He will receive a Ranch Hand grill guard for his recycling use of a casket vault. Second place is tied between three people Ed S, Shon W, and Mark T; they will receive a 30" underbody box. Ed revealed the leisure side of Cannonball, with his use of a hammock during a siesta. Shon's entry depicted the practical side of Cannonball by describing Mr. Rescue. After being run off the road by a deer, he was able to correct a terrible situation by using his dump feature and arms to retrieve his trailer from a muddy ditch. Mark demonstrated the recreational side of Cannonball with a description of his Cannonball deer stand. Honorable Mention will be sent a receiver hitch: JD W for the use of his picture on our contest card (boat and four-wheeler), Dennis G which we affectionately call Gone Fishin' Guy with his shade apparatus, and Tim and Penny with their bees. My other contest participants will receive a special entry prize?????
You should be hearing from me within the next
couple of weeks
3rd Annual Most Unique Use Contest Hey Cannonball Owners! It's that time again. As a Cannonball bale bed owner you are entitled to enter Debbie's most Unique Use Contest. All you have to do is let me know the cool ways you use your Cannonball either by calling, writing, emailing or just plain stopping by. Pictures and short commentaries will be posted to the Cannonball Website, you could become famous! Not to mention all the fun involved. I, Debbie Schrag, am the sole judge and have final say in all matters concerning this just-for-fun contest. A Ranch Hand Grill Guard will be awarded to The Most Unique entry! Additional cool prizes include tool boxes, receiver hitches and Cannonball accessories. The contest begins July 1, 2005 and will run through December 31, 2005. I look forward to hearing from you. Best regards, Debbie Schrag. Once again contest time. Last year we had a great many entries and enjoyed everyone.. The uses surprise even me. From an ATV bus, injured cow lifts and transport, changing implement tires, oil fill carrier for cattle back rubs, modified to haul trash, dead chickens, bison hunts, elk hunts, fishing (must be big fish) lowering septic tanks and lateral lines, landscaping, firewood retrieval, panel lifters, Rodeo barrel retriever, as a Christmas parade float, one was even stolen and used to steal cars and attempted to steal an ATM. That was their down fall.. ... Please if you entered last year and didn't win try again the margins were quite narrow. I look forward to hearing from everyone and if time permits I will include an update in our Christmas letter. Have a great year and hope to hear from you soon. Sincerely, debbie 2005 CONTEST ENTRIES May 19, 2006 Contest update!!!!!!!!! Ok, ok I know, you thought I might never return with the results, but you will be happy to know Cannonball had a banner year and I 've been a bit overwhelmed. My assistant Abby went off to college this past year and left me to "do it all with a Cannonball" but luckily she is back for the summer. First things first. Morris T. of Belvadier KS sent me a photo of his Cannonball Bale bed lugging around his black powder cannon with a 37" long barrel with a 1/5 bore and stands on 42" high wheels, it has a range of 500 to 700 years and make a pretty good bang....Hmmmm? Morris, Morris I just don't know what to think of you.... Ed S. one of my first bale bed owners sent in some really great photos. Apparently, his anhydrous tank got a flat so he used the bed arms to lift up the tank to place a block beneath the hub and you know the rest of the story. He also showed moving an empty liquid fertilizer tub cradled in the arms with a lasso around the top. Evidently, Ed has quiet a deer population problem on his ranch judging from the photos. I really thought the photo with the deer he hit with his truck with the velvet still on was amazing. I was also very impressed with the use as a handy way to change the irrigation flats, we as well use ours in this manner. But even more amazing than the above was the tree chopper (Ed has an underhood power unit) hooked to his aux power outlets on the back of his Cannonball. Ed after all the uses I absolutely loved the photo of you lounging in the hammock strung between the Arms. Thank! ds Tracey M. uses his Cannonball to dangle a porch swing over the edge of their fishing pond so the kids can avoid the grassy bank while fishing. When one of the kids wants back on shore Mom or Dad just rotates the arms back, rocking the swing over the bed and the kids just step off. Cool ! I bet the kids wish you would let them ride on the swing while driving out to the pond. ds Tim and Penny S of Montrose sent me their unique use and boy was it. It seems that during an ice storm trees on their place suffered major damage. One tree in particular held a hive of native honey bees ( a rarity with the killer bees and crosses coming in) they wanted to preserve the hive so when temperatures got cold enough to have "calm" bees they trimmed the hive away from the rest of the tree and picked it up with the Bed arms and hauled it to a new location in another orchard. Come spring I want an update..... Make sure to look at the photos of they sent in. Lawrence B of TX used his bed to help a family down on their luck move Grandpa's casket to a different cemetery to respect Grandmother's last wishes. Everything went well with the move and Grandpa is settled into his new resting place. Unfortunately, the vault lid had a crack making it mandatory to use a new vault. So now they are faced with what to do with a used vault. Lawrence hauled the old one out to the farm for disposal but after looking it over decided to see if a good cleaning with a high pressure hose and some strong detergent would make it useable as a water trough. Guess what? Hmmm! Check out the photo Lawrence sent in. The ultimate recycler.. Good job Lawrence. ds Paul H of Sawyer, Ks uses his bed in his cow operation. As we know it makes a great cow lift to help out with paralyzed heifers and cows. But one idea not mentioned before was the pulling of fence post. Not only t-post but wooden ones too. thanks for the entry Paul. ds Paul M of Kingman, uses the d-rings on his bed to help straighten out bent t-post and electric post. He says the d-ring is just the perfect size. Paul stops in with his lovely wife, they are both so funny it is a real treat to have them visit. thanks ds Mark T from Kingston, KS dropped by and told us that he used his Cannonball in his most recent deer hunting expedition. In an open, tall grass prairie, where his truck was hidden, Mark fastened his deer stand in such a way that when he used his hand held control to lift the bed, it hiked the stand sufficiently to spot deer. The one thing Mark didn't tell me was whether he actually got a deer or not, my bet is YES otherwise he would not have told me. I think Mark has opened a whole new market for me "Cannonball's Deluxe Deer Stand." thanks ds More in a day or two I will also get the photos up on the site too! ds October 20, 2005
Hello, Cannonball Folks! I have been getting lots of calls and have seen a number of you at the farm shows. If you have contacted me about an idea and you don't see it below, please, please call me. I may have lost it on my desk, yikes!!!! Shon of Morrill called with a really great story. Apparently, early one morning this past spring, in a attempt to miss a herd of deer he had to drive off the road. Which would not have been such a problem except he had a goose neck trailer behind loaded with horses. He was in route to work cattle with the guys, it was too early for school buses and no one would even miss him for a couple of hours. The shoulder was too soft for the truck to pull both itself and the trailer up on to the pavement. So he unloaded the horses, unhooked the trailer, drove the truck on to the road. With arms outstretched he reached under the goose neck with one arm and lifted the trailer legs off the ground and scooted it a bit on it's tires. After several of these scoots he was eventually able to have the trailer perpendicular with the pavement he then backed his pickup around lifted the bed with the hitch ball going up until it engaged the goose neck he lifted until the trailer legs could clear the pavement then drove forward pulling the trailer the rest of the way out of the ditch, then by lowering the bed re-hooking the ball latch, chains and loading the horses. At that point he could be on his way to help in working the cattle. My question, did the guys even notice that you were late, or that your trailer was covered with mud???? Great story.... thanks ds John W of Forsyth, MO had several ideas he shared with me at the Ozark Farm fest in Springfield. He used the arms like an old style tow truck when a neighbor was in a pinch with a broken down car, another use was a corner post puller, but the idea I was most intrigued with was he added extensions to his arm and used them as gen poles to set the roof trusses of a barn roof. I wish I could have seen one of our beds helping to raise a barn.... I enjoyed meeting you at the show...thanks ds Jon N of Rogersville, MO was also at the Springfield show and he had a story that attest to Cannonball's stoutness. It seems he was stopped on the highway at the bottom of a hill waiting to turn left. A Ford explorer was stopped behind him waiting for him to proceed. A third vehicle (a Dodge Dakota) came flying over the hill and was unable to stop in time. He smashed into the Explorer sandwiching it between his truck and Jon's Cannonball bed. The Dakota flipped and landed on its top. Both the Explorer and the Dakota were totaled. Jon's bed had $37.95 dollars worth of damage. The bracket that holds the lights was bent under somewhat but the lights remained undamaged and the blinker was still working when the Highway patrol officer arrived. Jon just took his pliers and bent the sheet metal down so the lights weren't mashed up toward the floor of the bed and went on about his day while everyone else waited for tow trucks. Jon, I am sure glad no one was injured. But I think you should have fashioned a sling our of baling twine and towed the two damaged vehicles off to a more convenient location, only kidding. thanks ds Dwight A. of Galena, MO came to the Farmfest show with a really great picture of his Cannonball bed being used to hold Spoonbill fish up on a stringer awaiting cleaning. Dwight, I am only sorry you didn't have a copy of that picture. I believe those spoonbill fish are by far the most bizarre sight I have seen in a long time. I thought it was shark hanging from the back of your cannonball bed with some kind of deformed noses. I found it very interesting that they have no bones only cartilage and were very messy when cleaning more like a hog. thanks for the story. ds Jasper C of Ark sent me a photo of a really nice buck elk he loaded her with the arms and hauled her to camp for easy dressing. Nice elk Jasper thanks for the entry. I am really jealous of your trip to Colorado the back ground in your photo looks beautiful ds Sycamore springs ranch had an awesome photo of a bull elk, on the back of their Cannonball. When I first looked at the photo I thought maybe it was trick photography but I was informed by the guys here in the office that ELK are BIG. wow ds Lori and Dwane R of Running L Ranch tell me they have cut the chiropractor budget drastically. Hmmm? I can imagine that the chiropractor is questioning our parentage??ha ha thanks ds
August 8, 2005 The Roberts' family stopped by our booth at the 4 state farm show and shared a very unique use for their Cannonball. They recently purchased additional farm ground that needed some tlc. When they described pulling thistle plants I really did not have a clue how many they were talking about until a photograph showed up (see in photo gallery). Wow!!!. Not only is the bed heaped up but the pit seems full too. Oh my gosh, I had no idea that they could get that thick. No wonder they are classified as a noxious weed. I can see from the photo that these weeds were pulled up by the roots.. no easy task when you consider how mean those plants can be. Yikes, if nothing else you all deserve to win new gloves... My buddy B.W. from Altamont told me a really hilarious story about the use of his Cannonball, while we were attending the Pittsburg farm show. It appears that they are a family of Winnebago lovers and B.W. was sent on an errand to pick up a "parts Winnie" for his son recently purchased on ebay. ( for less than $100, hmmm?) B.W. went prepared with a winch ready trailer, tools, straps, air bomb but unfortunately, the winch was not strong enough to pull the beast (I mean Winnie) up on to the trailer. Cannonball to the rescue. With arms outstretched behind the bed a chain was fashioned to the RV allowing it to be pulled up on the trailer as the arms were lifted up and on to the bed, as one would when loading bales. I understand you also used the winch, but I am sure the arms alone would have sufficed, but at least the cable was wound up out of the way and aided in securing your New Winnie. I only wish you had a picture, from the description you painted I believe your son may have paid too much.... May be you should have been paid to haul it off..... thanks for the entry. July 11, 2005 Phil and Mary Lou of Medicine Lodge sent in a great photo (see in Photo Gallery) of their Cannonball Ball Bed in use as a "Wild Boar Hunting Machine"! Yikes those beast are huge. Well fed from the looks of it. How much did they weigh?? I think your son-in-law is very brave. I didn't realize wild boar were a problem so close to home. Kinda makes the long walks my dogs and I go on in the woods seem a little less relaxing. I already have to watch carefully for the deer and bird hunters but now boars??? I imagine these animals are very destructive and down right dangerous. After a successful hunt do you all have a big pig roast??? thanks ds July 7, 2005 I received the first contest response from JDW seems I owe him a big thank you for the use of his photo at the bottom of the post card everyone received. THANK YOU! I look forward to hearing from you all soon. ds May 12, 2005 Second Annual "Most Unique Use Contest" wraps up! If you entered the contest and do not receive a wrap up letter, give me a call, when our Web site crashed the last week of April I lost some data and think some of my contest people were deleted. When you call ask for me, Debbie, jog my memory of your unique use and I'll send you your consolation prize. Morris T is our grand prize winner with his most Unique use ever. Maybe we should rename the contest to the most extreme use. As you may read below, Morris granted is Mom's dying wish to have Sister's remains brought home to the family plot in Kansas. The T's are enjoying their Ranch Hand Grill Guard and now are able to relax (a little) when it comes to deer. Winner of the underbody box is the Robert L's with their Bison ranch with his good Samaritan use. It was not so much the way he helped but the description was hilarious. Pat M of Mayetta with his design of a control box holder and his bravery for mentioning to me the backwardness of my sticker design, wins the receiver hitch. Bogus bucks winners were a fellow from western Ks with Long horn cattle that show up with a couple of skulls strapped to the bed as an office gift. bribe?? As I am the sole judge... He used his $$ towards his purchase of tool boxes....He had some other uses that are mentioned below too. And a local Kingman guy that stops in frequently and we always test out new stuff (sometimes unsuccessfully) on his Bed. He is always coming up with some new way he used his bed but I usually don't mention them because... well frankly his bed is out of warranty and some of the stuff I really would want someone to repeat. Jason, used his $$$ towards an fps upgrade.
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