Name: R. H. "Rudi" Saueracker, SSM
Age: 54
State/Province of residence: New Brunswick
Marital Status: Married
How many years: 27
Wife's name: Emilie LeBlanc
Children: 5
Boys: 1 Girls: 4
Ages: Duane is 26, Sabrina is 24, Samantha and Amanda are 21, Kristina is 20
Grand Children: 1
Girl: Abbigail (Amanda and Clayton)
Age: 1 year on the 24th of April
Do you have any pets: Yup
Names: Flip and Woodstock
Breed: Cockatiels
Line of work: Communications Research Operator 291 (Intercept) in the CF and a Cabinet/Furniture Maker/Small Business Owner on civvie street.
Retired or working: Retired medically from CF (Navy) in 1987, Retired medically from everything else in 1992
Degree's/Licenses/Certificates: (1 credit shy of College Diploma) Architectural Design Technician, Majored in Building Construction and Architecutral Design in High School. Interprovincials as Industrial Woodworker, Provincials as a Cabinet/Furniture Maker, Group 5's as a Communications Intercept Op - Morse and Non Morse Comms, Advanced Amateur Radio Operator (Un Restricted all modes/all bands), Prospector's Ticket for NB.
TRACTOR RELATED QUESTIONS
Tractors and models owned: 1947, 1948 ,1951 and 1955 Farmall Cubs, Dads Putt-Putt (Doodle Bug tractor custom built by my father-in-law), IHCC 129, JD-L-111 and a Craftsman Deluxe
Any other type of farm equipment: Bunch of Cub Implements - Cub-54 Blades, 193, 194, 189 Moldboard Plows, Cub-144 and Cub-F144 Cultivators, Belt Pulley Attachments, Cub-F38 Disk, Fast-Hitch, McCormick 100-H Manure Spreader, Massey-Harris #1 Potato Digger, Custom Snow Plow for my Cubs, Custom built SnowBlower (under construction), Logging Wagon (Custom built) and a bunch of other projects.
Are your tractors used for show or working: All of have to work for their keep, and they go to shows without Sunday Go-to-Meeting Duds.. just their work clothes.
How much Land do you work (Acres): 25
What was your first tractor experience (does not have to be a Farmall or Cub): Doodle bugs back home in Timmins up in Northern Ontario. Not many of the farmers there could afford real tractors, so doodle bugs or homebrew farm buggies were the norm.
What is your Cub's primary work: Gardening, Snow Plowing, Hauling Firewood - 4 foot logs and twitching logs to the roadside to be cut into 4 foot. General duty around the farm. Soon mowing will be part of their job descriptions.
What is the favorite Cub of all which you have owned and why: Probably my 1948, Ellie-Mae. She was my first Cub and she is still the most used Cub. She is also a sort of family handmedown as Ellie was owned by one of my brother-in-laws father. He was the 2nd owner, so I guess George would be the 3rd and I would be the 4th.
What first sparked your interest in owning a Cub: In 1982/83 after Emilie and I were married, we were down here in NB on a vacation.. we always came down every month or so for a weekend or long days off. Her Mom's sister who lives next door, has a garden with her Hubby Clorice and one morning he came out of the garage riding this cute Red Tractor. The sound of the engine caught my ear immediately, and I had to run over to see what it was. Boy was I surprised. What this little tractor could do. I fell in love with it right there, and I told Em that someday when we had our own little farm, I would get me one of them to play with. She just laughed. It took almost 20 years but in 2001 if I remember correctly, I bought Ellie-Mae from George and I have been enjoying myself ever since.
What task/use of your Cub provides the most enjoyable seat time: Now that is a hard question. Pretty much any time I can put my butt in the seat, it is going to be a good day and I am going to have a grand time. What I am looking forward to though is sharing seat time with Abbigail in the next year or so, and going for Cub trips up the road to the Corner Gas Station for Ice Creme
Favorite thing you like about Cub's and Cadets: The people you meet around Cubs is probably the main thing. Second I guess is that Cubs make sense. Easy to work on, easy to operate, what you see is what you get and they are real farm tractors. The Cub Cadet is a strong yeard tractor as well, not like a Lawn and Garden tractor at all, but more more closely related to their bigger cousins. They take a lickin and keep on tickin..
Describe your most satisfying or frustrating experience working on your own or someone else's Cub: Most frustrating would be working on Ellie the last year or so combatting head problems. Finally the head cracked and after almost 18 months the battle is over. New head...
Most satisfying has to be working on other people's Cubs and getting them to run properly. The most memorable one would have to be Alde's Cub which actually is my father-in-law's GodFather's (Ovila's) Cub which he bought new in 1956 along with a Fast-Hitch and implements. My first Cub-54 Blade belonged to Ovila which I have restored. (I know, it gets confusing 
)Do you host or participate in CubFests, Cubarama, Mini-CubFests: Yes most definitely. Back in 2003 when George was planning for CubFest 2004 in Ohio, I was lamenting on the forum that dang it would be nice to be able to attend, but that it would probably never be possible seeing as the CubFests were always in Ohio
George told me to quit complaining and do something about it. If I couldn't got to Ohio, then have a CubFest here So I did. CubFest Northeast 2004 was the very first Non-Ohio CubFest to be organized and held. It was a grand time.. oh a grand time. I met so many wonderful people including Carl Kurnas and Art Chester who travelled from the US to be here to celebrate with us. CubFest 2005 was supposed to happen, but a massive heart attack and a sextuple by-pass got in the way of that. I did manage to meet Larry Davis in between though, as he completed the final leg of the very first Cub Express trip from Quincy Illinois to NB via many points and wonderful people in between. The next CubFest I could attend was CubFest Northeast 2006 - where Em and I met Cecil and Priscilla and a whole bunch of really wonderful people. In between 2004 and now I have had a number of mini and micro fests, been to a few tractor shows when my health allows and we have been priviledged with being able to play host to a number of truly wonderful friends from Ontario, NS, Maine, Ohio, and points in between who have stopped by to visit.I truly believe that we have been blessed with some truly wonderful friends in the Cub world, and just being able to share time with them is really satisfying. I am planning on having more CubFests and Micro Fests as time goes by.. keep checking the calendar folks..
My other Cub passion has to be the Cub Manual Server. It is a project that sort of evolved from my wanting to give back to those who on the old Farmallcub.com and ATIS bulletin boards taught me so much and gave of themselves so selflessly. Folks like George Willer, Albie Bodarocco (sp?), Big Dog Darrell Ratliffe, EJ John Puckett, Jim Becker and a bunch of others who alwasy answered my stoopid questions about Cubs or as I thought they were called then Cub Cadets..
So when one of them had asked if anyone had a manual online, I put one up as I had up to 70 megs of available web space with my ISP. Soon that had outgrown itself, and I got lucky and had the current server set up for me. I still enjoy playing with the manuals, and the thrill of the search, excitement and tension of the auction and the thrill of the acquisition is still a real rush.. it is fun. I enjoy it immensely. I also love to write articles (I guess that is pretty self evident) as it was one of the things I apparently excelled at in the military -- writing SOP's and Training Aids. So that is one of the things I like to do.OTHER ENJOYABLE ACTIVITIES
What other hobbies do you enjoy: I guess my favourite hobby now right up there with my Cub addiction has to be making furniture and especially childrens toys. Even though it was my profession, now that I am retired, I actually get to do what I want to do and not what I had to do. Toys, childrens furniture and of course whatever Em needs or I would like to have in the house makes shop time fun time. Fossil and Rockhounding has become a very interesting hobby, and of course I share it with the love of my life Emilie. We can spend hours pounding on rocks in hopes of finding and interesting crystal or other mineral formation. We have spent literally hours painstakingly extracting fossils from the rock with dental picks so as to not damage them. We have a great interest in paleontology and we are returning again to our expeditions this summer. We plan to do a lot of rock hounding during our CubFest rambles in the coming years. I am a Ham Op.. VE9RHS, I love it... enjoy code a lot and I love to DX. It is a hobby that I share with Em (VE9EL) and our son Duane (VE9DNS). I collect Canadian and German Stamps and I have a few pretty interesting specimens. I have my trout pond and I love to fish as well as hunt. My health problems has kept me from actively pursuing my love of fishing and hunting for years, so we built a 500 foot pond to raise our own Brown and Rainbow Trout which I actually spend more time feeding than I do fishing. But I am learning to fly fish after mostly spin and bait fishing. Lobster season is a blast, and Em and I enjoy going out fishing with friends when possible. (you have to be crew on a licensed boat to go lobster fishing), and now that I am feeling better, Em and I plan to do a little moose hunting this year if we can get a tag.. (gotta enter the provincial draw -- nothing is guaranteed). I also like to write. I have two books currently on the go. Wether or not they ever see the light of day is debateable, but I find it enjoyable and cathartic to write. I have had a few pieces published over the years, but more in a technical/brief venue than anything public. But I do enjoy writing - a lot.
Do you hunt or fish: Yes - see above
What is your favorite game: Moose, Deer and varmints
What is your favorite Sport: Darts
Do you have a favorite Sports team: Used to.. Chicago Black Hawks, but I stopped watching after the first expansion....
Favorite Book: Don't have one favourite, but anything almost by WEB Griffin (William E Butterworth), Dale Brown, Stephen Coonts, Tom Clancy etc. After over a decade as a spook, military/espionage thrillers are my favourite. It is almost like keeping ones hand in the game. Yes Virginia...., there really is a thing called Echelon
Favorite Movie: Sleepless in Seattle if I had to pick one.. but mostly and really good Comedy or a Musical with Doris Day
[i]Favorite Actor/Actress: Actually 2 apiece each. Tom Hanks/Harrison Ford and Meg Ryan/Sandra Bullock
Magazine(s) you subscribe to: Red Power, Fine Woodworking
Favorite outdoor activity: Rockhounding/Fossil hunting (long walks)
Do you maintain a garden: Yes
How large: Approximately 2-3 acres
What vegetables to you grow: Truck type garden.. potato's, onions, leek, corn, carrots, beans (pole and yellow eyed), peas, lettuce, spinach, rhubarb, beets, sweet taters, tomatoes, squash, zuchinni, pumpkins, gourds and of course giant pumpkins. We also grow all kinds of herbs and othre greens. Biggest challenge is propagating asparagus which I have come to love... but can't grow it very well.
Do you maintain a personal orchard: Yes
Type of fruit grown: Grapes, Plums, Apples, Cherries, Raspberries, Pears and Peaches. Experimenting with other varietes as well.
What is your favorite Quote or saying: One must know where one comes from and where one is to be able to understand where one is going. History, a great teacher!
Do you have any immediate goals in your life: My primary goal is to remain healthy. It has been a long hard battle so far, almost 25 years.. but, I continue to pray, He continues to answer my prayers. I hope to be able to see all of my grandchildren and I hope to be able to travel with Emilie now that our kids are mostly grown and on their own. This summer may be the watershed. So we hope to be able to rockhound/fossil hunt/visit CubFests and Gatherings and travel to see our children wherever they end up. Belguim being one sure bet. I really hope to be able to visit all my Cub friends those whom we have already met and those who we have yet to meet in person... we are going to try
HOPE TO SEE YOU AND FAMELY SOON.
