It's only two cylinders and has a 90 inch wheelbase so, before I hook something to the hitch, its shorter than most cars.
But, she and I have traveled over this ground for a long time. At one point all the planting, weeding, fertilizing, and harvesting was done with this little green and yellow beauty.
Those days are gone forever now. We simply have too much land for one tractor, and one this size would have to work all day and all night to take care of 500 acres.
Still, I am not parting with it. It may be slow, but that's one of the things I like about her. Jean gives me time to think while I ride in this yellow seat. If I want to, I can bring one of the grandkids along with me for a pass or two across the fields before their video games and cell phones start to call them back closer to the house.
One thing I don't allow is a cell phone on the tractor. First, mixing a vintage machine like this one built in Waterloo, Iowa with some microprocessing, microchipping, texting camera phone is just not a good idea.
Second, when they fall into just plowed dirt (it's happened more times than I want to think about) they are darn near impossible to find.
A few times when I've been out here riding across the back forty in the tractor I've noticed some riders on the State Bike Trail stop to take my picture when I go past. OK, they aren't taking my picture - they are taking Jean's - she's the prettiest working tractor in the whole county. She wins ribbons in parades and still gets the crops planted each spring and brings in the harvest each fall.
This year I plan to put in sunflowers in my section of land. I've seen 'em covering acres of land out west and not so far away in Middleton where the Pope Farm Conservancy has them in their crop rotation.
Something about those smiley faced stalks that just grab your attention and makes you feel good, you know?
The seeds attract all kinds of birds and there's still enough left to bring in to keep the local baseball leagues in sunflower seeds for the whole season the following year.
No, the boys don't understand why I'd want to ride this thing all the time.
That's OK, if they knew they would want to get on her too.
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This is my 600th post since starting this blog in July, 2012.... I certainly didn't expect to get this far or have this many, and certainly never thought I'd be trying my hand at a fictional serial story.Thanks for reading!
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