She's parked, cleaned, fuel tank empty, oil drained, and battery removed so it can stay warm all winter.
It's not quite hibernation, but the John Deere 1958 tractor doesn't work winters anymore.
There was a time she helped pull a blade over the driveway to clear a route for the milk truck and sometimes make a way from the farm so the kids could get to school. Other times, we would string a couple of toboggans together and make a long slow circuit over the snow covered fields and pasture on winter nights with a full moon.
Now we have Gators and Bobcats and even four wheelers that can do those jobs and are equipped with either cabs or shields to keep the driver out of the biting cold wind chill.
After getting Jean back into her spot of the pole shed, it was time to attach the blade to the Gator and check the hydraulics so when we needed it at 5am some morning, it would work.
While working on the Gator I was thinking of the past weekend with John and Julie and our trip to Green Bay. It was a perfect weekend.
We left after the Badger football team beat Nebraska and arrived at our hotel near Lambeau Field. That's when the surprises began.
At check-in we were given a large envelope. Inside were a number of smaller envelopes numbered sequentially. The first one was a gift certificate for dinner at Brett Favre's Steakhouse.
So, we dropped the bags in our two assigned rooms and made our way over to eat. Surprise number 2 was getting escorted to a small private dining room off the main lobby.
I thought John was going to fall over as we walked in and Joe Buck and Troy Aikman greeted him like old friends and invited us to join them for dinner.
What a night. Troy told stories about his battles against Favre and the Packers; Joe had stories of his own, including one about his dad's first trip to a call a game in Wisconsin and being introduced to bratwurst on the same trip.
John was in his element beaming from ear to ear. The steak was top notch; the company even better. Fox Sports picked up the tab and the guys invited us to visit them in the booth at half-time so we could watch the third quarter from their perch above the 50 yard line.
Returning to our hotel it was difficult to calm down enough to think about going to bed, but we finally stopped telling stories about our evening and agreed to meet for breakfast Sunday morning at 8.
Inside my room, I opened envelope number 3.
The stationary inside had a familiar looking G at the top of the page, it read:
Dear John, Julie, and David,
Welcome to Green Bay and to Lambeau Field - we are glad you were able to come to Green Bay for Sunday's contest with the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Packers would like you to join the team at their hotel Sunday morning at 10 for the team breakfast.
A member of the Green Bay Packer public relations staff will meet you there. A limo will pick you up at your hotel at 9:45.
Sincerely,
Mark Murphy
President, Green Bay Packers
I folded the page, put it back inside the envelope and sat down. It was going to be hard to sleep tonight, that's for sure.
8 o'clock came early, but we met in the lobby and I handed Julie the envelope. She read it silently, a smile creeping across her face. "John," she said, "We need to go get dressed for the game and be ready to go at 9:45."
The limo took us to the side entrance of the team hotel. The press aide met us and escorted us into a team meeting room where Ted Thompson was waiting. He shook John's hand, said a polite hello to Julie, and led us into the room where Coach McCarthy was reviewing some details for Victory Monday after the win later in the afternoon.
After the talk finished, Coach McCarthy came over to sit down and talk. For a guy who grew up in Pittsburgh he was very interested in the family farm and learning how busy farmers managed to be such avid fans. "Priorities!" John and Julie replied in unison. Everyone laughed.
After Sunday brunch, the aide rode with us to the stadium and had us join him in a golf cart for a tour of the stadium. We saw the new weight room, the brand new walk-through and practice facility, and we even got to see the Packer Hall of Fame that won't re-open to the public until 2015.We watched from the top floor windows in the administration offices as the fires started in dozens of charcoal grills in the parking lot east of the stadium.
In envelope #4 was a $500 certificate to the Packer Pro Shop which became our next stop before the doors opened. Let me tell you, that $500 went real fast!
Surprise #5 was an upgrade to our tickets into club seats which meant John could get out of the cold if he needed a break from the 20 degree weather forecast for the afternoon.
The Packers got out to a fast start. Aaron and the offense was clicking on all cylinders, and we were on our feet cheering along with the capacity crowd.
At the half, our friend from the Packers took us up to join Joe and Troy and we spent the rest of the game watching from the booth and making small talk during commercial breaks.
It was an incredible day, and we were still floating a few feet off the ground as we returned to our hotel to spend another night before driving home in the morning.
John and Julie asked me in the limo on the way back to the hotel if I was the reason all this stuff happened. "Guys, I wish I was. I really do, but it wasn't me. Maybe we'll find out, maybe not - let's just enjoy the experience, because I think that may be what the person responsible really wanted in the first place."
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