Earlier in the week I read the Pioneer Woman’s post about her pesky brother in law Tim’s Tractor Love and I thought of my brother who really wasn’t completely happy until he bought his very own John Deere for working on his place at the lake.
If anyone was born to farm, other than our dad, it would be my brother, who, by the way, shares our dad’s name. But making a living somehow took priority so he and his family now run a very successful business from their beautiful place on the lake. It’s taken a lot of work and one of his first purchases was a riding mower–of course it was a John Deere. But even though it was indeed a John Deere, and it had quite a few attachments, it just wasn’t quite big enough to be called a real tractor.
I think it might be genetic. He has a grandson who will sit on that lawn mower for hours and be perfectly happy. And when my brother made him a bed like a John Deere tractor, there was never another problem with going to bed to take a nap or at bedtime. He got his own battery-powered, down-sized version of his very own tractor for Christmas and he loves to drive it, but he does have some concerns that it’s getting dirty.
So you can see that John Deeres hold a special place in our family. My brother hauled John Deere tractors, combines, etc. right after he quit farming–that was almost close enough to farming for him. While he worked for that company, he collected the small model versions. Are you getting the picture? Below is a cover of the John Deere magazine, appropriately named The Furrow–with some of our relatives’ names on the cover–they evidently ran an implement company in a neighboring town. My brother found it among our granddad’s things after he died–wouldn’t you know this would be the thing he would choose to rescue?
This past couple of years, he and his family, with the help of various neighbors, have been working on a house built in 1906, one that probably began its life as a ranch bunkhouse and one that they moved onto some property my niece bought across from her folks, to make a great home for her. I got to see it for the first time this past weekend. They’ve done a great job of making the house modern but retaining the old house charm–hardwood floors and some beadboard walls. But when I left, after it had been raining for 3 days, I started sliding sideways off the curving, sticky, clay road. I managed to get stopped six inches from a tree trunk.
All I could think of to do was to start honking. Then I remembered I had my cell phone, but he was already down the driveway in his pickup. I swear his eyes sort of lit up when I told him I was stuck. He said for me to stay put and he’d be back. About 10 minutes later, he came out with his coveralls on, galoshes and cap (John Deere, of course) and gloves on, moved his pickup and fired up his green and yellow tractor. It’s not a big one, but it’s a Deere.
It was raining too hard to get a good picture. You can see the “slow moving vehicle” triangle reflected in my mirror–and if you look carefully, you can see the pickup to the left. But trust me, the tractor’s there.
I, of course, wasn’t getting out. He was on the ground, under my vehicle, flinging chains this way and that, and finally, giving me instructions:
“Put it in reverse, but don’t gun it. I don’t know if this ‘little fart’ will do it, but we’ll see.”
He knew it would, and he was right. Soon I was on my way home, and he was back in the house, singing the praises of his tractor, no doubt.
What a guy. What a Deere.