The Tractor Story

I have been searching for a farm tractor for some time now and I was getting a bit depressed about not finding a tractor I could afford then my neighbor found one for me. I went with him to look over the tractor, it is an old tractor a Ford 4000, with a front end loader. The tractor is at least twenty, twenty-five years old. So we aren't talking about some new shinny modern machine with lots of bells and whistles. A deal was struck with the owners and my friend said he would help me move the tractor.

The big day came and I withdrew the money from the bank to pay for the tractor-I always get in an odd state of mind spending money like this and today wasn't any different. I figure it is the cheap skate in me that goes into over-drive when I take money out of the bank instead of putting it in the bank.

I went to my friend's house and he had a trailer hitched up to his pick-up truck and he was ready to go. We got about half way there when he says "I think we lost a tire we need to find a shady place to change the tire", it was about 90 degrees and I wouldn't want to be changing tires out in the hot Sun either. Now Kentucky roads aren't known for having shoulders or turn-outs on them and this road had darn few. We ended up pulling into a Saw mill yard to check the tire. There are several sawmills around our county, logging is one of the businesses here in central Kentucky along with farm gates they make quite an impact on the income of the local economy, but I digress. Sure enough the tread had come off the tire and when it came off it bent the fender on the trailer and ripped the tail light off. Shorty, my friend, started looking for a lug wrench but couldn't find one in his truck I figured we would have to go back to his house and get one, when some of the men working the mill came over and looked the trailer over. They went through their trucks looking for a lug wrench, wouldn't you know they didn't have one either!

One of the men went to their work truck and got a socket and breaker bar from the tool box and just started taking off the lug nuts. Within, to me was minutes, the tire was change and the young men were shaking hands with Shorty and we were on our way to pick up the tractor. Shorty told me that he was a friend of the owner and one of the men was the son of the owner so that is why the interest in changing the tire. Like Shorty says " it pays to know folks around here", amen to that I say.

When we got to the house where we were to pick up the tractor I was a bit concerned as this is not a typical farm house this was in small up scale sub-division, the driveway was in pristine condition like it hadn't been used. I said to Shorty " we better not drive over any bushes or anything as they look expensive to replace" he chuckled and agreed. We loaded the tractor on the trailer and there was no room to spare, a very snug fit. Shorty said we would take it easy going home as we had no more spare tires and the old truck of his might not be able to handle the tractor going down hills. So off we went at a robust thirty-five miles an hour. Just our luck we had traffic. We had gotten into the evening commute time from the folks that work out of town and they were headed home and we were in the way. Every so often we would get passed by three or four cars traveling at a high rate of speed. We didn't want to stop on the way up a hill as we might have trouble getting going again, then what do you do? unload the tractor and drive it up the hill? So up hill and down hill with the tractor behind us and behind that a string of cars and trucks getting longer and longer.

I guess Shorty was feeling bad about holding folks up and we pulled into a parking lot at a store after we crested a hill and stopped. I got us some cold sodas and we waited for the traffic to lighten up a bit. Shorty checked the tires and several tires were hot, so we waited a bit longer. finally we pulled out and head down the road, we got through town okay, however some of the drivers in town were more in a hurry than I liked and started passing us on the right. I was glad when we got out of town. The big test was the two big hills just out side of town thank goodness there were truck lanes going up them. You know your going slow when the semi-trucks pass you on a hill.

We got the tractor to my farm and started unloading it. Shorty asked me if I wanted to drive it off or should he. I should have let him drive it off. When I backed it up I was more concerned with were I was going backwards than frontwards and the loader damaged part of the trailer. Darn I hated doing that to Shorty's trailer. He had gone through all the trouble of finding the tractor for me and now because of me his trailer was damaged and he was out a tire.

So, the tractor is now sitting out by the barn. I sure hope this doesn't turn into another one of my sagas. While I was gone the goats got out and ate three fruit trees. Just another day on on the farm.