Stop in for a cup of coffee

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Yes. Real tough to get my head around... On Sunday, we went golfing, then after went for lunch, and beers. He drank his usual. His girlfriend was out of town. She got home this AM and found him .
I am so sorry Tim
 
Yes. Real tough to get my head around... On Sunday, we went golfing, then after went for lunch, and beers. He drank his usual. His girlfriend was out of town. She got home this AM and found him .
Very sorry to hear that Tim. Condolences, and Prayers for the family..
 
Flashback: I was 7 years old, spending the summer with my grandparents. My grandfather had just bought this tractor brand new, maybe a few months old by summer time. Anyway, we’re getting stuff ready to bale hay down the road, My grandmother had fallen off the hay wagon that morning and jammed her hand into the elevator and wasn’t going to be able to drive the tractor as she always did for us while we worked the wagon. So my grandfather took 7 year old me, tossed me into the driver’s seat, climbs up on the fender, said here take it down the drive. This is like landing on the moon, winning the Super Bowl or Daytona 500 or th Olympics all rolled into one for little 7 year old me. So I’m bouncing up and down, so I push the clutch in, start the tractor and reached over to put it in gear like I’d seen my grandfather do, I put it into D range, road gear, high gear. He reaches over turns the tractor off. Puts his hand on my sternum to get me to calm down his hands were huge but even still barely calmed down my excitement. The words he says next ring in my mind every time I climb onto a tractor to this day. “Christoph, You either take it slow or you ain’t doing this at all”. He then bumped me down to the slowest gear, A1 and proceeded to let me idle it down the drive. We did this back and forth, up and down the drive for what seemed like forever, slow as a snail. He then has me stop, he takes over, hooks up to that old New Holland square baler that has three wagons hooked behind it. We drive over to the hay field, I was puzzled because my grandmother was still in town getting checked out, I asked who was going to drive, he replies, you are. So that was it, a few minutes up and down the drive and a few turns and now little 7 year old me was driving a tractor baler and 3 wagons across a 10 acre field while my grandfather stacked them on the wagons. That was probably the longest day of baling hay I’ve ever done, and we had to make so many extra passes to collect the windrows I’d missed in my rookie turns. But he never complained.

Today, I had the special moment of teaching my 7 year old Whitley on the very same tractor, albeit not near as shinny and no baling hay. And no pap sitting on the fender, grinning like his 7 yr old grandson was grinning back at him. No, sadly and yet happily today, it was me sitting on the fender, letting Whitley drive. Nice and slow, a few turns, her grinning back at me, me choking back tears the best I can(thank God for dark sunglasses). Sadly this will be the last time she gets to drive this particular tractor as it will be sold at Auction on Saturday. But for a few moments, I felt like I did back on that hot July Day all them years ago.

Afterwards, a few short rides with the minions as baby Kendall and cousin Mallory joined us.

I’m still choking back tears( okay no I’m not, they rolling now) God I miss him.

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I think I shed a tear or two on that beautiful story, Chris...:thumbsup:
Sorry . Didn’t mean too. Just thought it was so awesome to get to do that. I was backing it out to line it up for the auctioneer tomorrow and had this little voice pop into my head telling me to do it. Just out of the blue. My wife asked afterwards if I’d planned it , nope not at all.
 
I think I shed a tear or two on that beautiful story, Chris...:thumbsup:
I also stole my nephew for a bit and introduced him into the world of muscle cars. Yeah the car is packed with all my spare parts to keep them all safe during the auction.

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Anyone know why Internationals and Case tractors are painted red?





drum roll.....


So it makes them easy to spot in tall grasses when the John Deere’s have to come rescue them when the dang things break

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And it’s Friday!
Day off to take the wife into the city for dr’s appt.
a couple jobs next week, then no appointments until i get a few projects cleaned up.
70 impala transmission r&r plus find a posi and a better gear ratio. Rear main seal.
50 merc flathead with a couple stuck valves.
49 dodge for wiring, and a go-through for safety inspection. that a few weeks work right there.
 
Chris that story brings back memories....thanks.
No problem. The next 36-48 hours will be extremely hard. Auction tomorrow morning and 90 percent of the stuff will be gone. Granted the farm lives on, but with likely different and newer equipment, it just won’t be the same.
 
Who is in charge of the farm now? Why not use the old equipment.
 
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Yes. Real tough to get my head around... On Sunday, we went golfing, then after went for lunch, and beers. He drank his usual. His girlfriend was out of town. She got home this AM and found him .


Sorry to hear this Tim....
 
Who is in charge of the farm now? Why not use the old equipment.
Technically it’s now owned by my parents but it operating between me and two brothers.

Some of the equipment was purchased when we took it over last year. Some wasn’t and then my grandfather went and bought even more equipment, but under his name. There’s also some debts that the estate has to pay and this is the only way to raise those funds. We could have directly purchased these things from the estate and avoided an auction but extended family greed put a stop to that.
 
Good Morning. Last work day this week -get my whole 2 day weekend. Wife should be home this afternoon. Probably not till after I leave for work. At least I don't need to clean up from all the parties I didn't have...
 
Technically it’s now owned by my parents but it operating between me and two brothers.

Some of the equipment was purchased when we took it over last year. Some wasn’t and then my grandfather went and bought even more equipment, but under his name. There’s also some debts that the estate has to pay and this is the only way to raise those funds. We could have directly purchased these things from the estate and avoided an auction but extended family greed put a stop to that.
It's not easy is it. I heard my wife talking to her mom last night about the will, the farms, and equipment. Something I don't want to get in the middle of unless I am asked for my opinion. You have to deal with it because you are a beneficiary. It's never fun.
 
Who is in charge of the farm now? Why not use the old equipment.
There’s also the fact that a lot of the equipment being sold really has outlived its life span. Most of the implements are 40-50 years old or older. A couple pieces date to the early 1960s and you cant get parts for them. Even thru John Deere, which tells ya something as John Deere can get parts for like 98 percent of anything it ever made.
And the ones we can get parts for, by the time we do that, we’re at the cost of a brand new or slightly used one. Doesn’t make financial sense in those cases. But the other items like the tractors are the big ticket item that are inspiring the greed. I can tell ya the details of this greed, but not in a public setting, so I’ll leave it at this, had my grandfather lived just a week longer, none of them were to be in his updated will. He’d had a copy written up to write them out of the will completely due to their greed prior to his passing but hadn’t gotten in to sign it with the attorney.
 
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