[AT] Old work boots ramble

[Michael Miller]

George,
     For a price I could find a home for that M for a while...



Mike

>From: "George Willer" <gwill at toast.net>
>Reply-To: Antique tractor email discussion group 
><at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>Subject: Re: [AT] Old work boots ramble
>Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2004 21:14:28 -0400
>
>Dean,
>
>You've described a barn from my past that I really miss.  My current one I 
>built when we re-located is much larger, but can't compare for style.  A 
>major difference is that the earlier one was visible from the family room, 
>while the sheet metal box is not visible from the house at all.  BTW... the 
>M is one tractor that has to remain outside because the barn is full.
>
>http://members.toast.net/gwill/album/Misc/barn.jpg
>
>Well done!  Please keep sharing your dreams.
>
>George Willer
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Dean Vinson" <vinsond at voyager.net>
>To: <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>Sent: Saturday, October 09, 2004 6:22 PM
>Subject: [AT] Old work boots ramble
>
>
>>Spent several hours trimming trees and cleaning out gutters today, the 
>>kind of chore for which I dig out my old leather boots.  Over the course 
>>of many trips back and forth across the yard, dragging tree branches to a 
>>big pile that will supply indoor kindling and outdoor bonfires over the 
>>next few months, I noticed that much of the yard is pretty rough looking. 
>>Bare spots, dips from where I'd burned out some stumps but never really 
>>filled it back in right, weedy places.  "Maybe I could buy something small 
>>like a Super C, and find a rear-mounted tiller for it," I thought to 
>>myself.
>>
>>The northwest corner of the yard is where the barn would go, the one where 
>>I'd keep the Super M (and I guess the Super C, too, as long as I'm 
>>daydreaming).  Probably keep the bikes and lawnmower and extension ladder 
>>and such in there also, I suppose, but mostly it'd be a barn. I'd have to 
>>build it myself to keep the cost down and because I'd need it to be an 
>>honest barn rather than one of those pretend things I see out in front of 
>>the Home Depot.  Have to have a pretty high door to clear the muffler on 
>>the Super M, and of course some good workspace, so it'd end up being 
>>pretty big.  I'd have to add some barn details, maybe a haymow door up 
>>high.  I'd wear my old leather boots while I built it.
>>
>>Right now the woodpile is on that spot.  Not this summer but each of the 
>>two before, we had a crew thin out the trees in the back yard and cut down 
>>some dead ones from the front, maybe 20 total, decent-sized, 6" to 12" in 
>>diameter I guess.  The crew ground the tops into mulch and cut the wood 
>>into fireplace length for us, and by now I've got all but a little bit of 
>>it split.  That's a job for the leather boots, and while I split I 
>>remember splitting with my dad and loading wood into the old two-wheel 
>>wagon, hooked to Dad's '48 Case.  We just had the one wagon, so it hauled 
>>everything.  Kids, manure, firewood, fertilizer, seed, hoes and rakes. 
>>Pumpkins and corn and tomatoes.
>>
>>Somewhere in those years as a teenager my feet found a comfortable size 
>>and settled down in it, and I didn't outgrow the BiltRite Huron crepe 
>>soled leather workboots that I'd gotten somewhere along the way.  They 
>>were with me when we baled hay with the Rosenberger's down the road, and 
>>when I painted the Ross's barns, and when we fixed the fenceline.  They 
>>were cold and wet and later stiff on days when I should have chosen the 
>>rubber knee-highs instead, but they were warm and clean and felt good on 
>>evenings when we looked back on an empty hayfield and a full 
>>sweet-smelling barn.
>>
>>Most of the years since then, 27 or 28 I guess, haven't seen me often in 
>>the field.  Now and then the boots still come out, soles too smooth but 
>>okay for what little I ask of them.  The tops seem unchanged, soft and 
>>light brown up high by the little brass ears that I wrap the last few 
>>turns of the laces around, but down low the bits of roofing tar, flecks of 
>>paint, anonymous scuffs and nicks blend into the deep gray-brown of 
>>history.  Such a plain thing, these boots, but they remember, and they 
>>wait with me.  They keep faith while my work years are filled with desks 
>>and talking and thinking and writing, while too many bills leave too 
>>little left, while toy tractors on my desk and tractor shows in the 
>>summer, and dreamed-of backyard barns unbuilt, fill in for the life of my 
>>past and future.
>>
>>  Dean Vinson  --  Dayton Ohio
>><http://my.voyager.net/~vinsond/>
>>
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