[AT] lessons

[Tyler Juranek]

John,
My grandfather is the same way. Although he doesn't teach me much
about driving the combine, etc, (we live 90 miles apart so I'm not
there often), he sure does teach me a lot about the antique stuff.
In February, grandpa bought a 88 Oliver from someplace down in
Missouri. It turned out that I was there the Sunday after. Grandpa
started it up, and I sat on the fender and he and I rode around the
yard in 4th gear, just puttin. Then he said it was "My Turn" to drive
it. Grandpa taught me to drive a foot clutch, when dad taught me, but
failed, (that's a whole other story) hahaha.
Anyway, grandpa later explained to me that my great grandfather, (the
same one with the unstyled A) had a Oliver 88 and a Oliver Hart Par
70. He also explained that the reason that my Great Grandfather bought
the Hart Par 70 in 1935 (2 years before grandpa's time) was because he
had a team of horses, (two if I remember right) that died from some
sort of infection that winter. He had a choice of buying another team
of two horses or the tractor, each for $750. So he bought the tractor
instead.
This last weekend while I was out there, grandpa and me sat on the
porch for quite awhile and visited. He told me all about how he
remembers in 1948 going to the Oliver dealership in town and buying
the Oliver 88. He said that in 1954, great grandpa traded the 88 and
the Hart Par 70 in for an MTA diesel, because diesel was $0.05, and
gas was $0.25. He then went on to say that all of the other farmers
around the area looked at great grandpa like he was dumb for buying
such a big tractor, but grandpa said that great grandpa was glad that
he bought it.
It is really sad that most of my generation, (at least around here),
doesn't give a cat's rear about this kind of stuff. People like my
grandfather and others who remember this kind of stuff won't be around
forever.
Sorry for the long email, just thought I'd take the time to share that.
Take Care,
Tyler Juranek

On 7/12/14, jtchall at nc.rr.com <jtchall at nc.rr.com> wrote:
> It occurred to me that without realizing it, I've began training my farmhand
> replacements. My son and his cousin have been keeping us company a lot when
> there is field work going on. Last fall and this summer that has really
> picked up. Finding age appropriate tasks is impossible someday, but we
> generally find something they can do whether it is helping to hook/unhook
> equipment, help move equipment to the fields etc. I don't let them come
> around if we have any spraying to do, kids and chemicals just aren't a smart
> idea.  My son has gotten big enough to begin handling bales of hay and
> straw, that is quite a blessing. I'm hoping he will learn to properly pack
> loads, time will tell. I had him with me doing some drilling this year. It
> was a bit hard for him to keep the drill straight. I finally figured out he
> was "correcting" too long when he needed to move the drill and would then
> have to correct the other direction. He does pretty well baling once I got
> through to him that you drive the baler and don't worry about where the
> tractor is headed. When the windrow runs out, then you look to see where you
> are going! His cousin has the same steering issues. I was letting him drive
> the combine in wheat, he was constantly turning the steering wheel. He
> didn't miss any but those were some mighty crooked rows of straw to bale!
>
> Last week I had dad guide them to disassemble a couple of junk air cooled
> motors. One had a broke crankshaft the other  was a twin that had thrown a
> rod and wiped out tons of stuff. They completely  tore them down including
> the valves. Dad explained what each part was, what the timing marks were,
> why a part failed, etc. They will probably only remember a little bit, but
> it's a start.
>
> John Hall
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>


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