[AT] lessons

[David Rotigel]

Spend as much time with your grandfather as you possibly can Tyler. You will learn more from him, and remember more that he taught you, than you will from any equal time in school!
	Dave

On Jul 12, 2014, at 10:55 AM, Tyler Juranek <tylerpolkaman at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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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