[AT] A day off

[Kenneth Gene Waugh]

Yes, John, thanks for your recollections!  As I age, memories become more and more important.  Memories of sights, sounds, the odors you speak of.  A couple of my favorites are my grandfather’s unstyled 37 JD G and the old radial aircraft engines.  

I “became a man” at the age of 10 - 11 when I got that G started by myself the first time!!! I still remember scooting under it to close the far-side compression release petcock rather than walking around it.

Yes, thanks for your memories!

Gene Waugh
Elgin, IL

Sent from my iPhone

> On Oct 8, 2017, at 7:32 PM, John Hall <jtchall at nc.rr.com> wrote:
> 
> Not exactly antique tractor related, but old/antique tractors are all we 
> have to use,so....
> 
> We have been blessed(and cursed) with a dry fall. Obviously made for 
> great harvest weather. I only waited 1 or 2 days for corn to dry after a 
> shower of rain, other than that we have been busy doing something every 
> day here on the farm. As I began, all the machinery here is old--2 
> working tractors date to the 40's, the newest is a 1972 IH 454. In 
> addition to harvesting and hauling corn, we ground up all the stalks, 
> cut and square baled the hay, and reseeded the hay fields as well. 
> Yesterday I put away the bushog, hay rake, combine, and sickle mower. 
> Earlier in the week we put away the tedder and the baler. Got the offset 
> harrow hooked up so I can cut some corn stalks in the 
> ground--fortunately its going to rain this week and soften the ground. 
> We'll only harrow the fields I'll sow wheat on--the rest can wait till 
> March.
> 
>  The older I get the more I am appreciative of my farming memories. One 
> you don't think about often is the great smells of the crops. This 
> afternoon the hay we baled last week had a really strong aroma to it. 
> Most of the smell of the corn fields has subsided, but I remember one 
> Sat night we came in from going to eat supper and rode to the back to 
> check on the combine (always scared of fire). The moment I opened the 
> truck door, the smell of fresh combined corn would take your breath. I 
> ventured back 35 years to playing in the back of a grain truck while it 
> slowly dumped the corn into the dryer (no danger of getting caught in an 
> auger). Last fall my son and cousins boy were goofing around in the 
> truck wile I was cutting corn. Nothing like watching kids make their own 
> fun.
> 
> To top off the weekend, I would up on the Vintage Aerial website, 
> searching for photos of our farm over the years. I found one from the 
> fall of 1990. There, right in front of the houses was parked the 
> family's 4430 Deere with offset harrow and grain drill hooked behind it. 
> Evidently it was just "swinging by" the house while moving between farms 
> planting wheat. I probably should order me a copy of that photo, as the 
> next year the real farming operation was shut down and most of the 
> equipment was auctioned off.
> 
> Sorry for the ramble, the list just seems a little quiet. I have plenty 
> of needed tractor repairs to chat about over the winter.
> 
> John Hall
> 
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