About 12 years ago my grandfather passed, and my grandmother had been letting the neighbor use my grandpa's tractor clean the lane back to their houses out in the winter ever since. Every summer since the neighbor started using this tractor, my grandma has had over $3k in repairs from the neighbor abusing the blower and tractor. So she decided to sell it this year, and I told her I'd buy it. She negotiated a deal with me, that I could it for free, if my brother, who lives in Tennessee, delivered it to me. My grandma lives in North east Indiana, and I live in the north central U.P. of Michigan. She wanted to see my brother, and wanted me to see my brother, since I haven't since 2011. No issues, we talk on the phone almost weekly, just haven't seen each other. So... I paid him to deliver it for me. We had an awesome week this past week, just hanging out, grouse hunting, drinking vodka, just boys being boys. And, for the first time in my life, as I was always told I was to little to drive the tractor, I got to play with grandpa's tractor. I used to sit in the seat and play with the levers and steering wheel, until dad or grandpa caught me, and I'd get my back porch painted red, free of charge!!! But, Wednesday, I got to sit in the seat, without fear, and light the fires!!!! I gotta admit, tears were rolling, as most of my memories of my grandpa involve this tractor in some way. She just roared to life, and settled into a silky smooth idle. Driving this old ford is everything I imagined it would be a a kid. And today, I popped a few stumps with the loader, moved some logs around to get ready to mill tomorrow. In all, I worked her for about 4 hours today, and loved every minute. My wife said I was "smiling like a moron on crack" the whole time. Today, I had an awesome day. It's amazing, how a piece of old iron will take you back to your youth, and, almost, almost make you feel like grandpa is either smiling watching me, or getting ready to paint my back porch red!!!
By the way, it's a 1962 Ford model 4000, with a bush hog loader.
By the way, it's a 1962 Ford model 4000, with a bush hog loader.
