Marveltone
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2010
- Messages
- 1,485
- Location
- Somewhere north of Roseau, MN
- Tractor
- Fordson Major Diesel, McCormick Deering W4, Ford 1510, John Deere L111
My wife's father passed away before we ever met. He had been farming with equipment bought shortly after WW2 and never had the money to upgrade past the original purchases. After he passed away, most of the equipment faded into the woods. Some pieces got sold to collectors or scrap dealers. Some of the items that remained have since been fixed up by us, now that we have the farm, but a question that always stuck in my mind was, "I wonder what ever happened to the tractors?" I kind of figured they were the first things to be sold off.
Enter Elmer.
Elmer is my wife's foster brother. He grew up on this very farm and later, moved up the hill just a tad to build his own house. He raised his little family up there, did some farming and other self-employed jobs... kind of a free spirit. Anyway, just a couple months ago, Elmer came over for a visit. After some winsome reminiscing about growing up on the farm, helooked my wife in the eye and said, "I've got your father's tractor."
"Oh... Wow..." my wife exclaimed.
"It's yours."
"What? Where is it?"
"It's in my shed. The door's open."
Elmer was always a bit cryptic in the way he said things, but this was pretty direct for him. We kind of shrugged this off and thought he had just been drinking too much and would come back to his senses a bit after a good night's sleep. Funny thing is, every time he saw me since, he'd say, "Y'know, that tractor's still in my shed. The door's open."
"Am I supposed to just waltz in there and get it?"
"It up to you. The door's open."
After a couple months of this, we finally decided there was no way around it. We need to go get that tractor.
As it turns out, Elmer's shed is barely a mile away. Today, we threw some tools and chains in the truck, drove down to the shed and towed the old McCormick W4 home. we gave it the cursory inspection to see what it needs to run. The list includes: Generator, generator pulley, regulator, belts, free up a stuck clutch, seat spring and shock, and a few other odds and ends. Nothing we can't do.
After 30+ years of shedded slumber, it will be a joy to get the old girl running again, right back on the farm where she started.
Joe
Enter Elmer.
Elmer is my wife's foster brother. He grew up on this very farm and later, moved up the hill just a tad to build his own house. He raised his little family up there, did some farming and other self-employed jobs... kind of a free spirit. Anyway, just a couple months ago, Elmer came over for a visit. After some winsome reminiscing about growing up on the farm, helooked my wife in the eye and said, "I've got your father's tractor."
"Oh... Wow..." my wife exclaimed.
"It's yours."
"What? Where is it?"
"It's in my shed. The door's open."
Elmer was always a bit cryptic in the way he said things, but this was pretty direct for him. We kind of shrugged this off and thought he had just been drinking too much and would come back to his senses a bit after a good night's sleep. Funny thing is, every time he saw me since, he'd say, "Y'know, that tractor's still in my shed. The door's open."
"Am I supposed to just waltz in there and get it?"
"It up to you. The door's open."
After a couple months of this, we finally decided there was no way around it. We need to go get that tractor.
As it turns out, Elmer's shed is barely a mile away. Today, we threw some tools and chains in the truck, drove down to the shed and towed the old McCormick W4 home. we gave it the cursory inspection to see what it needs to run. The list includes: Generator, generator pulley, regulator, belts, free up a stuck clutch, seat spring and shock, and a few other odds and ends. Nothing we can't do.
After 30+ years of shedded slumber, it will be a joy to get the old girl running again, right back on the farm where she started.
Joe
