Who are we??????? And where do we come from??????

[drm]

Grew up in suburbia outside of Pittsburgh, PA. Typical suburban houses, yards, & people of the 60's wanting to "do better" for their families. Lived on a cul-de-sac on the edge of the "development" with corn fields and an abandoned apple orchard that the local boys lived-in during the summers. Got hooked on dirt bikes then cars (the faster & louder the more exciting).

Went off to college & then the big city of Chicago. 10 years of a 25’ x 125’ lot was enough for us so we moved back western Pennsylvania and got a place on the edge of suburbia. Life was good for 8 years here; we got dirt bikes again (at 35!). Then the other suburbanites wanted to control the woods, ban dirt bikes & develop nature trails for “recreation”, etc.

So we moved to the country now with 11 1/2 acres mostly planted with feed crop, 1/4 mile gravel road & no landscaping. Mostly farm land & woods on the steep areas (lots of that around here) surrounding us now. Bought a tractor to be able to do most of our own work & maintenance around the place. I've gotten to the point in my life that I seldom rely on anyone especially if you want the job done right (I’m particular). So we do it ourselves. Hence the tractor; who knew work could be so much fun. I had previously done lots of major projects by hand that are a joy now in a fraction of the time!

 

[realtaildragger]

Spent 18 years of 5 airline flights-per-week as a consultant to large manufacturing companies. Top pay but little accomplishment dealing with know-it-all, arrogant executives and a killer, hectic, pressurized, fast lane life. Bought a small company 2.2 miles from home, drive a no-roof jeep all year and get no greater satisfaction than working the land on my 7-1/2 acre domicile with my beloved Kubota. Orange is beautiful and diesel fumes are my perfume!

mike j, South-o-Boston

 

[megotatractor]

lived on a farm when little, 80 acres, Case 630 tractor owned by Uncle. By the time I was big enough to play Grampa had already sold all the land to pay for nursing home expenses for Granny. Now I finally have an acreage of my own and a tractor to play with.

 

[Maka]

I was bron in No. Hollywood but my dad was commanding officer of homicide for thw watts area of LA. So, when I was young he bought 10,000 (something like 175K back then)acres in Arizona and we moved there. He would commute, crazy I know but he would come home on the weekends and then drive back and it only lasted a short period of time since he was retiring.

In any case we had an RD6 Cat and an old crank start AC and since then I was hooked. I am now in No. Idaho after living many years in San Diego and I am a dealer of tractors.

Maka

 

[Paddy]

Born on a 1000 ac Indiana family farm. left young due fathers death to the big city. Found a job at 14 maintaing a 10 ac estate....with a IH Cub lo boy. Worked there until leaving for IU. Second semester took my tuition money and put money down on my first 10 ac. At 21, it's all I had. So moved out of the Apt and built a 'shack' on the land. This is hilly country with out ele or water. Built a small band saw saw mill to cut timbers for a timber frame house. Later, back to engineering school ( mechanical)

Live there to today, 24 years later. Have sharred an old HF To 20 for 10 years with a friend. Restored it recently and trucked it down to him FL as a x-mas gift. He had moved out and left it with me.

Ordered a KAMA 454 from Chip a month ago.

Patrick, Southern Indiana

 

[bigblock]

OK, this has been real interesting. So many different stories and yet, we all ended up here with so much in common. This is a great site! I really enjoyed reading everyone's story.

I'll be 60 years old in a few months. My parents split when I was very young and I was shuttled among several dairy farms in Western N. Y. until I was about 15.

My earliest memories were haying with horses and bathing in the kitchen in a galvanized tub on Saturday night. I was mostly treated as another kid in the family and finally got to drive a tractor when I was 9 or 10. I think it was an old Allis. I still remember how proud I was if I saw someone I knew while I was out raking hay. I can relate to those who expressed the desire to get away from milking cows, twice a day, everyday, for the rest of their life. I loved farm work. Haying, filling silo, I just loved it, but I hated having to milk those cows!

After high school I joined the Air Force and got to work on airplanes (F-101's) for four years. Three years at Grumman Aircraft (A6A's), seven and a half years as a Trooper in the New York State Police, a divorce, three years driving truck hauling heavy machinery (extrusion presses, injection mold machines, etc.), and I eventually ended up as a police officer in S. Florida.

Married a woman who had a horse (I also had one) we bought a house in Western Palm Beach County on an undeveloped 1.25 acre lot. Had a new JD 4310 delivered the day we closed. That was a little over two years ago.

Presently I am 6 months divorced and two weeks retired. Gone are the horses, the wife, and most of the furnature.
BUT, I STILL HAVE THE TRACTOR! The time I have spent on that tractor (481 hrs.) probably has helped me to retain what little sanity I have left. All these years of trying to solve other people's problems (and a few of my own) has left me with an intense desire to get out in the woods and away from the majority of the public.

I am currently looking for land, or a suitable home, in the Clarion, Pa. area. (Hear that, Vince?) Florida is WAY too crowded and I've had a gut full of hurricanes.

Anyway, I just like machinery. The bigger and noisier the better!

Thanks for listening, this was kind of fun. Memories!

Bob

 

[GaryE]

Bob,

I can relate to most of your story! I know the "intense desire to get out in the woods". It worked for me. Hope you have the same luck I did.

Spent ~20 years in the Broward / Dade County area. I use to drive out to western Palm Beach county (US 27) to get away! Usually at very high speeds... Oops you used to be a trooper...never mind!!!! It is no place to be if you love the woods.

Good luck in your search.

Gary

 

[slydog]

Great thread. It is wonderful reading of everyones history. Makes me feel like part of a bigger family! Guess I will add mine.

My mom and dad divorced when I was 2. Mom raised me and my two older brothers working at the long defunt RCA tv plant in Memphis. We lived in a two bedroom house that was built in the late 50's in a large neighborhood. I spent my summers in Crowder, Mississippi with my cousin. Crowder is flat Ms delta land, and cotton was king down there. My grandfather, though a retired carpenter by the time I was born, had been a sharcropper his whole life, as had been his father in North Alabama.

I didn't get my first taste of actual farm work till I was in high school and began helping a school bud on his dad's farm in Sardis Ms on the weekends. By this time, my mom had remarried, and we moved to Senatobia, Ms. My friends dad had a 360 acre farm and they raised soybeans and cattle.

They had a Case 9020, and John Deere of similar size, but I don't recall the exact model. You'd think I would because that was the one I got to drive. I did a lot of bush hogging, and pulling a disk. It was noisy as heck, and at the end of the day the "thudding of silence" in my ears was almost as painful as the noise of driving. I did this off and on for about 3 years, and vax'd and tagged cows, put up and repaired miles of barbed wire, and drove the heck out of those tractors. It was back breaking work for $20 a day, but I loved it!

I've always wanted to have my own LAND LAND LAND! After two divorces, and raising my son and daughter on my own, I met and married the absolute love of my life 5 years ago.

I've been an air traffic controller now for 18 years (after a 6 year stint as a surgical technologist). I am eligible to retire in 6 years, and we just purchased our 16 acres in GREERS FERRY about 8 months ago. It is rocky and hilly and brushy, with a nice creek. I knew I'd need a tractor so we bought our old 1955 Ford 640 about a month after we bought the land. So far, all I've done with her is putt around the land a bit, but I've just started buying some implements. I can't wait till spring so I can really get some use out of it.

I'd give anything to retire today and move over there, but I've got too much time invested towards my retirement to just up and quit. Sighhhh... But thank the good lord we are at least taking some baby steps towards our dream.

 

[Egon]

Six years to the time you leave gainfull employment will go very quickly. Then it's on to s different life.

With land you will find your new employer a slave driver. He doesn't beleive in coffee breaks, days off or even anything less than a 12 hour day!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Egon

 

[slydog]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( With land you will find your new employer a slave driver. He doesn't beleive in coffee breaks, days off or even anything less than a 12 hour day!!)</font>

YEAHHHH! It'll be great won't it! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif