When I was growing up, my folks had a nice chunk of land near Riverton, but we didn’t have a tractor. We didn’t even have a riding lawnmower until I started a lawn mowing business and bought one. About the time I graduated from high school, my dad picked up an ancient Kubota at an auction.
I asked him why he finally decided to get one, and he said that since I’d be heading off to college soon, he needed one to do the things he would have just had me do. I think he was kidding, but there was a lot of truth in what he said.
Fast-forward 30 years, and I’ve been doing the same thing to my own kids – making them help me do all sorts of things that would be much easier to do if we had a tractor. The boys have complained every time we have to move the old concrete water trough, roll round bales out into the pasture, or just about anything else that involves a good deal of elbow grease. And I can’t say they’re wrong. All of this stuff would be easier with a tractor.
But then my friends Dave and Mary gave me the best Christmas gift I could ever imagine. Their dad passed away several years ago, but in his later years, he bought a John Deere 755 tractor. It’s just a little 20-horse compact utility tractor, but it’s more tractor than I had. Dave had been taking care of his mom until she recently passed away, and just before the New Year, Dave moved to Tucson. I helped him pack up his moving truck, and he told me he and Mary wanted me to have his dad’s old tractor.
It was an incredible gift, and one I do not take lightly. Now I can rebuild my shooting range, build my hunting fitness obstacle course, and do a bunch more stuff that would have been difficult – if not impossible – without a tractor. Thank you, Dave and Mary. I’ll make sure that tractor has a loving home here.
