Skip to main content

Flashback Friday

Going home always involves some inevitable nostalgia.  This trip was no exception.  I made a couple swings over to the farm my Uncle Ed used to have and where I was his hired man during high school and college.  As I have mentioned we used to travel to various local farms and bale their hay and shell their corn because Ed had the equipment.  I wondered how many still used square bales and posed that question to Jeff, my buddy who lives near BFE Wataga. He used to farm with his Dad and the family still has some land around, so Jeff would no.  His response, "Virtually none."  



I had been in G-Burg for some reason, and decided it might be a good time to have my 24th tenderloin at Gimpy's so took Route 150.  On the left to my surprise, in the distance,  was a tractor, a baler and a hay rack.  Well, what do ya know?   









I pulled over and decided this was big enough to get out of the truck, get the camera and film.  I had stumbled on "virtually".  




Well, I was already there, so decided to stay till they swung around and let them know, everything was OK, just an old guy reminiscing his youth.  Go on about your business.  In the heading its a small world, the guy driving the tractor gets out and I explain what I'm doing.  Nice guy, and he says I looked familiar.  I told him I worked at the Mary Davis Home for years and he said, "That's it!  Ive seen you in at the Blue Rose.  You worked for Randy Storm."  He told he was in painting in Rio and after my sandwich tried finding him but didn't find him.  Guess he saw me first.  

 Anyway this same guy, really a nice guy, would run up to me in a few days when I was at the Railroad Days car show.  He has a couple old cars himself.  

 Anyway, I filmed the baler a bit and what struck me most was the chaff that comes out the chute as the bale rises.  That dust is what gets all over you on those hot summer days baling hay.  You'd go home simply covered in that hay dirt.  I'm glad I recorded that because that brought the memories flooding back.  God, I hated it.  
But wish I could turn back time and do it again.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Flashback Friday

Class, Or Lack Thereof The Dwight Vice gravestone in Oquawka, Illinois. I bring this old chestnut out every so often just to remind me that class is classless.  Dwight Vice was killed in his home near Oquawka in 2001.  It was one of those things that can generate crime:  two guys thought Dwight had a lot of money stashed at home because of his pot-selling sideline to supplement his fishing job.   Not really one of those big drug deals gone-bad things.  Marijuana was, according to the trial, about the only stuff Dwight sold.   But these two guys barge into the house and killed Dwight and attempted to kill his 11 year old kid, Darryl, before they took off with what money they could find.   His son, now 23, was stabbed in the back and left for dead.  He survived and is wheelchair bound and has undergone several surgeries to repair his wounds.  He will be paralyzed for life.   None of this is pleasant.  Reading the f...
Post a Comment
Read more

Florida Air Museum - Part 3

Welcome back to a pretty neat tour of the Florida Air Museum in Lakeland Florida.  There's a lot to see and a couple of the old Geezer Gold Wing guys are already sitting down instead of walking around looking at the exhibits. That's John who is wore out and making a call to his wife.  In all honesty, John was pretty well bushed before the ride.  He told me his daughter's family was down from one of the Carolina's with the grand kids and he must have played with them too much.   He's about to take off on his own and head for home, but he's going to miss a couple of neat things out on Hangar A.   But, before we walk over there, we have lots yet to see here.  If you saw The Aviator with Leonardo DiCaprio playing Howard Hughes, you'll remember that he went up in a plane during the filming of one of his movies to prove a point about flying.  He crashed trying to execute a roll and this is a picture of the plane he crashed.  No...
1 comment
Read more

Summer Swim

It's Monday and the start of another work week.  Except for me.  I have the week off because the parents of my daycare charges are taking the week off, too. This is one of those wordless posts I love on Mondays so I can put my laziness in full view of loyal readers.  These pics need no words.  Why muddy the waters?   They were taken at the pool at Sinkhole Estates aka Death Valley.  The nice thing about this pool is it is heated in winter.  If one must find positives in one's situation, I suppose that is one.  But, please, no more.   
Post a Comment
Read more