ohjohndeere

OH, JOHN “DEERE”

While Tim and I were “growing up” (physically, but not necessarily mentally), we had a variety of tractors over the years on the farm. We usually had our old benchmarks Internationals, consisting of 2 “H’s” and one “Super M” and an old International w-40 we called “The B.C.” (Yeah, another story...). We also obtained an old Ford Ferguson tractor in later years. We somehow “obtained” a John Deere “B” from a neighboring farmer, John Reichley. I will describe some of our experiences with John in future missives. I’m not sure just how we came to “own” John’s John Deere tractor. My Uncle Ned may have purchased it, or may have borrowed it one time and never returned it, we never knew. Knowing John Reichley, he may not have noticed his only tractor was missing! (You would have had to know John to understand the significance of the previous sentence)! This tractor was different than the others we owned in that it was just plain FUN to operate! It had 6 forward gears as opposed to the other tractors, which had only 5. This resulted in a faster speed in “road gear”! It also had a “hand clutch” which to us was really cool. One of the coolest things about this tractor was the way it sounded. It had only 2 cylinders, as opposed to 4 in the other tractors, resulting in the characteristic John Deere “Putt Putt” sound. In later years when we entered our early teens, and our entire life revolved around fast cars and girls, we discovered something else really cool with the John Deere “B.” Since the engine sat further back from the front, this resulted in the front end being much lighter than the other tractors. We discovered if we gave it full throttle and “popped” the hand clutch in a higher gear, that we could do some really neat “wheelies”! (At least for a couple of seconds or so). The engine would be going puttputtputt… at full throttle and as we rapidly engaged the hand clutch the front wheels would jump about 3 feet off the ground and crash back down on the ground! How the clutch survived all those “wheelies” always has remained a mystery to Tim and me. On another occasion, Ned had me use the John Deere and “rotary hoe” the cornfield across Rt 113. A “rotary hoe” is like a disk with curved pointed spikes in it and is used to remove small weeds when the corn plants are just past “seedling” height. How the little corn seedlings survived this process remains a mystery to me then and now. To make this equipment work most effectively, it needs to be pulled as fast as it can, which means you used the gear just BELOW “road gear.” Ned checked on me just as I got started, then “Took a break at TEACO” to guzzle several glasses of “Dark Port” wine. As soon as he left, I figured I could REALLY have some fast fun so I put the John Deere in 6^th gear, which was “Road gear.” WOW! I was really “flying”! The “rotary hoe” teeth were just blurs and were throwing small rocks really high in the air! Every time I hit a rough spot in the field or a rock, the front wheels would fly up and the front end would come crashing down! I’ll NEVER forget the astounded look on Ned’s face when he checked back a short time later and I was nearly finished with the whole field! I don’t think it ever occurred to him how I had so quickly finished the whole field! Ah! The fun we had a “farm boys”!



	OH, JOHN “DEERE” OH, JOHN “DEERE” While Tim and I were “growing up” (physically, but not necessarily mentally), we had a variety of tractors over the years on the farm. We usually had our old benchmarks Internationals, consisting of 2 “H’s” and one “Super M” and an old International w-40 we called “The B.C.” (Yeah, another story...). We also obtained an old Ford Ferguson tractor in later years. We somehow “obtained” a John Deere “B” from a neighboring farmer, John Reichley. I will describe some of our experiences with John in future missives. I’m not sure just how we came to “own” John’s John Deere tractor. My Uncle Ned may have purchased it, or may have borrowed it one time and never returned it, we never knew. Knowing John Reichley, he may not have noticed his only tractor was missing! (You would have had to know John to understand the significance of the previous sentence)! This tractor was different than the others we owned in that it was just plain FUN to operate! It had 6 forward gears as opposed to the other tractors, which had only 5. This resulted in a faster speed in “road gear”! It also had a “hand clutch” which to us was really cool. One of the coolest things about this tractor was the way it sounded. It had only 2 cylinders, as opposed to 4 in the other tractors, resulting in the characteristic John Deere “Putt Putt” sound. In later years when we entered our early teens, and our entire life revolved around fast cars and girls, we discovered something else really cool with the John Deere “B.” Since the engine sat further back from the front, this resulted in the front end being much lighter than the other tractors. We discovered if we gave it full throttle and “popped” the hand clutch in a higher gear, that we could do some really neat “wheelies”! (At least for a couple of seconds or so). The engine would be going puttputtputt… at full throttle and as we rapidly engaged the hand clutch the front wheels would jump about 3 feet off the ground and crash back down on the ground! How the clutch survived all those “wheelies” always has remained a mystery to Tim and me. On another occasion, Ned had me use the John Deere and “rotary hoe” the cornfield across Rt 113. A “rotary hoe” is like a disk with curved pointed spikes in it and is used to remove small weeds when the corn plants are just past “seedling” height. How the little corn seedlings survived this process remains a mystery to me then and now. To make this equipment work most effectively, it needs to be pulled as fast as it can, which means you used the gear just BELOW “road gear.” Ned checked on me just as I got started, then “Took a break at TEACO” to guzzle several glasses of “Dark Port” wine. As soon as he left, I figured I could REALLY have some fast fun so I put the John Deere in 6^th gear, which was “Road gear.” WOW! I was really “flying”! The “rotary hoe” teeth were just blurs and were throwing small rocks really high in the air! Every time I hit a rough spot in the field or a rock, the front wheels would fly up and the front end would come crashing down! I’ll NEVER forget the astounded look on Ned’s face when he checked back a short time later and I was nearly finished with the whole field! I don’t think it ever occurred to him how I had so quickly finished the whole field! Ah! The fun we had a “farm boys”!