I have a few vivid memories of growing up in the early 60's on a cotton farm in west Texas. These stories may not interest anyone but me, but just in case I want to share them. We moved from a farm near Cone, Texas to Wilburton, Oklahoma in 1965, but later on I moved back to the Lubbock area. I worked for South Plains Electric Co-Op, so I had the oppurtunity to find weekend jobs plowing for farmers in the area. I drove quite a few different tractors, a JD 4840 with a 5 bottom Oliver roll-over breaking plow, a brand new JD 4440 pulling a Rudd picking up cotton, a IH 1586 with a 7 shank ripper plow among others. One summer, I even took a week vacation and plowed wheat stubble with a IH 3788 2+2 pulling a 32 ft. disc plow for a farmer near Plainview, Texas. But there are a couple of memories that really stand out in my mind that happened on that farm near Cone. One clear but bitter cold morning in I think 1963, Daddy, Mama and me drove the 9 miles to Abell-Prewitt Implement in Ralls, Texas. The man that Daddy worked for (J.B. Prewitt) had bought a brand new Farmall 560. Daddy was more or less the 'senior' hand, so when a new tractor was bought, he got it and the next hand got the older one. So with the purchase of this tractor, that made 3 560's, one Farmall 450 and a IH 300U on the farm. Anyway, after checking eveerything out, Daddy got on the 560 and headed home, me and Mama following close behind in the car. Like I said, it was bitter cold and the wind was blowing pretty strong straight out of the north. What direction were we headed? North....naturally. With a 20 or 30 mph wind, plus 20 something on the tractor, you can imagine what the wind chill was. Now, Daddy was pretty tough and bundled up in his insulated coveralls, but not even halfway home, he pulled over to the side of the road. More to herself than me, I heard Mama say 'Wonder what's wrong?' Daddy jumped off the tractor and came back to the car and got in. 'Son of a b*t*h it's cold out there.' he said. Remember, back then, tractors didn't have cabs, and being brand new, this one didn't even have a canvas engine cover they called 'comforts' to break the wind. After a cigarette or two and a quick cup of coffee from his ever present thermos, Daddy climbed back on the tractor and finished the trip home. I can still remember getting a whiff every once in a while of that 'burnt paint' odor that you smell from new vehicles or equipment. And every time I do, I remember Daddy's cold trip home on the new tractor. P twostepn2001, TX, entered 2011-05-18
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