Thoughts While Driving a Tractor

John B. · Jan 25, 2014

I have to give Billy NY credit for this post. He posted on one of my other postings that gave me this idea.

When you were growing up or even now what did you or do you think about while working the fields during planting or at harvest?

When I was in High school I always thought of my classmates while working the fields. They all knew me as a farmer. They still think that but that's not the case now.
My high school class did built our junior and senior homecoming parade floats at my mom and dad's. I think many of them came out just to get out of town. We had a blast. After the parade we brought the float back and dismantled it to be burned. Once it got dark that night about 40 of headed down into the wooded pasture. Everyone held each others' hand to make a long train so they wouldn't get lost. LOL
When we got back some were covered with
begger-lice seeds. One asked if they bite...LOL
I wouldn't trade working the fields for anything. Still love it today. Just wish I had more chances to do it.

dgasper · Jan 25, 2014

Girls.

samn40 · Jan 25, 2014

I was wondering would I get paid! And where I had to go to next and would I get to bed that night? That was how it was doing custom farm work!
Thought a bit 'bout girls too!
Sam

notjustair · Jan 25, 2014

There's always a project to be ciphering on. Without that time I wouldn't have gates figured out, loading chutes designed, or project timelines planned. There are days when I don't need a radio all day as I am deep in thought about something I need to complete. It seems like with things you are using for many years (like a loading chute) I need to think about lots of possibilities before I can have a firm plan. That's something you only do once so you want it very useable.

I recall lots of time spent singing along to the radio as a kid. There were a lot less worries then. I did spend lots of time on the way to the elevator guessing the weight of the load or how much time it would take to finish disking a field. I like numbers like that.

The Dukester · Jan 25, 2014

Most of the time I was running my uncle's McCormick-Deering W-6 or Farmall H and trying to conjure up some way to get uncle to buy a new Farmall M or Super M. Then I thought a lot about getting my first car...and making up the studies I was behind because I missed so many days of school farming. Girls?, yeah, some, had a few dates, met quite a few roller skating.

Mike (WA) · Jan 25, 2014

Mostly thought about what was going on in school, social life, the regular stuff. I do remember once spending several days trying to teach myself The Auctioneer Song. Never did get very good at it.

Anonymous-0 · Jan 25, 2014

I think sitting on a tractor is about the same as sitting in the outhouse. My Grandfather used to say he did all his planning while sitting there, whether it was building something (he was quite a putterer) or farm work. LOL I find myself doing the same.

Areo

Old weldor · Jan 25, 2014

Girls and cars,not necessarily in that order!

Anonymous-0 · Jan 25, 2014

I used to think about the azz chewin I would get if I went up another gear on that old Allis Chalmers.

60 acre hillside · Jan 25, 2014

If the field was big enough I would pretend that I was piloting a plane across the ocean. At other times I would pretend that our old WC Allis was a D-19 or a D-21. Before I discovered girls my only interest was TRACTORS. Working for a Ford dealer and then going to Allis Chalmers was most liked job. I worked in a factory, taught school, served in Army, was sheetmetal worker, drove a truck but my greatest love was TRACTORS

Anonymous-0 · Jan 25, 2014

I thought only about driving the tractor from 9-10 years old to about 15 then girls and cars for a few years then I married, back to the tractors. The ratio of tractor driving jobs was about 10 labor to 1 tractor if you messed up you lost the seat. Thank goodness my brother couldn't drive a cow to water, he worked his butt off.

RBnSC · Jan 25, 2014

Back then it was girls or building a hot rod car.
Ron

Dick2 · Jan 25, 2014

Most of the time I was designing things in my head to make life easier and better. Other time I would do some math problems in my head; I knew the width of the implement that I was pulling so I could figure out how much ground that I was working in a round & how long that took.

That way I could figure out if I would finish the field that day and at what time - and if I could finish it before I ran out of fuel. Having fields 1/2 mile long in the flat land made it easy to calculate things like that.

One day when I was planting wheat, I figured out that I stayed out until it got dark I could finish the 60 acres that I started early that morning. I had planned to quit at 4:30 to go to a banquet, but decided to stay and finish that field.

It started to rain the next morning, so I moved the drill home and washed it out. The rain continued and that was all the crop that we were able to get planted that year.

JD Seller · Jan 25, 2014

I am like Notjustair: I usually am planning the other things I need/want to get done. I hate to design as you go along. I usually have it mostly planned out before we even start.

fixerupper · Jan 25, 2014

The best thing to do is turn off the radio. Then your brain starts working. I think about all the projects I could be building. Or the ones I have half completed and need to get done. Jim

rrlund · Jan 25, 2014

Same thing we think about every night Pinky. How to take over the world!

Super Trucker · Jan 25, 2014

Pinky and the Brain brain brain.......... Thought you"d catch me on that one.

Paul from MI · Jan 25, 2014

The tractor job that gave me the most time to think was cultivating corn, the first time over. Just idling along in 1st gear with a hoe on the tractor seat to uncover anything I covered up. Dad scratched a mark on the throttle of the old Allis B, and that's where I was supposed to run it. I cheated her up a bit a few times, but not by much. His hearing was pretty good and I knew what would happen if he caught me.

Billy NY · Jan 25, 2014

Would that be the "Tribal Elder" governor, not quite a standard factory installed item, but similar in function LOL !

Billy NY · Jan 25, 2014

I think my mind tends to wander, could be similar to what others said, planning, or thinking out details of something needing to be done, to how many more passes/rounds before I'm done in this field, wanting to get to the next one. Sometimes, depending on the pitch of the engine, its kind of peaceful, its just you, the field, might see a few critters, everyone is different, I don't mind a radio on, but there is that solitude, the photos posted just look peaceful, a person, a field, and their tractor, makes you curious what people think about. Its different than driving you can let your imagination drift a little, not being on the road. My problem is sometimes I can't turn it off at bedtime, thinking about this or that, something you are working on, helping someone with something, planning what you have to get done tomorrow, won't shut off, carries over from the day, you can't fall asleep your imaginative mind is working overtime with the soothing sound of the tractor still reverberating a little in the background.

GeneMO · Jan 25, 2014

Girls

JerryS · Jan 25, 2014

"Well, all right, sir, open the gate and let 'em out and walk 'em, boys........."

rrlund · Jan 26, 2014

Are you thinking the same thing I'm thinking Pinky?

I think so Brain,but this time you put the pants on the monkey.

Anonymous-0 · Jan 27, 2014

When younger used to be thoughts of all the cute girls going by that were checking me out on the big tractor... Of course that probably wasn't the case. Now that I am married and running my own equipment and I am responsible for fixing it myself or paying to have it fixed, I spend 90% of the time worrying about little noises and thinking that the motors getting ready to blow or the rear end is getting ready to fall out, even though they are probably fine...

Thoughts While Driving a Tractor

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