Moving Things on the Farm

Yesterday I was learning how you moved “things” around the farm. You always have to be moving stuff on the farm. There tons of things to move. Corn, hay, dirt, straw, tractors, cars, posts cows, sheep always have to be moved. On this day, we were moving dirt from Jim's new driveway to a low gully in a field about a mile away We were using an old green Ford dump truck that Ed was trying to sell to Jim. Ed was doing the grading work and he had brought the old truck over for Jim to use. It is a 1960 Ford that had been with Ed for a long time. Ed’s three sons had gotten their driving licenses while using that old truck. Ed said it is a very powerful truck. We found out that it did not have any brakes. I don't think Ed mention that.

I went over at ten to see what farmer Jim and the boys were up to. Farmer Jim and the boys and Ed and his dozer were putting in a new drive way for farmer Jim. As I arrived at the house, I didn’t see 82 year old farmer Jim and started to walk down the hill to where the boys were working. I did see a large old battered green dump truck starting to roar up the hill with a full load. It was bouncing and moving pretty good. I moved out of the way to let it pass.  

I was startled to see that ol’ farmer Jim was driving. He seemed to enjoy surprising me. He let off the gas to stop and pick me up in the middle of the hill. That old truck just paused for a moment and then, to our mutual surprise, began to slowly drift backwards down the steep hill. Farmer Jim was headed down to the bottom. I yelled to alert the boys working below as ol’ Jim battled her down the hill. Everyone stopped to watch as ol’ Jim came to a stop at the bottom of the hill and then started her roaring again up the hill. I went to the top of the hill where it was flat to await Farmer Jim. It was the first time I think farmer Jim realized just how bad the brakes were on the old powerful green dump truck.

Jim did make up the hill and he motioned me with his hand to hop in. “Hop in” means to come on along for a while, I’ve got some things to do and would enjoy company. This is one of the things you do on the farm, you do things together.

You would be surprised at how fast things operate on a farm. There is constant motion and always a million things to do. Being with someone and having a few moments to talk together in the truck is one of the joys of farming.

Ed wanted to sell us that old truck He thought it would help him sell that old truck if we used it and saw how good it was. Boy was that a mistake on ol’ Ed’s part. Before we started using the truck, ol’ Ed wanted $1500 for the truck. Ed said the truck was powerful.

The steering wheel on that truck was big like a bus and it really took a lot of work to shift that old thing. Farmer Jim showed me how he to drive that old truck over a mile over the farm roads and fields. He was weaving through the fences and just missing fence posts by inches in that bulky powerful truck without any brakes. There was a liveliness about Jim that seemed to reflect the enjoyment he was getting from the challenge of moving dirt in an old dump truck with no brakes. We talked about how many of his 82 year old friends couldn’t possibly be having this much fun. Farmer Jim and I both knew that he and I were very lucky to be enjoying the day and the adventure of farm work.  

Farmer Jim and I made four runs back and forth in that old truck on that beautiful fall day in October. By the time we had finished what little brakes that old green dump truck had were completely shot. On the last 2 trips, I was working the hand brake when we needed to slow down. Jim worked the gas and steered and gave me directions. While it was fun, I could see that driving the “rig” was hard work. Bouncing over the fields, moving a big truck that was hard to steer and impossible to stop takes a toll. When the forth trip was done, Farmer Jim and I both had had enough. We laughed at the craziness of ol’ Ed wanting $1,500 for that old truck. Heck, without brakes it wasn’t worth a penny over $1,000.

Well the next day, the old truck was again pressed into duty this time with Farmer Don driving. Don did 2 or 3 lodes and we were about finished with the truck. I was going to put her away by moving her down the hill. Well it was just my luck to be in the cab when the old clutch gave up the ghost.  

Poor old Ed, the value of his truck was really sinking fast. In a matter of 24 hours in had turned from being a power truck for moving things on the farm to something that was just powerful but could not be moved. We thought old Ed’s truck was probably only worth $500, if that much. We even joked that Ed should probably pay us to bury his truck. Poor Ed he was losing money the longer the old truck stayed on the farm.

Farmer Don did some of his magic to the old truck and made a trip or 2 more without any clutch or any brakes. Guess he wanted to show us that it could still be done.

By the time old Ed had finished his grading work and a lot of other jobs farmer Jim had for him, he told farmer Jim to just give him what he thought that old green dump truck was worth. Ol’ farmer Jim and the boys were already thinking about what it would take to make the old truck a working member of the farm. It wouldn’t take much to get her going. As ol’ Ed said, she was powerful.