Stories from the Stringam Family Ranches of Southern Alberta

From the 50s and 60s to today . . .



Thursday, January 5, 2012

Who Put That Tractor There?

My victim. Again.

-or-  I'm in Reverse! Everything Stay Out of My Way!

Dad had bought a new tractor.
Painted bright yellow, it was a thing of real beauty.
Or so the men in my family thought.
Pffff. Men.
It was parked proudly between the shop (formerly our home - see here) and the pasture, wherein my horse was . . . erm . . . pastured.
The tractor stood there in lonely glory, awaiting the delivery of two more back wheels.
Now it was unheard of, at that time, for a tractor to have more than the requisite two.
Back wheels, that is.
But this one did.
Or soon would have.
Each of the existing wheels had three feet of extra axle sticking out in happy anticipation.
This is important.
And I didn't care.
I was getting my horse ready for a show.
I needed to load up my tack.
This entailed maneuvering the car between the pasture fence and the shed door.
Easily done.
I could see the tractor.
I could see the fence.
I could see the shed.
All was well.
Back.
Back.
Back.
Crunch.
What on earth had I hit?
There was the shed.
There was the tractor.
There was the fence.
All in perfect sight.
 I pulled forward and got out to inspect the damage.
I should point out here that this was the same car that I had only recently filled with diesel fuel. My stock had dropped considerably over that event and hadn't had the chance to rise very far. This new stunt guaranteed that it would never rise again.
Sigh.
I walked to the back of the car.
To see six inches of extra axle poking into the rear car fender.
Oh.
The extra axle.
That would, one day, support extra wheels.
In all of my careful looking, I had forgotten to look up.
To the stupid axle hanging in the air three and a half feet above the ground.
Rats.
Once more, I drove to the house to show my dad.
Who labeled me a driving menace.
He was right.

8 comments:

  1. It's a slippery slope.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I believe Jerry got the same axle with the Chevelle.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ah, come on!. You loaded tack down that fence line a hundred times in Dad's memory. Then he left a tractor in the path. One with an invisible axel, no less. Whose fault?

    ReplyDelete
  4. lol poor you lol
    Well things shouldn't be parked where there is traffic. He can't really blame you. Kids will be kids.
    I remember my Dad bought a new car and put his old one facing the new one in the drive way. My Mom sat in the new car one day, not knowing how to drive AT ALL. She floored the gas pedal and wondered why the car didn't move.
    Good thing she didn't put it in drive or she would have destroyed two cars.lol
    My Dad was not impressed lol

    ReplyDelete
  5. Aww! Funny adn sad at the same time.

    The revealing of all such events should be prefaced by you running into the house yelling, "Before you hear it anywhere else, I'm okay! I'm not hurt!"

    :-)

    Pearl

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hahaha! What kind of fool leaves a tractor with EXTRA AXLES just laying around?? That's just ASKING for trouble!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh, Diane! Your growing up years need to be turned into a Hollywood movie! I'd be sitting in the front row! :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. wooo-hooo!
    You ended up in my column.
    :)
    I knew it would leave me smiling.
    Driving menace.

    ReplyDelete

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