I grew up eating from this 60 year old plum tree. I don't know who planted nor it's variety. My grandparents purchased the land in the 1950s. Some years it doesn't produce much, luckily this year it's producing a LOT of fruit! So delicious!! This year is likely to be the last year the property remains in my family's name. So I may not get to eat the fruit from this tree again.

Not many kids grow up with so much room to run around! I am grateful. The property includes my parent's and grandparent's houses. It was also good for me to grow up next to my Grandparents. I've helped to maintain the property for as long as I can remember: fixing fences, trimming trees, cutting down old dead trees with a chainsaw (hard work but always fun).

There are many apple trees of the old, tall variety. The three King apple trees actually fell down in a wind storm when they were young. My Granddad pulled them back up with the tractor and they continued to grow. That's why they are all twisted and crazy looking now. They have an amazing ability to keep growing even on branches that have broken off and with hollowed out trunks. Sometimes I think they will never die.

Also on the property are other old trees plum, pear, walnut. They are all very big and not like the commercial varieties grown today.

There's an old pig house that has become completely covered by a large huckleberry bush. Can you spot it? There's a door in there somewhere!

Quite the cute couple. The photos start in 1932. They were married 63 years until Granddad died in 1995. Grandmother died last year at the age of 96. I miss them! I was fortunate to grow up right next door. They guided me through my youth and are my inspiration to have a happy, successful family.

They had four kids, of which, my dad is the youngest. Granddad had a very commanding voice and a way with people. Used car salesmen and telemarketers didn't stand a chance with his "negotiating" skills! He was a hiring manager for Crown-Zellerbach, a large paper manufacturing firm, in Portland, Oregon that no longer exists.

It's been about 18 years which feels like my whole life, but I still enjoy it. It's about an acre of what's left of my granddad's property. The old tractor just keeps on going. My granddad originally bought it to take care of the property when he was raising, training, and showing Morgan horses. I grew up on the property and so have always been around to operate the tractor. 

It's not the safest thing. They didn't build them with cages around the driver back then. With lots of low hanging branches on the old apple trees, I have to watch not to get knocked off. Since the tractor has a throttle that you set to a certain level, it would keep right on going even without a driver. It also has a governor that opens up to give more power when it senses the engine needs it. So if it ran into a house or a fence, the govenor would open up and the tractor would do it's best to plow through any obtacles. Even though it's a small engine, the gearing is designed to take advantage of every ounce of horsepower and torque.

There are also no guards to protect the driver from falling onto and getting dragged under the big rear wheels, so that's another danger. Finally, the way people die on these old tractors is when the tractor runs into something that doesn't budge or break. Since the front end is lighter than the back, it will start to climb up and quickly flip the tractor upside down crushing the driver. Being aware of these dangers, I've never had any problems and am always safe. It goes really slow so there's usually time to push in the clutch or hop back on.

One cool feature is that it has individual brakes for each rear wheel. That's so it can turn on a dime for going down the next row of crops. It's pretty useful if I need to turn sharply. With the wheel turned all the way in one direction, stepping on the inner wheel's brake actually stops the wheel and the tractor spins on that axis. Tears up the ground some too which is always fun. Good for cutting around tree trunks and pulling out weeds around the tree at the same time.

This tractor was the first motorized vehicle I ever drove. I started when I was 14. It's also how I learned to operate a clutch (manual transmission). Since there's no shifting once moving, it's really a nice thing to train on. Very forgiving to new clutch operators too. It's not a synchromesh transmission, just straight gears, so the tractor has to be stopped to change gears. Starting in third is always fun. You've got to put the engine to it's max and slip the clutch until it gets up to speed. The front wheels kind of wobble going that fast down the road. I think something's gotten a bit loose over the years.

I appreciate that I've had the opportunity to drive and operate a vehicle like this. Everytime I get on it's like I'm transported back to the 1940's when these tractors were designed. With nothing but hours of cutting to do, I've spent many an hour driving the tractor and contemplating life. A humbling experience.