THE (second) BEST DAY EVER!!!

When I was turning sixteen (around 1978), all I could think about was getting a cool car.  I wanted one of the muscle cars of the early 70's.  They went fast, looked cool, sounded tough and could smoke their tires.  They were the cars most of the guys I grew up with dreamed of.

A car just like this filled my dreams as young driver.

I had my eye on one in particular.  It was a 1970 or '71 (I believe) Chevy Chevelle SS that a family friend owned.  It had a 396 cubic inch engine, " 4 on the floor", mag wheels, racing stripes up the hood, the works.  It was the perfect car for me.

My parents, and probably too my insurance company, didn't think so and I ended buying a 1970 Volvo sedan.  Not very muscle-y.  And telling the high school girls that I drove a "sexy European import" didn't make as much of an impression as you might think.  Still, my friends and I had tons of memories in that car including the night we had to stuff about 11 of us in on the way to homecoming dance because a friend's car broke down.  Good times.

See!  It's a sexy European import!

Anyway...cars come and go.  Dreams fade and reality sets in.  But sometimes new dreams emerge.  A dream I've been harboring since we moved to Georgia and bought our farm.  Finally that dream came true on, of all days, April Fool's Day.  No...this is not a joke.

In terms of best days of my life, April 1, 2017 has to be near the top.  Of course the day I married Neta was the best day...you know, having time to reflect on its overall impact.  And I'm not just saying that because she corrected me when I left it off the list the first time or two.  Just kidding.  No, this April 1st was one of the best days because finally, after almost 2 years of waiting, dreaming, researching and driving by the store enough times to nearly qualify for a restraining order, I bought a brand new...TRACTOR!!!

It's no muscle car, but it could pick one up.

Man, dog, tractor.  There is a country music song in that picture.

So far, I've only put about an hour and a half of time on it.  I've hauled a few loads with the bucket and cleaned up a pile of sand next to the house and dumped it in a hole behind one of the old barns.  Pretty standard stuff.

Next week my "tillovator" arrives.  I traded my old tractor for it and it's going to come in handy as we expand the garden and also create a wildflower meadow.

It didn't come with a "dog seat", but I'm going to investigate what accommodations can be made.

Along with tilling up more garden space we have a lot of areas we want to clear the timber debris from so we can maintain them a bit better and plant some other trees.  Just having the ability to scoop and haul stuff, in addition to bush-hogging, plowing/tilling and using the bucket to scrape and smooth areas is going to make my job and our lives so much easier.

Farm work just got easier and a whole lot more fun!