Fence Post Diaries

For the introduction to this story about a farm truck named “Old Brown”, which has used up more lives than a cat, see “One Piece At a Time“. This follow-up reveals the fate of two more of Old Brown’s replaced parts. Read on to find out how windshield #2 and hood #1, met their demise in a single, unfortunate incident.

A field northeast of the house was well-suited for alfalfa production. On a dairy farm, alfalfa hay is indispensable and so this field was frequently rotated into this important crop. On a fine sunny day, perfect for making hay, Dad was out cutting the alfalfa. He drove the pickup out to the windrower, left it in place and drove the windrower back to the machine shed when he was finished. He  decided to send one of the kids out to drive the pickup back to the house the next day.

Since it was already getting dark, chores needed to be done in a hurry. In short order Dad picked up a bale of hay with the tractor and headed out to the hay feeder.  It had been a wet and rainy month, which meant the cow’s lot was very muddy in places. The hay feeder was part of the north fenceline, so it was far easier to drive a longer route around the barn and trees, through the aforementioned alfalfa field,  than risk getting stuck in one of the muddy spots in the lot.

At this point, the sun had set and it was dark.  The tractor had lights, but there was also a large bale of hay obstructing some of the view ahead. The bale had to be raised up fairly high to avoid banging on the ground when the tractor encountered ruts. Dad knew the pickup was parked relatively close to the trees, so he made sure to drive farther away from them to avoid a collision.

You can probably guess what happened next. The pickup had been parked further away from the trees to avoid blocking the trail when chores had to be done. The loader bucket and hay bale were at the perfect height to crumple the hood and shatter the windshield. This incident wasn’t mentioned for several years, and I was only able to confirm these details after most of a bottle of homemade chokecherry wine was consumed.

If you want to follow more of “Old Brown’s” adventures, visit the Farm Trucks page. While many pickup parts wore out due to natural causes, others had a much more dramatic and interesting end.