My Dad bought a 1974 John Deere tractor years ago…it wasn’t new….but, it was new to him.  When my Dad passed away on March 15, 2013 the tractor was at my house because that’s where he kept it.  The ole John Deere has been there ever since with my mom gently reminding me at times that it’s still my Dad’s tractor and I’m just the caretaker!!  The ole tractor is solid. It’s built better than any of the news ones.  It’s therapeutic to bush hog the pasture while listening to good music on my iPhone.  My Dad had a cell phone, but never got past the reliable “flip phone”, but his father (my grandpa Hudson) didn’t live long enough to see cell phones.  In fact, when my grandfather died he was still on a “party line” which meant he shared his landline with 4 other households….you would have to ask Myrtle down the road to hang up if you needed to make a quick phone call and she was talking with her sister up the road. (What does this have to do with a John Deere tractor?) I have always wondered what my grandfather would have thought about me bush hogging and talking on the phone at the same time?  My Dad knew everything one needed to know about the John Deere. He always changed the oil and filter, flushed out the radiator and kept check on the brake fluid and the hydraulics.  Many times my Dad would show me how to do this for “when he is no longer here.”  Of course, I don’t remember any of it!!!  My Dad would be so disappointed that I don’t remember how to service the John Deere….but, he would be proud to know that my nephew John Crews King, who has a knack for anything with an engine, knows exactly how to service the ole John Deere.  Somewhere we have a photo of my Dad and John Crews on that very tractor….it’s in the photo archives…which means a shoe box somewhere that we will probably never see again!!!  It was fun recently to watch JC get the ole John Deere started after having not been used for almost a year. Papa Hudson was staring down from Heaven….with a big smile on his face….and thinking he knew I would never remember a thing about servicing the tractor, but satisfied it is in good hands with JC!