Behind it stood a machine shed.
A grain bin.
A chicken coop that had not housed chickens in years.
And a low equipment barn with sliding wooden doors.
That was where the old John Deere lived.
For more than half a century, the tractor had been part of the farm.
It was never the largest machine in the county.
Even when it was new, it had limits.
By the time the boy was born, modern tractors were stronger, faster, more efficient, and equipped with systems his grandfather could scarcely have imagined in the 1950s.
But the old John Deere remained useful.
It pulled a small utility wagon.
Moved equipment around the yard.
Helped maintain fence lines.
Ran certain implements when appropriate.
And performed countless small jobs that would otherwise have required starting a much larger machine.
More importantly, the tractor carried the family's history.
The grandfather purchased it used in the late 1960s after several difficult harvests.
He was young then.
Newly married.
Working land leased from an uncle while saving for his own acreage.
The tractor was already more than ten years old when he bought it.
Its paint had faded.
The seat needed replacing.
And the engine occasionally sputtered when the weather turned cold.
But he could afford it.
Barely.
He drove it home along a gravel road with his new wife following in an old pickup.
The tractor moved slowly.
Its exhaust rose above the hood.
The huge rear tires rolled through the dust.
And the grandfather later told everyone that he had never felt richer.
He loved that machine.
Not because it was valuable.
Because it was his.
When their first child was born, he used the John Deere to haul firewood to the farmhouse.
When the family planted its first large garden, the tractor pulled a small trailer loaded with tools and seedlings.
During one brutal winter, he used it to help drag a stranded neighbor's wagon out of the snow.
And when a tornado damaged several farm buildings years later, the old machine worked for days moving debris and supplies.
Its engine had been repaired more than once.
Its clutch had been adjusted.
Its wiring changed.
Its generator eventually gave way to a practical charging-system modification.
And several worn components were replaced with parts the grandfather carefully identified and recorded in a thick black notebook.