When my wife was just a kid, her father bought a tractor. It was a 1946 International Super A, which is small as tractors go. It has always been a kid magnet. It sat in the back yard when it wasn't working in the fields and if we went to visit when our kids were young, they would climb up an the seat and "drive" the tractor. I think we have pictures of all of our kids, some nieces, and most of the grand kids on that tractor.

So when it finally went up for sale, we agreed to buy it, just to keep it in the family. It still runs, but it looks bad and I guess I will have to restore it. The problem is that I don't know anything about tractors. I've never owned one, never driven one, never even wanted one. But a 58-year-old machine that still works gets my attention. It's an antique, and the family connection makes it important to us.

I don't have a big enough truck to haul it home so I am going to borrow a trailer and get my youngest son, Sam, to bring it home for me. He has a heavy-duty pickup with a V8 diesel engine that should be able to handle the job. It's 150 miles, clear across the Cumberland Plateau, so it's not for my 4-cylinder Toyota.

I don't have a farm, so maybe the little Super A can have an easy life in it's older years. I guess it earned a rest.
Howard