|
Page 1 of 2  Jasmine, 11 years old, out for her first tractor ride! By Galen Mommens
One of the biggest problems facing N series fans, and all other lovers of old iron, is that they can’t help but wonder what will happen to their machines when they can no longer keep them. Not only are the tractors getting older, but so are the men and women who run them. Farms in general, are slipping away, and along with them, replacement tractor enthusiasts.
While some are lucky enough to have children and grandchildren to pass things on to, many, like my wife and I, do not have that option. It’s a good thing that we have nieces and nephews. We do our best to instill in them good Midwestern values and a need to know how it used to be done. Recently, my wife and I were delighted to have our 11 year old great-niece, Jasmine, spend over a week with us on our farm. She has been a city girl living in Lincoln, Nebraska all her life, but she was willing to try new, different, and exciting things during her stay.
 Working on the farm. There were two things that thrilled her enough for her to call her mom and excitedly brag about. The first was learning to milk a goat. She did amazingly well. Most people have a hard time getting a couple squirts out on their first try. My wife and I were pleasantly surprised when she got a good steady stream in just a few seconds, even left handed. We gave her a Certificate of Accomplishment and christened her a “Junior Milk-Maid.”
The second thing she was excited about was learning to drive the tractor. I asked her and I expected a hesitant “ok”, but got an enthusiastic “YES!”
 Jasmine and Dad out for a ride I started up the 8N, and had her sit on the seat in front of me so I could show her how to operate everything. We made our way to the top of the hill, and drove around for 10-15 minutes with her steering and operating the clutch and brakes.
Practice makes perfect, and she was a good student. She had no problems in her practice runs with me on board. We made at least seven or eight runs at taking off from a dead stop, made several turns, and stopped several times in different positions.
Then it was time for her first solo. I told her that I was going to get off and tell her when to go. She nodded her head when I told her that I would holler loud when it was time to stop. She did a few straight line start and stops (she learned quickly to let the clutch out easy) and it was time for turning practice.
<< Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >>
|
Have you ever hooked up the cables wrong when jumping a battery? Hopefully the battery did not blow up in the process. Mr. Erb's advice to color the negative terminal red encourages such a scenario. Conventionally, red is positive and black is negative. Jumper cables are similarly coded. When jumpering any vehicle, it does not matter if they are positive or negative ground, always connect positive to positive and negative to negative. If jumpering 12 volt to 6 volt, the best way is to go direct to the starter, provided the 6 volt battery has enough juice to power the ignition. Otherwise, connect the negative jumper cable to the starter, and ground the positive cable away from the battery AFTER you push the starter button. This will limit the voltage to the battery.