Bring it on Ma Nature ~ February 1, 2006

David Heiller

The old tractor is ready and waiting.

Don’t write any angry letters now, but it is waiting for snow, and so am I.

A lot of people would just as soon let this pretend winter slip quietly into the record books. It’s February, for crying out loud. We missed our chance at winter.

Even Rick Voshart is ready to let his sleeping snowmobile lie.

Allis and I will politely disagree.

It’s hard to speak for a tractor, seeing as they are mostly steel and rubber. But I sensed it on Sunday. That was the day that I picked up the Allis WD at Andy Moen’s house at the end of Klondike Road east of Freeburg.

Andy had modified a tractor blade that I bought from Kenny Schaller of Reno. Kenny had seen my ad in the paper looking for a blade. Turns out he had one for an Allis C, and with a little tap here and weld there, it should work for the WD, Kenny said in his gruff voice. The price was right too. I won’t say it here, but when Kenny told it, he paused and then laughed. It was not a mean laugh. Kenny is not a mean man. Quite the contrary. But the last time I heard Kenny laugh was on October 14, 1965. It was a good price.

The Autumn view on the way to Schallers house in Reno. 

Kenny hadn’t used the blade since about 1994, which was when he bought a 4-wheeler with a plow. He figured that way he could share the fun of plowing with wife Kerry and all those little Schallers. Smart.

So I drove the tractor to Andy’s on January 15. It was about 35 degrees that day, a regular heat wave in normal winters, although this year it was on the chilly side of things. It was a beautiful drive. Perched on a tractor, going all of 10 miles an hour, you can see everything. Yes, the old tires and beer cans in the ditch. But the horses running along the fence line by the Richards farm, with the sweep of the huge valley behind them. The Reno Quarry, the big drop to the river (past the Schaller home). The river bottoms and water that hint at the wilderness just to the east. Then up Crooked Creek Valley, so vast and old and rich… in beauty at least.

You can see it all the nine miles from our house to Andy’s.

Then Andy did what Andy does. Don’t ask me to describe it all. I’m not a metal worker. He widened the armature fittings by welding new brackets onto the back of the blade. He fixed a leaky hydraulic cylinder, installed a new hydraulic coupler and adapter, added 50 pounds of steel here and there, and might as well fix the wheel bearings while you’re at it.

I drove the tractor back home on Sunday, with the spiffy new blade on the front. It was another amazing trip. I was seeing the same things, but from a different direction and angle. It all looked fresh and new, yet familiar and beautiful.

Kenny and Kerry Schaller even came out and gave their approval. Kenny had spied me coming from his picture window. Hey, that’s exciting stuff in the big city of Reno!

Mother Nature honored us with coat of snow later that afternoon. Was it a nod to Allis? A silent homage of a new player?

Those big flakes sure looked good coming down.

We’re waiting.