BIG flat tire

I was working inside the barn and hear Dad talking with Joanne. He was a little bamfuzzled as to how the big diesel tractor tire on the right had gone flat. The tires on tractors are often bigger than the driver; at least this driver and I had a secret!

Dad had sent me out to harrow the field across the road from the farm house. The harrow was in three sections, one directly behind the tractor then wings and each side. It was equiped with thick spikes that broke up clods of dirt as it was dragged behind. To be effective the tractor needed to be driven at a moderate speed and slow turns so the wings of the harrow would not leave the ground.

I do not know why I was in a hurry that day but I was rather heavy handed...that seems to have spread down to my right foot today. Anyway, I knew that I could not come home for supper until the job was done and it was a BIG field. The tractor had another neat feature..double wheel brakes. On the left side of the tractor wheel where to pedals. step on both and both wheels break , step on the left and just the left wheel breaks...get the picture..you can do real tight turns amost in circles if you are moving fast enough and I was. I made one of these tight turns and realized my mistake when I saw the left wing of the harrow fly up over my shoulder. I stood on both breaks hard! Turned and realized that one of those spikes was stuck in the left big wheel of Dad's prize tractor.

I studied the problem and recognized that if I pulled foreward I would be driving the spike even further into the tire..So...I slowly backed up the tractor to release pressure on the spike (if you have ever done this you know that one thing you can't do with a harrow is back up!) and then, I pushed with all my might and released the spike from the tire treads and pushed it on over.

It wasn't until much later that I realized what a miracle this had been...A few inches more and that spike would have landed into my back or head. I never told Dad...Love, Mom