Man's Best Friend

Mr. Yesteryear Acres stood in the driveway this morning at 11:12am and sadly waved good-bye as he watched his best friend head down the road. Now before you become overwrought with worry and think that you are going to need a box of tissues to read today's blog, please know that in this situation, man's best friend is not a dog. Man's best friend is not his wife.  Man's best friend is in fact not human or canine or even breathing for that matter. The best friend that Mr. Yesteryear Acres said good-bye too, as he wiped away the tears of sorrow, is.....his tractor. Yes, sadly our faithful companion, our reliable friend, our trusty hard-working tractor would not start this morning. There seems to be something amiss with a gear or shaft or  differential blah blah blah that even Mr. Yesteryear Acres himself cannot repair. Our good ole tractor had to be picked up and taken to "GASP" a repair shop!!! Never in the history of owning a engine type piece of machinery has Mr. Yesteryear Acres had to use a repair shop because Mr. Yesteryear Acres can fix everything.  Seriously - he can fix anything.  Dishwashers, refrigerators, cars, houses, wiring, plumbing, fencing, tractors - you name it and Mr. Yesteryear Acres has fixed it.  Not only fixed it but fixed it to perfection.  He is a master. But today, was not one of those days and Mr. Yesteryear Acres most trusted companion went away to the repair shop.  It might be WEEKS before it returns.  If you have ever seen the look on a little kid's face when they didn't get what they truly and really wanted for Christmas, you might begin to imagine what poor Mr. Yesteryear Acres looked like as his tractor was hauled down the driveway. I don't believe he has ever spent one solitary day without spending time on his beloved tractor. We bought the tractor back when our kids were still really young and my now 6ft son was then just a little toddler.

The tractor has brought us through many summers and winters. It has plowed our garden,

raked our hay, snow plowed our driveway, mowed our grass, given snowboard rides,

 and hayrides, dug holes, planted trees, helped build fences, water our garden, hauled wood for our wood burner and has even been decked out in full Christmas lights pulling a wagon fully lit with the magic of Christmas to give us a ride over freshly fallen snow on Christmas Eve. Everyone saw Santa that evening. Our tractor has been reliable day after day, year after year and has never faltered until this morning. It was a sad day but I reassured Mr. Yesteryear Acres that his tractor will be back.  The tractor people will fix our good ole tractor and it will be ready to go back to work in no time.  Don't fret Mr. Yesteryear Acres - your best friend will be home soon.