I got a nice surprise from a guy from church the other day. He called me up and wondered if I wanted to come drive combine for him for a little bit.

Of course I did. I haven’t farmed in ages. I used to be a farmer, you know.

The farming out here is really strange. When they say “beans” out here they mean “soybeans.” And the corn! They let it stand well into October! It’s dead and brown and decomposing before they harvest it! It’s a whole new world out here.

Anyway, I got to combine myself some corn, I’d never done that before. And the machine really took me back, it was an old John Deere 7700, the very machine I first drove as a kid for my uncle.

I didn’t get a picture from outside, so I found this 7700 on the internet. There aren’t many old combine pictures on the internet.

This machine was a little quirky, but once you learned how to speak her language she was ready to sing for you.

It’s been a long time since I farmed. I could tell, too, I was driving like a beginner!