Farming Mishap

My Grandfather's red tractor he used to plow his many acres of land had two large tires on the back, about five feet apart, and two small ones close together in the front. When he would go plow, sometimes he would let the kids ride with him. I remember looking behind me as he plowed watching the plow tear up the ground. It was a great experience.

The black dirt was wet from a previous day's rain and my Grandfather wanted to get the plowing done while it was wet. In some parts of the field water collected longer than others after a rain. It had been long enough that no water remained but the earth was still wet. The tractor got stuck and nothing he would do would get it going again. My Uncle got an idea to put a board under one of the back tractor tires. He placed this two by four that was about four feet long in front of the tire so the tractor would get traction for a longer period of time.

A couple of us were behind the tractor getting ready to push the tractor when my Grandfather put it in gear. As soon as he put it in gear the rear tractor tire grabbed that board and it went under the tire as expected. Unfortunately the board did not remain stationary. Like a bullet, it shot out the back of the tractor flying about five feet through the air horizontally. I believe my brother was the closest to the board's trajectory and he probably heard the board as he dodged out of the way. We were all lucky no one was hurt that day.