Let me tell you part of a long story......
When I was little my Grandfather was my best friend, and I like to believe I was his favorite at the time. I would spend as much time with him as I could. We would go up on the "Hill" which was his 60 + acre enjoyment farm. He never lived there, but he would go up every day and feed his cows and putter around. We would put in hay in the summer, cut wood in the fall, and play pitch or rummy in the winter.
In October of 1994 I was working a 3rd shift job for the company in which I am still employed with today. My Grandfather was going to selling a couple of his cows in the morning and I told him I would come up as soon as I got off work. I was running a little late that morning, and passed the cow buyer leaving on my way up. When I got on the farm I could hear the dog barking from inside the Trailer, my Grandfather had locked him in there so he wouldn't scare the cows that would have been loaded onto the truck. My Grandfather was nowhere to be seen at that point. I decided I would walk down to the barn figuring he was tending to the rest of the animals. As soon as I started towards the barn I could see my Grandfather lying on the ground, and I knew right then and there he was gone. He had suffered a massive heart attack and probably had died before he hit the ground. I was the worst day of my life and although time heals all wounds, I remember it like it was yesterday.
It was always my Grandfathers wishes that when he passed away, my Uncles would take over the farm. That is exactly what happened. I had four Uncles at the time so they had the deed put in all four of their names. For the next several years they maintained the property and kept the taxes paid up. Even though they hardly had any use for the property they refused to sell it or neglect the legacy which my Grandfather enjoyed so much.
A few years after my Grandfather passed away I lost one of My Uncles so I started pitching in for the taxes on the property. After all I was raised there, I hunted there, and it is the one place that I can still feel a connection with my Grandfather.
As of May 2007 my Uncles signed the property over to me and now this will be my legacy to leave.
So this leads to my day....
My uncle Jack who lives in California, has a summer home in NY that joins to my property.
He owns my Grandfather's old Farmall tractor, and two summers ago I bought a Brush Hog (mower) for it to use to mow the fields. Today I went on the "Hill" and got the tractor running in anticipation of summer. We mow about 30-35 acres twice a year. I try to get up there as much as I can in the summer, but for now that's another day.
