Good Bye Dear Old Friend, Part I

This week will bring a series of blog entries that are very very sad. I
feel as though I'm sitting by the bedside of a dying relative as I write
these entries, sharing memories of the person. This analogy fits because,
we're talking about the death of yet another family farm.

I was born in the mid 1960's to parents that lived on a farm in the Northern
part of Illinois. When I grew up, my Grandpa tended the farm while my dad
worked in town. As a small child, I remember the days following Grandpa
around and many times, getting in his way as he fed the pigs, took care of
the cattle and planted and harvested corn and soybeans. Grandpa was always
pretty good natured about the whole thing, and through getting my share of
bumps and bruises, I learned the farm can be a dangerous place especially
for a small child who is blind.

My dad took over the farm in 1973 when Grandpa retired. He has been at it
for 36 years. Every year he has put in countless hours, blood, sweat and
tears to raise a high yielding, high quality crop. For many years he raised
pigs until it got so unprofitable he couldn't afford to stay in that
business.

I'll share more memories throughout this series, for later this week, the
farm and much of what is there in terms of equipment, buildings, and
memories will be sold at a farm sale. More on saying good bye to my old
friend later this week, as well as how the impending sale makes me feel.

Internal Virus Database is out of date.
Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com
Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.10.18/1935 - Release Date: 2/4/2009
4:35 PM