Popping Johnny





From around 1925 to 1960 all John Deere tractors were 2 cylinder. They ran at a relatively low RPM causing the engine sound to be sort of pop pop pop pop sound. The nickname for any of these John Deere tractors became Popping Johnny.
In 1955 my dad bought a model 50 as pictured here. Being 5 years old, I was quite excited about this purchase and what 5 year old would not be excited about a new green shiny tractor making a pop pop pop sound.
In 1955 most everyone in and around Paluxy received their mail at the Post Office http://pulltight.blogspot.com/2012/07/play-ball-revisited.html

One morning soon after the acquisition, I was with mom at the post office one morning to pick up the mail.  The operator manual for the new tractor happened to be in the car and was my prize possession on this occasion. Although I don’t remember the actual event, two of the local men, Floyd and Ramon saw me with my book and asked about it.  With the imagination and expertise only a five year old seems to possess, I showed them the pictures and elaborated to great extent for 15 minutes on John Deere tractors.  Floyd and Ramon were so impressed I became Popping Johnny instead of Terry for the next 25 years.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mom

Image
Cynthia McIntire Born to Ben and Montie Holmes Wann, the second of five children on April 9, 1927. Cynthia was born, raised, and lived in Paluxy where she spent the next more than ninety years. Only leaving Paluxy for a few months in Florida early in her marriage and then for her last couple of years in a nursing home as the result of a fall followed by a stroke. She is survived by Clinton (Junior to many), husband of 73 years, children Terry, Sheila, Sharon, sister Glenda, sister in law Jean, 7 grandchildren, and 15 great-grandchildren. While the last 3 years of her life were difficult because of declining health, very few of us will experience 91 good, happy years with family, friends, and home. And, this is what she had. She and Clinton were rarely apart. They worked together side by side on the farm. They traveled and socialized extensively after retirement mostly with the local Good Sams group of which they were members for over 25 years. She was a great mother, but cou
Read more

Smells of Summer

Image
The smell of freshly ground ginger root while making BBQ sauce and the smell of rain on a hot dry summer day are my favorites.  A brief rain while BBQing yesterday brought these two into close proximity. Also for the record, you can't open a beer with an electric can opener, even when when sober.  If you haven't had drunken chicken, it is worth a try.  The addition of crab boil to the beer makes it even better.
Read more

20 years BC

Image
"A dull pencil is greater than the sharpest memory" arthur unknown BC (before calculators) I remember when I was growing up, many of the farmers and ranchers carried these pocket pencils.  They were the calculator of the day.  And any flat surface would suffice for figuring the cost of a load of hay, how much you owed the hired hands, etc.  Seemed like there were numbers every where; on the faded paint of truck fenders, door frames and many pages of pocket sized note pads.
Read more