Driving Tractors Part II

My son, Desert Boy,  loves to drive tractors, which is quite obvious in Driving Tractors Part I.

He was in need of a driving fix yesterday, so we visited the lower yard and looked around for some tractors for him to drive. We found a few and it was a good morning.

We started out on a Massey Ferguson 275. The red color attracted him immediately. Plus it was the closest one to where we parked. It doesn't have much of a seat left to it, but that doesn't matter much to a one-year old.

This tractor at first glance looks the same, but it's actually a 1964 Massey Ferguson 150. Cousin Pony Express Rider (update tomorrow!) had to come over and give Desert Boy a couple pointers.

Right next to it was an Allis-Chambers 7550. Now we're getting big! Mom gets a workout climbing up all these tractors to let Desert Boy drive.
The little smile makes it all worth it. Note Desert Boy's crossed legs, one of his favorite habits. I wish I had gotten some of his "vroom, vroom" noises. He made a lot of them.

Now he's done smiling at mom and ready to start driving, beginning by shifting.

Okay, three red tractors down, and a  fall in the dirt. Where to next? 

He looks a little wide-eyed behind the wheel of this tractor.
It's a John Deere 4755, pulling some big long red thing. My husband, my technical advisor, isn't around to tell me what the doohickey thing is. Oh wait, he's back and says it's a rotary windrower. 

I said, "What does that mean?"

He said, "Makes windrows."

"Well, what are windrows?"

"Rows of cut hay that can dry and later be picked up."

(See, we have exciting conversations in our house.)

Oh good golly, Desert Boy is now up in a high cab and reaching for the keys. We'll be in big trouble when he actually can start one of these machines.

Especially if it's something as big as this John Deere 6910, which is a forage harvester. The yellow part on the front picks up the windrow and chops it into little bits and blows it into a truck.

Okay, we're almost done, but there's time to play in this huge bucket. Henry doesn't want to be left out (he didn't like Desert Boy driving alone). You can just imagine the size of the machine needed to lift a five cubic yard bucket and its load.

Here it is, the biggest loader on the ranch. Desert Boy can only hope to drive this one day.