The Fredösphere

One of the enduring memories of my childhood is the trip to farm implement supply centers.  Part retail establishment, part repair garage, part auto dealership (one that sold vehicles with big wheels), it was an unusual place.  For you who have never seen one, I would say the closest cousin is a lumber yard.

Every single one of them had a glass case built into the service counter.  Inside the case were toy tractors, toy plows, toy combines and wagons and discs and hay balers.  (The balers came with a few tiny Styrofoam bales:  pure exotica.)

I craved those things, and looked at them lovingly while my dad picked up his plow points or showed off the latest mangled  piece of metal he had extracted from his combine.  I craved, but I never asked for one.  Kids of my time and place just knew asking was a waste of time.

But looking is free, especially if you are online, so check out these beeeyoootiful International Harvester tractors -- my favorite brand.  And some of you (like my friend Victor) will remember with fondness (or morbid fascination) the amazing triple-gas-tanked IH Travelall, which seems to have mutated and returned with a vengeance.