Grandpa Sol

When I first started planning the quilt I made a list of all the people and ideas I wanted represented and I started with my grandparents. This tractor is for my Grandpa Sol Furney. I remember visiting him once in Oklahoma when I was very little and have always fondly remembered the ride he gave us on his tractor. I only later came to find out what a remarkable man he was. While talking with his son Bob last summer he told me how his dad could do things with a caterpillar tractor "that would make you suck spit" He told me how Sol could maneuver it in such a way that it would in effect pop a wheelie so that he could load it onto a flatbed trailer without using a ramp. My other uncle Dale told me how his dad led the way in paving a road on a steep hill in southern Missouri. It was Sol who figured out the way to get the trucks loaded heavy with gravel, up the steep hill without flipping over...in reverse! Bob told me that the advice he got from his dad was to never push himself or his machine past about 90% of what he and it could do, always leave that 10% wiggle room so as not to get in over his head. That passes through my mind every time I mash the "Sport" button on my mini and swing without decelerating into the cloverleaf turn that takes me off of Clemson road and onto Two Notch just because me and my mini can. I keep my foot hovering over the break pedal just in case I feel myself creeping past that 90% mark. I think Grandpa Sol knew what he was talking about. I wish I could have known him better, I think I would have liked him a lot.

PS, I tweaked the back wheel on the tractor block so its less wonky now.