I’m in the pasture now. Let’s throw back 66 years

 I’m in the pasture now. Let’s throw back 66 years.

That’s me, circa 1954. My uncle Joe & I, on the old family homestead farm in NE. Those are working plow / farm horses. Joe dry-farmed that land, like his dad and grandfather, with a team of horses, 1925 to 1948. He bought an Allis-Chalmers tractor in 1948, after WW2. We visited that farm until it was a huge part of my life. In those days, you really did, as a matter of honor and thanks, retire your horses and let them live out their days in the pasture. We even rode these guys! From 1948 until the mid-fifties, these two strong, loyal, hard-working horses were in a nice retirement. My life bridged the gap between milking cows, tornado cellars, buckboards, a one building school my dad graduated from, horse drawn equipment, jets, rockets, the Moon shot, Vietnam, Iraq, the 60’s, 70’s, Kennedy, Trump and now…my own retirement. I’m in the pasture now.