Friday night in the valley.

Last night was my youngest son's first tractor pull.  Well.....at least the first pull in which he actually pulled.  He and his dad have been working on this tractor since last summer, have attempted to get it ready for the tractor pulling season, and finally tweeked and twiddled with it enough that it was final legal for the pull last night.  I say legal but what I mean is that there is very exacting requirements for a lawn tractor to be qualified to participate in a pull.  It has to have a wheelie bar of the appropriate size, the engine can't rev too high or too low, and I am sure many other things that I don't understand.

But he pulled last night.....twice!  The first time he didn't start out in a high enough gear and then the second time, the tractor slipped out of gear.  But what a great learning experience for him!  And what a great way to spend time with his dad!

I really liked that amidst all the shiny yellow and red snazzy tractors, my guys tractor was.......well, it wasn't shiny. It was a labor of love in which things were knitted together piecemeal so that it was entirely functional but didn't really look great.  But my youngest son couldn't have had a better time with his dad even if he did have a bright fancy tractor.

He had a great time pulling his tractor and hanging out with all the other guys.  But I would suspect that what he remembers most is the time he had with his dad.