Fond Memories

[quads]

Some of my fondest memories are of gathering firewood.

Dad and I would head out into the woods in his 1949 Willy's Jeep with the snowplow on the front, pulling an old trailer. When there was snow on the ground, he'd plow a path to where he'd be cutting. As he cut, I'd split the wood and pile the brush and limbs. Then he'd start the brush pile on fire so we could warm ourselves.

He grew his own popcorn and always carried a couple ears of it with him when we cut firewood in the snow. He also carried an old shovel in the Willy's in case we got stuck. Dad would shell some kernels off an ear of popcorn and place them on the shovel. Then he would hold the shovel in the fire, and as the corn popped and flew up from the shovel, we had great fun trying to catch it and eat it.

Many of my fond memories are of things as simple as that.

 

[Shari]

Quads,

Similar memory here: Dad's vehicle was a 1952 Willys and we shared Spam cooked over sterno.

Shari

 

[Backwoods Savage]

The family Willys for us was a Jeep Station Wagon. We used the tractor for pushing snow and it always seemed to me that the coldest day of the year and when the snow was the deepest is when we had to be out there cutting firewood...

 

[quads]

I just sold old Willy a few years ago. It still ran, but hadn't been used in many years. It needed quite a bit of work and I didn't have the extra money to put into it. I was still doing all the field work on the farm and working away from home too so didn't have time anyway. I sold it to a kid that wanted a Willy's to fix up and use around his family's farm. He had $400 and I let him have it. It was one of Dad's favorite possessions (he's been gone 25 years) and it just broke my heart to sell it. But, it broke my heart even more to watch it slowly rot into the ground. The kid was going to give it a good home and Dad was always one to help someone out whenever he could. I think he would have done the same thing in my shoes.