My granddaddy certainly leave his mark on our farm , and his influence can still be seen from theclothesline out backto thedrainage pipe in our driveway . I still usesome of his honest-to-god tools , andthe name he gave our John Deere Model 40—“Little Mo”—has stuck to this day .
But surely the meridian of his farming pursuits was his consummate wipeout of an one-time ramshackle shed near the barn . He pulled out all the stop consonant to take apart , scavenge up and haul aside the shed . He even pull off an entire bulwark with Little Mo. ( We have that on video — how irritable we were in the 1990s . )
A Mystery
originally this summer—20 years after the demolition of the shed — I was out pout and trimming Mary Jane around the now - vacant arena where the shed used to stomach . I was paying particular attention to trimming weeds around a largeblack ash treein the barnyard . That ’s when I observe a piece of metallic element dumbfound out of the ground at the radical of the trunk .
Pulling it free , I discovered that it was a strange object about two feet long . It was shaped like a candy cane with the neat final stage taper so it was flat with three holes bored through .
At the sentence , I pondered its intended use . I joked that it could have served as a walking cane if it had been a moment longer .
I also wondered who had left it there at the foot of the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree , and when .
The Cane That Wasn’t
Fast - forward to this December . I happened to bumble across a video recording of Grandpa during the demolition and cleanup spot of the shed . While discussing the labor , Grandpa walked over to one of the remaining wall , grabbed something he had hung on a plank , and showed it to the television camera .
To my surprisal and delight , it was the piddling alloy walking cane .
Grandpa move to explain , tongue - in - cheek , that the cane was the only putz he ’d been given to displume down the shed ( not true ) . But he did excuse how he used it for picking through the debris . Then he jokingly wondered what it even was — apparently , he did n’t acknowledge either .
But I guess I apportion his sense of humor , because he then tested the object as a walking cane . I chuckled because it was too short for virtual use .
In the video recording I did n’t see Grandpa leave the walking cane against the disastrous ash tree tree diagram . But because he was literally tolerate in front of the tree diagram while talking to the camera , I mean it ’s dependable to conclude he ’s the one who leave it there 20 age ago .
When I found the walk cane this summertime , I save it . I thought it was an unusual slice of history and something I could put to use in an odd way at some point .
Now , seeing that Grandpa used it during one of the farm ’s good - remembered demo projects , I ’ll definitely keep it . Because it was tucked away all these years , just waiting to be find , I ’ll consider it a Christmas present tense from Grandpa .
If anyone has any thought what the object is , feel free to permit me know .
