Just an old combine

A couple decades ago, I owned an old Gleaner combine. It was a 1976 Gleaner M2. It had an 18 foot grain table and a six row corn head. She was beautiful.

One of the few pictures I can find of my old combine

Two months ago, an old Gleaner similar to mine was pulled from the weeds beside the barn and set in the front yard of a home near Darlington Wisconsin. She was parked with the grain head in the air and the back wheels cocked to the side like she was posing in a way to tell passersby’s she was ready to go to work. The large hand written For Sale sign told everyone she was available.

Now I’m generally in Darlington three times a week and I always travel that road to get there. Each time I would drive by, I would remember my old machine, and occasionally, think about how I wished I could buy the old combine. I had no use for it, but I still wanted it.

As the crops turned and harvest began, the grass grew taller around the wheels of that old Gleaner. I know machines aren’t really alive, but I still liked to think that as she sat there watching all those shiny new harvesters rolling by, headed to join the harvest, deep down inside she was eagerly waiting for someone to stop and buy her so she could once again spend her days in the field where she belonged.

On my trip up yesterday, I could see the yard was empty as I approached the house. All that was left was a yellowish white patch of freshly mowed grass and the four depressions in the yard from her wheels. For a moment, I felt a bit of sadness, then some hope that the old Gleaner was once again where she belonged, in a field bringing in someone’s crop. My hopes were quickly dashed though as I rolled past the house. There she was, back in her old spot beside the barn in the weeds. Head down and back to the world which is passing her by. There will be no harvest for her this year. Once the top of the line in harvest technology, now she’s old, rusty and slow, and I’m sure she knows it. She’s just an old, unwanted relic sitting in the weeds, hoping that someday, she will get a chance to do the one thing she was built to do, before its too late.