Frank's Tractor

This is a 1949 Ford  8N tractor.

Like the one my father-in-law Frank owns.

But Frank's tractor has been used hard, and isn't quite as pretty as this one.

So Frank is fixing up his tractor. He has installed a new carbureter. He's using plenty of Bondo for body fill, and is repainting his, step by painful step.

Frank is almost 82 years old. He doesn't drive anymore, and last winter was a difficult one for him. His eyesight is failing, and he uses a cane to get around. Most of last winter he sat in his little house, tended his wood stove and watched TV. A few old friends would come by to visit, but winter can be tough on octogenarians.

Frank has been an active person all his life -- a union carpenter, a coon hunter, a dog man. He has trained blue ticks and walkers and leopard curs and beagles. But last year he had to give the last of his dogs away.

Now it's springtime. The sun is warm, the blossoms are out, and just recently I saw eleven deer in a field out near his place.

Frank is so glad to be able to go outside and tinker around. He loves spring, and he's getting ready to put in a bunch of tomato plants, with electric fence around them to keep the deer away.

I love Frank, and my wife loves him even more. He's her dad.

She stops by in the mornings on her way to work to help him with his nitro patch. She cleans his house and takes him to the doctor. We take him to oyster dinners, which I've told you about previously. (Here's Frank with our daughter at her wedding in 2005.)

If I live to be 82, I want to be active. I don't want a tractor, but I want to go on vigorous walks every day. I want meaningful work to do. I want good books to read. I want to keep busy -- body, mind and spirit. I want to be in touch with my kids and grandkids. I want to be like Doris Haddock, who walked 3,200 miles at 89 years of age. (http://grannyddoc.com/index.htm ).

What's your plan for living productively in your 80s and beyond?