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Stan, I've tried to quit both. I grew up riding tractor fenders with my uncle every chance I could. When I couldn't get a ride, I was playing with my toy tractors and wanting to grow up to farm. In the late 70's / early 80's most of the small farms around home had to quit. When this reality hit me, I decided to go to school and study something non-farm related. I would sit in class and daydream about tractors, so I quit school and took a job driving tractors and working in a farm shop on a neighbors farm (one of the few farms that got bigger when all the small farms were going out.). I loved it, but wanted to make more money, so I went back to school and studied drafting. Graduated high in my class and went to work for an engineer. Worked there for about three years and got discouraged with the company and went back to work for the same farm I'd left to go to school. They needed a welder/mechanic who could drive a tractor. During my 3 years back on the farm, the engineering company I'd left started to split up and one of the head engineers started his own company and offered me the job of heading up his drafting department. This was a chance to get in on the building of a new company with better benefits than just "working for an engineer". About this same time, I had the opportunity to acquire my grandfather's home place which would allow me to have a small farm of my own, if I still wanted to do that. So, I took the CAD Manager job and started cleaning up and re-building my granddad's farm on the side - which had laid out for about 15 years. We ended up building a new house there and I'm trying to build up a small cattle operation. THEN, about 4 years ago, while serching the net for "real" tractor parts, I discovered the toy tractor hobby. I've been with this company for 6.5 years now. I can afford to farm a little and I have an enjoyable hobby to work on. So, you see, I've tried to quit tractors and drafting. But I think I've got them working pretty good together now. Life is good.
Mitch
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