A Bloody Termination! At sixteen or seventeen, I was still in high school and could not get a satisfactory paying job during summers. I was hired to work on a nearby ranch. Mostly...

Robert J Samples Loc: Round Rock, Texas

At sixteen or seventeen, I was still in high school and could not get a satisfactory paying job during summers. I was hired to work on a nearby ranch. Mostly riding pasture or plowing. The owner had an old tractor that was originally for wheat farmland and not intended for land with steep canyon walls.

He said he wanted me to pull a double disk plow behind this tractor and plow about 150 acres that lay along beside a deep canyon. The walls of this canyon were between 40 and 50 feet straight down to the stream. The owner also left a 55-gallon drum of gasoline so I would be able to plow uninterrupted all day.

Now my mother had bought me some new Levis. In those days these jeans were bought 2 inches longer and 2 inches wider in the waist so that you had to shrink them. It was considered better to wear them and get up a sweat then wash them to get the best personal best fit. I was wearing a pair.

I was riding this old tractor and it traveled only about 5 miles per hour and was hypnotic and almost put one to sleep with the slow speed and rumbling of the engine. I had gotten comfortable with both legs stuck up beside the steering column and the throttle which was an iron bar with notches.

Once, I was going along about half asleep and then I noticed that the path of the tractor looked like it would not miss running and over the creek bank! I woke up quickly and began trying to extract my legs from the gear they were entangled with since the Levi jeans had the legs rolled up a turn, they were easily entangled in the throttle bar. I began to almost panic in jerking my legs so I could engage the clutch and stop the tractor before running off into the canyon. If that happened, I would have been cut into enough pieces to have a dozen funerals! That would not do since I had too many plans I wanted to execute and girls to date.

I finally was able to get my legs untangled and engaged the clutch. This stopped the tractor in its tracks since the discs behind the tractor were a great strain. I certainly didn’t want to drive over the canyon wall and die in the effort. This cowboy dismounted and walked over to look down into the canyon and it gave me a chill to see just how close I had come to going over the edge. I estimated I had come between 8 and 10 feet of the edge. I imagined that if I had closer than about three or four feet, the bank would have cratered due to the weight of the tractor and that was enough to pull the 10 ft tandem discs in behind it. It would have been the end of me. Just Sayin…RJS

Fredfish Loc: Prospect CT.

Robert J Samples wrote:

At sixteen or seventeen, I was still in high school and could not get a satisfactory paying job during summers. I was hired to work on a nearby ranch. Mostly riding pasture or plowing. The owner had an old tractor that was originally for wheat farmland and not intended for land with steep canyon walls.

He said he wanted me to pull a double disk plow behind this tractor and plow about 150 acres that lay along beside a deep canyon. The walls of this canyon were between 40 and 50 feet straight down to the stream. The owner also left a 55-gallon drum of gasoline so I would be able to plow uninterrupted all day.

Now my mother had bought me some new Levis. In those days these jeans were bought 2 inches longer and 2 inches wider in the waist so that you had to shrink them. It was considered better to wear them and get up a sweat then wash them to get the best personal best fit. I was wearing a pair.

I was riding this old tractor and it traveled only about 5 miles per hour and was hypnotic and almost put one to sleep with the slow speed and rumbling of the engine. I had gotten comfortable with both legs stuck up beside the steering column and the throttle which was an iron bar with notches.

Once, I was going along about half asleep and then I noticed that the path of the tractor looked like it would not miss running and over the creek bank! I woke up quickly and began trying to extract my legs from the gear they were entangled with since the Levi jeans had the legs rolled up a turn, they were easily entangled in the throttle bar. I began to almost panic in jerking my legs so I could engage the clutch and stop the tractor before running off into the canyon. If that happened, I would have been cut into enough pieces to have a dozen funerals! That would not do since I had too many plans I wanted to execute and girls to date.

I finally was able to get my legs untangled and engaged the clutch. This stopped the tractor in its tracks since the discs behind the tractor were a great strain. I certainly didn’t want to drive over the canyon wall and die in the effort. This cowboy dismounted and walked over to look down into the canyon and it gave me a chill to see just how close I had come to going over the edge. I estimated I had come between 8 and 10 feet of the edge. I imagined that if I had closer than about three or four feet, the bank would have cratered due to the weight of the tractor and that was enough to pull the 10 ft tandem discs in behind it. It would have been the end of me. Just Sayin…RJS

At sixteen or seventeen, I was still in high schoo... (show quote)

Glad you overpowered the Levis Robert, and you're here with us today. Thanks for the story.

Gmchief Loc: New Hampshire coast

I imagine that you washed the jeans after that, hopefully in private!😆

Robert J Samples Loc: Round Rock, Texas

Yes, I understand the loose bowel problem. Recently, a Israel p.o.w. was being transferred from the back of a Jeep to a back seat. The first time I saw it, he definitly had lost control and soiled his pants.
The second time, they had edited the picture and tried to cover the obvious mess. I suppose he expected to die. Just Sayin...RJS

uncle Leo Loc: St Louis Mo

That sounds like it was a " God thing "He was with you then as well as now

BCKliche Loc: Suffolk, VA

Whew! Glad you stopped in time--FishingStage would not be the same if you had not come along!

Mooseman65 Loc: Seattle

Well RJ. Glad you still have the memory of an almost!!!! Glad you and your Levi’s survived 👍🙏😁😁

dusty3983 Loc: Laporte, Texas

Robert J Samples wrote:

Yes, I understand the loose bowel problem. Recently, a Israel p.o.w. was being transferred from the back of a Jeep to a back seat. The first time I saw it, he definitly had lost control and soiled his pants.
The second time, they had edited the picture and tried to cover the obvious mess. I suppose he expected to die. Just Sayin...RJS

Not to correct you, but, that was a young lady who was the same person that was killed and paraded around in a truck naked while terrorists were sitting on her.

smitty Loc: maine

Robert J Samples wrote:

At sixteen or seventeen, I was still in high school and could not get a satisfactory paying job during summers. I was hired to work on a nearby ranch. Mostly riding pasture or plowing. The owner had an old tractor that was originally for wheat farmland and not intended for land with steep canyon walls.

He said he wanted me to pull a double disk plow behind this tractor and plow about 150 acres that lay along beside a deep canyon. The walls of this canyon were between 40 and 50 feet straight down to the stream. The owner also left a 55-gallon drum of gasoline so I would be able to plow uninterrupted all day.

Now my mother had bought me some new Levis. In those days these jeans were bought 2 inches longer and 2 inches wider in the waist so that you had to shrink them. It was considered better to wear them and get up a sweat then wash them to get the best personal best fit. I was wearing a pair.

I was riding this old tractor and it traveled only about 5 miles per hour and was hypnotic and almost put one to sleep with the slow speed and rumbling of the engine. I had gotten comfortable with both legs stuck up beside the steering column and the throttle which was an iron bar with notches.

Once, I was going along about half asleep and then I noticed that the path of the tractor looked like it would not miss running and over the creek bank! I woke up quickly and began trying to extract my legs from the gear they were entangled with since the Levi jeans had the legs rolled up a turn, they were easily entangled in the throttle bar. I began to almost panic in jerking my legs so I could engage the clutch and stop the tractor before running off into the canyon. If that happened, I would have been cut into enough pieces to have a dozen funerals! That would not do since I had too many plans I wanted to execute and girls to date.

I finally was able to get my legs untangled and engaged the clutch. This stopped the tractor in its tracks since the discs behind the tractor were a great strain. I certainly didn’t want to drive over the canyon wall and die in the effort. This cowboy dismounted and walked over to look down into the canyon and it gave me a chill to see just how close I had come to going over the edge. I estimated I had come between 8 and 10 feet of the edge. I imagined that if I had closer than about three or four feet, the bank would have cratered due to the weight of the tractor and that was enough to pull the 10 ft tandem discs in behind it. It would have been the end of me. Just Sayin…RJS

At sixteen or seventeen, I was still in high schoo... (show quote)

anuddergoodun rj