Neither can an International 140 tractor

by Catoosa, Sunday, May 14, 2023, 16:55 (494 days ago) @ JimT

A long time ago in a galaxy far,far away, I was mowing highway right-of-way behind my crew leader. He ran over a bumblebee nest and out they came. He had gone past the nest and they didn't bother him, but when I came along a few seconds later the bees were in combat formation and ready to strike. The first one got me right on the eyebrow and literally knocked me backwards off the tractor, which of course just kept on going without me. Old Jim happened to look back about that time and was puzzled to see my tractor mowing serenely along without a driver (luckily it was level ground).

After getting loose from the bumblebees, I pursued my escaping tractor, ran up behind it and knocked the transmission out of gear (easy to do on an IH 140). After explaining why I had abandoned my post, I had to wait a while for Jim to stop laughing. He tore open a couple of cigarettes, made a paste with the tobacco, and slapped a wad on each of my stings. Within half an hour I could not tell where I had been stung. Made a believer out of me, and to this day I keep a little vial of tobacco in each of my tool kits.