HORACE THE TRACTOR
Farmer Giles had an old green tractor he called Horace for fun. He and Horace used to plough the fields all day before returning to the farm where Horace was kept overnight in an old barn. His farm was called Forty Acres, because this was about the size of his fields and all his outbuildings and he was very proud of his domain. He had about forty Cows. Thirty-five Chickens and an old Cockerel he called Sid along with forty Pigs which lived in the bottom field and slept in tin shelters to keep warm from the winter ellements and to have cover from the hot summer sun. Life on the farm was hard work but very idyllic and Farmer Giles and his wife Doris lived happily with their three children content to work the farm and see their children grow up in a countryside environment.He bought Horace some years previously so as to make ploughing the fields a bit easier as the old tractor he had then kept breaking down. During the winter Farmer Giles and his eldest son Tommy would plough the fields over ready for the next year’s crops as well as having a field full of Brussels Sprouts and Cabbages which they grew ready for Christmas Time to sell on their farmers Market Stall during the cold months of December through till February to help bring in much need income. Farms take a lot of financing what with the livestock to feed as well as his family, so he was always on the go day in and day out and poor old Horace was kept well busy and would chug up and down the field all day pulling the plough and the harrow to churn up the ground ready for planting. If they were ploughing a field that had been left for the grass to grow so as to make Hay and Silage to feed the animals, sometimes they might disturb Barney the little field mouse that farmer Giles used to share the cheese from his lunch box with and talk to whilst having a cup of tea to wash down his sandwiches. This occurred most days when he was in that field so he was always careful when he was working not to injure his little friend. As time went by all the ploughing was finished and the crops began to sprout and in the lower field where the mice were Farmer Giles wheat began to grow and with the heat of late spring and early summer as the sun shone everything was growing nicely. The mice were having a rare old time munching on the corn leaves and getting fatter by the week and really having an easy life buried beneath the ground.Horace was in the farmyard receiving his monthly washdown so as to keep him clean and shiny and to prevent dirt from getting into his engine causing him to break down. He felt happy with life and was pleased that all the fields were ploughed which was the hardest work on the farm and Horace preferred and easy life.