What might you do if you had time in abundant supply, but very little freedom? It’s a question I’ve considered since writing an article about a Maryland inmate.
During his time in a correctional facility, Robert Stickel has busied himself by re-creating tractors, trucks, cars and aircraft in scale models. And yet, as a prison inmate, his access to both materials and tools is extremely limited.
Coaxed to life out of sheets of cardboard, each of Robert’s hand-crafted models weighs about as much as a dream. If your memory stretches back to the days when you built a glider out of balsa wood, that’s a useful point of reference.
As a writer, it isn’t my job to judge. Each of us is allotted time; each of us face challenges, whether they are self-inflicted or random. Awash in freedom, how do we choose to use our time – and our gifts?
More than a few folks I know fill at least some of their time with Jeeps. I know this because my husband has toiled long and hard to create a highly customized off-road vehicle. Such vehicles apparently have a magnetic pull so strong that they actually draw in others of similar persuasion, and so it is that we tend to travel in packs. The sure-footed mountain goat has more sense than to go to the places we attempt to reach, but that is a topic for another day.
Elsewhere in this issue, jeep enthusiast Barry Thomas takes us deep into the world of the Farm Jeep. Barry shares the lavishly illustrated story of a Farm Jeep display held annually in June in Ohio, in conjunction with the Willys Jeep Rally. One look at his article and photos, and you may spend a bit of time finding your way to Ohio!
And finally, a word to those of you who are fans of Sam Moore, our longtime and much-loved columnist who retired late last year. Sam keeps his hand in the game via our website (www.farmcollector.com), where he still posts the occasional blog.
There’s more in this issue, lots more: steam engines in the bathroom, a collection spurred by heirlooms, and Jesse Lindeman, the man who inspired John Deere’s entry into crawler development. Here’s hoping you have plenty of time to enjoy it all! FC
Leslie C. McManus
LMcManus@ogdenpubs.com