Broomstick generations

After a few minutes of work on my grandfather's farm, it was time for my cousins and I to goof off for several hours. One of our favorite pastimes was dirt clod baseball. We would find a stick and pitch dirt clods to each other to see if we could hit them.

Finding a stick strong enough to bust dirt clods was a challenge, but in the tractor shed there was always a battered and scarred broomstick leaning up against the wall. We were told always to put it back where we found it. Of course, we rarely did. We just left it in the field after we were worn out from our games. Magically, the broomstick always made it back to the tractor shed.

On one of my non-summer visits to my grandparents, my grandfather was busy patching fences where his cows were getting out. I then realized the importance of the broomstick. It fit perfectly in the 3-point hitch of my grandfather's Ford tractor. He would place rolls of barbed wire on the stick and spool off what he needed.

I've seen all types of fancy barbed-wire spoolers at the Co-op, but nothing appears to work as well as the broomstick. I found a red broomstick to fit the 3-point hitch on my tractor. It works well. Just like I knew it would.