Deere World!

My Father was a dyed- in- the- wool "Deere" man - John Deere, that is! For those of you too young, and those of you who never left your urban dwellings, all this may be a little too deep to fathom. But come along for the ride anyway. It might just be fun for you!

You see, John Deere has been a farm implement manufacturer for many decades. You older people know that - their business was tractors, combines, balers, and other farm machinery. Actually, just into the turn of the 20^th century there were numerous tractor and implement manufacturers, but they are now down to about 3 major companies, one of which is Deere & Co.

Earlier in time, the local John Deere dealer was “A. Shareski & Son”. They were located on the south west corner of Stephen & 4^{th St.} right here in downtown Morden. The shop, about 80 X 30 ft., is now occupied by Boundary Plumbing & Heating. It was just a rectangular frame structure with a 1^st coat of grey based stucco for the front, and a metal John Deere sign. Nothing really elegant about it at all. It was here in 1959 that my dad bought his last J.D. tractor, the last of John Deere’s 2 cylinder tractor line. Sort of a fitting end to my father’s calling. John Deere tractors had a unique “put, put,” sound, while other companies' machines hummed along with their 4 and 6 cylinder engines. My dad's tractor was a new standard model 730 Diesel that could crank out 53 hp. Boy, this beast had power! You were just waiting for something to get in its way so it could demonstrate that power.

So what’s my point? Well I’m getting to it - hang on. It was really big potatoes back then, and was the centre of my dad’s and my universe at the time.

Now leap forward 50 years to 2010, to Hwy #3 east of Morden, and the GVE location. Green Valley Equipment, John Deere Dealers for Southern Manitoba

The Morden location has just completed building a two story 12,000 square foot showroom with an additional 8000 square feet of office space. When you enter at the east door you are overwhelmed by its spaciousness. You could put six “A. Shareski & Son” buildings in the show room alone. Along the south wall are the main and 2^nd floor offices, which are all glass and you can see the staff. It is impressive and its offices would be the envy of most Banks & Credit Unions in Southern Manitoba, I’m sure. It feels like a mini Wall St.!

There is an almost outdoor-like atmosphere In the southwest corner where there are tables and chairs surrounded by slush machines, drink machines, coffee pots, candy and chip vending machines, along with a Microwave oven. It's complete canteen style convenience! They even have a big wide screen LCD T.V., showing J.D. ads. You would think they could at least have old re-runs of the John Deere Day flicks.

At Shareski’s they had a Coke cooler; and a table made from an old disker blade welded to a 1" inch pipe with 30”x 30” plywood for the top, which was spray painted John Deere green. Here they played endless hours of checkers, mostly during the fall and winter.

Back to GVE ...... Just to the north of their canteen area, along the west wall, stand six individual reception counters for parts sales, with the latest software wizardry to find your particular part. They remind me of airline reception counters at an airport terminal, but hopefully, the service is much better. They even have a parts gal working there.

Shareski’s just had a big long battered wooden counter, with a heavy metal catalogue holder for their 16 or so parts books, with page corners worn from constant use. Then, heaven forbid, you might have to crank up the old magneto phone, get an operator, and ask for the Regina J.D. parts department, no less. (Much more civil than, push 1 for service, push 2 for sales, push 3 for a morgue, your call is very important to us, when what you really would like to do is push the whole organization you're calling off a steep cliff.)

But I digress, back at GVE, fronting the parts section, are J.D accessories such as tools, batteries, clamps, filters, lubricants, First Aid kits, pulleys, wheels, tillage shovels, battery chargers, and toolboxes for the back of your F-150 & 250 Fords. All the stuff you require to practice modern day farming.

In front of the glass offices is a huge green & yellow J.D. air seeder which has all kinds of air and hydraulic hoses going to the shanks of a huge J.D. cultivator. It looks like the life support system for a hospital patient. Only this patient would have to be dinosaur-like in size!

And now we get to the merchandizing factor, and this is the kicker.

Companies now want your heart, soul, body, and pin #, not for your personal survival, but theirs.

J.D. Financial Report

Top farm equipment manufacturer Deere & Co. finished out fiscal 2009 profitably, despite the economic slowdown, reporting full-year earnings of $873.5 million compared to $2.05 billion in 2008. The company’s agriculture and turf equipment sales saw a 14-percent decline for the year, but the division maintained an operating profit of $1.45 billion, decreasing from $2.46 billion in 2008.

Deere forecast that its worldwide sales of agriculture and turf products will decrease by about 4 percent in 2010. The company estimated that industry wide farm machinery sales in the U.S. and Canada will drop 10 percent in the coming year.

And that, folks, could be the reason Deere has entered the general merchandizing area - so they can prop up their sagging earnings.

Now wade into the remaining floor space, and in the games section you will find John Deere darts, playing cards, checker games, poker chips, horse shoes, and even a J.D. pool table. A far cry from the A. Shareski & Son” checker tournaments" of yesteryear.

For the children, there are model upon scaled model of past and present tractors, front end loaders, combines, balers - the entire J.D. green line of farm equipment. In my childhood I farmed the entire summer with my cast iron John Deere model “B” toy tractor, and a cast iron red Massey-Harris 44. That was before Ferguson came along. But I digress again.

Ok! Let’s start over with baby stuff and slowly graduate to monster combines.

What do babies like? Food - so you can get a J.D. baby dish & cup, or you can read or chew on the thick paged J.D. illustrated picture book. That’s fun! Or how about some J.D. string puzzles? Or if you can crawl around, how about a choice of complete model Farm Yard sets? If you can make tractor sounds, you can play with the long green line of Deere toys I mentioned earlier. If you are slightly older, you can get on the bigger plastic units that you can push with your legs. A little older yet, go for the battery powered units, and if you happen to have a breakdown, just fix it with J.D. plastic tools like drills and saws. Deere does yield to the feminine side with small pink colored bikes, wheelbarrows, and wagons

If your tots have been running around the farmyard “buck naked”, not a problem - clothing is abundantly available from tots to adult sizes. Little tots to children to adult guys and gals T-shirts, pullovers, coveralls, numerous caps and hats, all with J.D. logos. And there are also dozens and dozens of assorted work gloves.

There are household items such as flyswatters, dog leashes, picnic bags, fridge magnets, various J.D. wall plaques, place mats, J.D. brooms, dustpans, along with wall holders for them.

Not to mention an assortment of wall clocks.

Accessories such as wallets, watches, including pocket watches,are also available.

Don’t believe me? Check out this Web Site .....

http://www.greenvalley.mb.ca/

Being an adult, I was looking around for the back room tattoo parlor to get myself a John Deere – deer logo tattoo - in green & yellow on my butt…. for posterity, a chance my father never got.

Ok! So you settle for one of the many barbecues available. Or maybe one or two vaults in which to lock up your guns, rifles, and what money you have left after leaving the premises.

I’m getting a headache from all this. Where do they dispense the J.D. drugs?

So, get on down to GVE, and check the Deere prices at a location near you!

Now back to that romance letter I started ….

Dear John!

I am writing to tell you about the passionate and intimate moments we shared and enjoyed together, But I must tell you. I have been smitten by another’s love……………

All Is Not LOST!

Hitting the dining spots of Morden, I come in contact with a great many young ladies (teens) who serve and waitress in our local restaurants. Chit chatting with them over time, you can begin to build a tiny profile of their likes and dislikes, goals and ambitions. (Of course, they can do the same about me!) It is nothing but a delight to engage in this sort of 15 second banter with them. It reveals many fascinating facets of who they are, and in what they are involved with. But on ocasion, one is blown away by a comment or a reply they make,

Such was the case just the other day.

Driving around the streets of town on the Monday of the August long week-end, with little traffic around, I thought I saw one of these gals strolling on the street.

Upon seeing her the next day at her work, I questioned if it was she whom I saw walking north on 8th Street..

"Yes, it was", and she had gone to mail a letter.

"You were mailing a letter to me?" I asked spontaneously.

"No, I was sending a letter to my sponsor child."

"Your sponsor child?"

"Yes!"

"You sponsor a child?"

"Yes!"

And then she left, and I was in left in a mental haze!

This young, attractive, dynamatic, dramatic, goofy, joyful, fun loving,

and sweet, caring gal, just elevated her stature right before my very eyes.

There will be a new respect paid to her. Her obvious concern for the plight of others is heart warming.

She has a little brother, who admires her very much, and he comes in a large 2XL size, add me to that admiration list.

Who’s painting all young people with the same brush, saying that nothing will ever become of them down the road.

Great teens and kids are still around us folks! You just have to engage them and express an interest in their hopes and desires, and let the dialogue flow. As adults, we can sometimes be pretty intimidating.

I have no idea what formula applies to having great kids. It may be genes, it may be parenting, it may be schooling, it may be the physical and mental environment they live in, it may be unconditional love - who really knows?

All I can say is, when you come across it, savour it, while you can.