non-paying patrons

 

These pigeons could be eating up the profits--but they are limited to the spillage from the forklift.

 

New Deal Grain Company

New Deal, Texas

workbench

 

The workbench appears to have almost a full set of metric wrenches; however it is not a matching set.  There are wrenches by Kobalt, Craftsman, Fuller, S*K and Channellock!

 

New Deal, Texas

9.30.2016

driver's seat

 

Farming is hard and not everybody can afford shiny new equipment.  This 1963 V-8 Chevrolet is  used for harvest and had a bed full of corn.  Fortunately the farmer is able to improvise and drive the truck.  BTW, the truck is about a couple of decades older than the farmer!

 





 

Fortenberry Farms

New Deal, Texas

heavy metals

 

Commercial Metals -- a junk yard by another name!  Reduce, recycle, reuse is the slogan for the metal recycler located outside New Deal.  The high steel fence can't obstruct the glimpse of the interior workings from the motorists on I-27.

 

New Deal, Texas

 



Farmall 560

 

On Sunday I got a call from my dad to come and take a tractor picture.  From 1958 to 1963 International Harvester built 65,982 Farmall 560s.  The price for a 1963 model was $5,500. This was the model designed to get the edge on competitor John Deere.  Pop's friend Brooks purchased this Farmall 560 LP Gas new sometime in the 1950s.  After Brooks retired, the tractor made its way to a farm sale and was picked up by the auctioneer. Because of its age, it wasn't a hot item.  It sat awhile and when the auctioneer couldn't get it started, my nephew was called in. Seth got it running and ended up with the tractor, which he restored.  About the only modification-- made by Brooks-- was moving the headlights from the front to the middle.

 



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Farmall 560
Fortenberry Farms
New Deal, Texas
4.3.2016

is it spring yet?

 

This example of farm art is propped in the corner of the New Deal shop.  Perhaps I should rescue it and plant it in my yard.  Not sure who the artist is.

sunset over the water tower

 

Last night I could have used a great sunset for my landscapes but, alas, no clouds.  Tonight was a great sunset behind a mundane scene.  This is the New Deal water tower located by the Fortenberry shop.  New Deal was incorporated in 1970 and my dad was the first mayor.  That's when the water system was installed and Pop donated the land for the water tower.

 

Fortenberry Farms

503 Main

New Deal, Texas

you are here

 

This metropolis has new signage.  Do you know where you are?  It's the intersection of Loop 461 and FM 1729 -- or Monroe Street and Main, if you will. Yep, my hometown of New Deal, Texas.  In my growing up years Loop 461 was US 87, which disappeared when I-27 went to the west.  This intersection had the blinking traffic light, now gone.  The Post Office was downtown, before the new one was built to the north and there was no City Hall. And Taxas Tech (that's the way you say it BTW)-- that the Texas Tech New Deal Farm about 6 miles east.  Just in case you get lost downtown.

 

New Deal, Texas

through the scale house window

 

My grandfather W O, Fortenberry purchased the gin at New Deal (then known as Monroe) in 1929.  He sold the ginning business in 1952 to devote time to farming and oil interests.  The gin operated as New Deal Gin for many years then shut down and the place was vacant.  This year my nephew purchased a portion of the original gin land, including the scale house and gin building.  The scale house, which was also the office, still has the original walk-in vault and the Fairbanks-Morse scales.  The scales just need to be recertified to be used again.  The Fortenberry legacy lives on.

 

Fortenberry Farms

New Deal, Texas

heart to heart

 

Hearts in honor of the holiday.  Although these may be lonely hearts -- stuck out on the unused barn.  However, this retro mid-century aluminum screen door is back in vogue.  The actual  purpose of the decorative grill was to keep the kids from busting out the screen -- although this model had glass.  The grill could feature your initial, but I like these hearts for Valentines.

 

New Deal, Texas

railroad crossing

 

The town sprang up in 1909 along the tracks of the Southern Railroad.  Between 1940 and 1970 the population tripled to over 500.  First known as Monroe, the name was changed to New Deal after application for a post office revealed that a Monroe already existed.  The first school was built in 1917.  The district was named New Deal in 1936 after county consolidation of schools.  During the mid-1900s New Deal was a town with cafes, grocery stores, churches, lumber yards, gas stations and gins -- rather than the primarily residential community that exists today. When I-27 went west around town, businesses died.  Today one can only buy gas at the truck stop on the interstate. What was once the Owens gas station stands overgrown with weeds, peeling paint and a forlorn air.  Reflected in the window is the railroad crossing sign - a reminder of what once brought about prosperity.  Also reflected is a house across the train tracks -- once the home of the gin manager of the Fortenberry Gin.

 

New Deal, Texas

bolt bin

 

For farmers, equipment repair is as predictable as the weather is variable.  During the recent cold spell, the crew has been working on equipment in the shop.  It's helpful to have parts on hand.  The bolt bin, acquired by Pop probably during the '60s, hold a supply of bolts.  There are a few shiny ones mixed in with the used, the dusty and the greasy.  If one's lucky, the right-sized bolt -- with corresponding nut -- will be in the properly marked bin.  Youthful shop helpers are often assigned bolt gathering and sorting duty -- which might affect bin placement.  For perspective, each bolt bin measures about 12" in width and the entire piece stands head high and about eight feet long.  I don't know if any youthful helper has ever counted the bolts because no inventory is available.

 

New Deal Shop

New Deal, Texas