Roddy Peeples was elected NAFB President in 1982. He was chosen Farm Broadcaster of the Year in 1992, and he was inducted into NAFB’s Hall of Fame in 2001. He has been an NAFB member for more than 50 years; but, there is something you may not know about Peeples.
HE LOVES TRACTORS.
“I grew up on a farm/ranch (Bluff Valley Farm) in the little town of Tehuacana, Texas, five miles west of Mexia, population 408,” Peeples said. “We had about 2,000 acres, of which half was in cultivation of cotton, oats, grain sorghum, vetch, Austrian winter peas, sweet clover, and some spelt with the other half in mesquite pasture with Angus cattle. In the early days, there were also sheep and hogs.
“As I grew up, I was fascinated by everything mechanical — especially the tractors. We finally ended up with five tractors — all Farmalls: three Model Hs, one model B, and one Model M. That latter one was the big one, at least in those days, and I was all over it, including getting to drive it home brand new from the IH dealership in Coolidge, Texas, just west of our farm. It was equipped with a bulldozer, and Dad set me to using that to fill in rain-washouts in our terraces. But that tractor was on rubber tires, of course, which didn’t provide very much traction, so unless the dirt was very soft, I couldn’t push much of it because of the shortage of traction. Much of the time I was reduced to not much more than scraping the weeds off the top of the ground,” Peeples added.
“So, throughout my life, I’ve always wanted to operate a ‘real’ crawler-type (hopefully a Caterpiillar) bulldozer, one with some traction. With the establishment just northwest of Garland, Texas, of EXTREME SANDBOX (it also has a location in Minnesota) last year, the opportunity presented itself. My wife, Bettimae, gave me a Father’s Day gift certificate for a one-and-a-half-hour ‘experience’ on a ‘real’ bulldozer. That included a 20-minute introductory/safety video and tips and guidance from a trained operator, who then stood by, watched, and pretty much turned me loose with that tractor and bulldozer.
“So, I got to do what I’d always wanted to do: dig a nice wide ditch, about 2 feet deep and 100 or so feet long, then crawl over the big pile of dirt I’d pushed to one end, do a 180, and push it all back in the ditch and smooth it out. All by myself. What fun. A grown old man’s toy. I enjoyed myself so much I may even give myself another one of those treats at EXTREME SANDBOX, maybe next time with one of its backhoes, or a front-end loader.
“Yep, it was not a Caterpillar, but I have to say, the Komatsu folks built a pretty fine machine, as easy — maybe even easier — to drive as our sedan.
“I heartily recommend this outing to any farm broadcaster, young or old, for some fun and a good story,” Peeples said.
