Cell service is weak on the farm, and the 40 year old phone doesn't dial out. Right away I foresaw great horror as my son and I went into panic mode. I rode the mower back up the hill only to find when I got there that the lawn mower was on fire as well. To make a long story short, it took 12 hours, 4 fire trucks, and a large bull dozer to get the fire under control. The fire burned about 5 acres and was stopped right before it burned my father's new house at the top of the hill. Here are a few pictures I took of the event once things were under control.

I really appreciated the volunteer fire fighters who came to our rescue - thank you to all. After the fire was extinguished, I called my Dad to explain what happened and of course I down played it like it was no big deal. A month went by before my Dad visited the farm, and by that time almost all the evidence of the fire was gone. My Dad told me that I sure did a good job of clearing the field.

(As a side note, for those of you who own a new John Deer tractor, it is easy for grass and debris to build up on top of the mower platform and under the belt housing. This is what happened in my case until the friction of the belt caught the grass and debris on fire, which then spread to the field. The same thing happened to my dad again in the Fall of 2004, despite my warning him of this potential problem. The John Deer tractors definitely have a design flaw.) 

Here is picture of our motorcycles with my daughter getting ready to tear up the trails.