Buster was a friend that lived on Pine Mountain. Buster did a little farming some years ago but never on a large scale. He did provide for his family in a number of ways. He drove a school bus, and this kept him in touch with all the younger generation around. Each fall you would see Busters “Wood for Sale” sign go up on top of two cords of split wood, one cut at 22” and the other at 26”. Buster would only harvest the trees that needed to be cut to allow the other healthy trees to prosper.

One year Buster bought a used hay rake with the hopes of making some cash by selling hay off the field no longer farmed. This worked about as well as anyone up on Pine Mountain would expect. Not much traffic up on the one road that follows the crest of the Mountain other than locals and a lost salesman trying to find a short cut to somewhere.

With the lack of success he experienced Buster put his hay rake up for sale. Some twenty years later I found myself on Pine Mountain and looking at the old hay rack rusting away in the edge of Busters field. The for sale sign was gone, probable rotted away. Buster was also gone to the family plot to be in his final resting place. While I sat in my truck looking at the hay rake I thought that I had never loved Buster enough. He was nothing fancy, just a nice hard working man in faded bib overalls even on Sunday at church. No one ever ask Buster for help that he did not drop what he was doing to make their needs his most pressing chore.

So on this day I did Buster all that I could, I drew a picture of his hay rake. I hope it will remind you of times gone by and people that are one of a kind that have helped to shape your life.