Following the discussions about getting rid of your prized possessions
when you cash in, and having been involved for the past 30 years with
collecting and restoring old farm tractors, gas and steam engines,
and related "junk", and old iron, I have seen many times the breakup
of extensive collections after the owner has gone to the Big Scrap Yard
in the Sky.

The following is a poem I wrote several years ago that pretty well
covers the situation.

  "THAT'S LIFE"
     by PEF.

A fellow stopped by my house the other day,
And said, "Is it true what the neighbors all say?
That your garage is all filled, from the back to the door,
And you've got so much junk that you can't see the floor?

"And the shed out in back has a similar fate,
And your yard's full of cast iron, clear up to the gate,
And you've got engines and tractors that really are rusted:
Some of them run, but others are busted?"

I invited him in so he could look around,
But when he saw it, he just stood there and frowned.
'Cause he didn't understand -- this disease that we've got
That we can't leave them out there to ruin and rot.

We've got to pick up all the old iron we see,
And some that we find, we take home with glee.
We clean it and paint it and get it to run,
And, all of the time, we think it's such fun.

But -- sometimes we acquire much more than our needs
And it lands in the back yard, out there in the weeds.
So, if you've got more than you'll ever restore,
Get rid of it now, before the neighbors get sore!

Our heirs will just sell it; they couldn't care less
About all our treasures -- they think it's a mess.
They'll settle the estate that we carefully built,
and get rid of it all, with no trace of guilt.

Paul E. Freiling
Fullerton CA