Thanks for some great suggestions, but I've been on Medical Leave since August 28th with a ruptured disc (this makes my THIRD one!), and can only spend about 30 minutes at a time sitting at the computer, followed by about 2 hrs flat on my back on a heat pad to recover. So a fix and rerender is out of the question for right now. I'm due to have corrective surgery soon, so my ability to Bryce is probably going to get more handicapped for a while, but improve after that. :^) You guys are right about the dirt and rust textures making the tractor look more interesting, but it wouldn't make it more accurate. Uncle Roy took very good care of his tractor, protecting it from rust and even washing it periodically. (Although reading what I just wrote about it does make him seem a little geeky about the whole thing, LOL). :^) The overall look and feel of this pic was influenced heavily by Country magazine which prints very brightly colored (some might say cheesy) photos of landscapes and nostalgic, farming-oriented photos along with their articles. If you are familiar with this magazine, you understand what I mean. So I really wanted the colors to be a little TOO strong to be 100% natural. The skies after the first couple of frosts look pretty much like this when it gets drier and clouds get pretty scarce as the leaves change color and drop. Lastly, I liked the suggestion of a team of horses to draw the wagon. Hey, I'm not that old! LOL! We stopped using horses (more often mules) around here as draft animals before I was born, so I'm really only familiar with tractors. Thanks again to all for the personal attention, and the genuine desire to help me improve this image. Hopefully, in November, I'll be able to act on the suggestions you give me on the next monthly challenge and put out a version 2.0 next time around. PS to lsstrout: yeah, but my Uncle Roy really was kind of drab. :^) He always wore khaki work shirts and pants, even to church. He was a bachelor until he retired and then married for the first time at the age of 65, and died last year at the age of 91. He was one of my personal heros.

This is not my "second childhood". I'm not finished with the first one yet.

Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.

"I'd like to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather....not screaming in terror like the passengers on his bus." - Jack Handy