Ross Trax, 32, of Peters, runs the greenhouse at the 400-acre Trax Farms in Unio. His dad, Tim Trax, 59, still works the farm, handling the irrigation in the summer and managing Christmas trees in the winter. You'll even find him minding the parking lot on busy days.

V.W.H. Campbell, Post-Gazette
Tim, left, and son Ross Trax on the family's Trax Farms in Finleyville. Ross, 32, runs the greenhouse. He has plenty of memories of growing up on the farm.
Click photo for larger image.

When Tim Trax tells his family members something and they ask for proof of its veracity, he usually comes up with, "I read it somewhere."

After several decades, the family figured him out.

"You know, we concluded he couldn't possibly have read all this stuff," Ross Trax said with a chuckle.

As one would expect, Ross Trax's life is filled with funny farm stories, including the time his father was driving a backhoe that "didn't have much in the way of brakes on it."

As the contraption sped downhill, it ran over a wheelbarrow. Tim Trax promptly dismounted the backhoe and kicked the life out of the wheelbarrow, much to the amusement of the rest of the family looking on.

"Whenever he gets mad, we ask him if he needs a wheelbarrow to go kick," Ross Trax said.

Another time, Ross Trax and his father, both of whom wrestled in high school, got into a tussle.

"I took him down in the middle of the road in front of a whole construction crew," he said of the good-spirited incident. His dad always says he "still has it. It just hurts," Ross Trax said.

The father-son rivalry extends to sports, as Tim Trax went to the University of Pittsburgh and Ross Trax went to Penn State.

But it's not all fun and games. Tim Trax was an Army veteran who operated a radio in the Vietnam war and lost more than a half dozen friends in combat. He often tells war stories to the family and, while he doesn't get overly emotional about it, he does bring out photo albums as he talks about what happened.

Ross Trax said the family would have a picnic in the evening to celebrate Father's Day, but it's tough to spend a lot of time relaxing this time of year.

Sunday's holiday notwithstanding, "it's our busy season," Ross Trax said.

First Published: June 15, 2006, 4:00 a.m.