...A continuation of the last post...
So, Garth rounded up the necessary tire tools, and called me to let me know it was time to leave. This is where cell phones come in handy. We equip our children with them gladly. It saves many steps.
I headed out with purse slung over my shoulder. The girls are out in the shop finishing the chicken project and the rest of the children are here and there. Often the little children go with me on such occasions, but not today. It's so hot and bothersome today. I hate to make them (and me!) miserable by strapping them into car seats on a sweltering day back and forth to the hayfield. Farm trucks are notoriously non-air conditioned. LOL.
Well, wouldn't you know, just as I was about to hitch myself up into the truck, Josh pulls in the drive and offers to take my place. (Josh, to recap, is Christine's brother.)
Free! I am free of that job for now. Not, of course, that I'm jobless at the moment. Clay is on my lap. :)
I think I'm forgetting something......oh yeah.....we're having company tonight.....
Friday, May 25, 2012
Part One
As it turned out, this is part one of a three part post of one day at our farm/house.
I guess I sort of knew this beforehand, but I discovered the reality of it full force later: When you marry a farmer you are not merely becoming the wife of a farmer. You are becoming a farmer yourself. It's like getting a job along with a husband. A two-for-one.
A lot of jobs are certainly more glamorous. There are plenty that afford a person more notoriety. Let's face it, there are a lot of aspects of farming that aren't neat and tidy. Or convenient.
This afternoon, I get the call from the hayfield: bring the white truck with the gooseneck and bale spear. Just like that, I am doing housework and suddenly I'm behind the wheel of a truck. Actually, my children are better truck and trailer drivers than I am, but this would never fly as an explanation to any policeman who might discover if I would let them drive down the road!
Well, so I was in the hayfield driving the truck while Brady was loading bales up when we discovered the loader had a majorly flat tire. So, I am back home for a few moments to get an impact wrench to take back to get the loader tire off. We'll then bring the tire home, fix it, and then return it to the the loader in the hay field so we can resume loading bales.
As Brady and I were strapping our load down before getting out onto the road, Brady had his ideas about how it ought to be done and so did I. I told him that it didn't really matter how he felt like strapping the load, it was imperative that it was done right because the consequences of losing the load effected more than just him.
To be continued...
I guess I sort of knew this beforehand, but I discovered the reality of it full force later: When you marry a farmer you are not merely becoming the wife of a farmer. You are becoming a farmer yourself. It's like getting a job along with a husband. A two-for-one.
A lot of jobs are certainly more glamorous. There are plenty that afford a person more notoriety. Let's face it, there are a lot of aspects of farming that aren't neat and tidy. Or convenient.
This afternoon, I get the call from the hayfield: bring the white truck with the gooseneck and bale spear. Just like that, I am doing housework and suddenly I'm behind the wheel of a truck. Actually, my children are better truck and trailer drivers than I am, but this would never fly as an explanation to any policeman who might discover if I would let them drive down the road!
Well, so I was in the hayfield driving the truck while Brady was loading bales up when we discovered the loader had a majorly flat tire. So, I am back home for a few moments to get an impact wrench to take back to get the loader tire off. We'll then bring the tire home, fix it, and then return it to the the loader in the hay field so we can resume loading bales.
As Brady and I were strapping our load down before getting out onto the road, Brady had his ideas about how it ought to be done and so did I. I told him that it didn't really matter how he felt like strapping the load, it was imperative that it was done right because the consequences of losing the load effected more than just him.
To be continued...
You know how some people can feel their arthritis flare up and know there's a thunderstorm coming? Well, I know that the Window People won't be coming to my house today. Why?
Because the house is clean.
The Window People NEVER come to our house when the house is clean. Nooooo. They've been here, what, 4 times EVER....and every.single.time the house has been a wreck.
And the thing about the Window People? They get to see every.stinking.room of your house when they come.
Just so you know why I was even thinking this.....the Window People were here the other day. Gulp. And you know, it would seem weird for me to speak up and say, "I'm really not the slob you think I might be." or "Come tomorrow, it'll be cleaner." or "In a family this size, it can be really clean one minute and a wreck the next."
No. That would just be weird. So, you just let them come as is and they can go home and tell their wives all about it. Humbling, it is. See......the Window People aren't blissfully from some-wheres-else. They live in this same neighborhood.....some of them even have some of the same relatives. Gotta love that "community" spirit....unless, of course, you have something for the neighbors to talk about.....
Anyhow. Pride is overrated. Pride is overrated. Pride is overrated.
I might add that it is deliciously wonderful that the house is clean right now because of all the things that are happening OUTSIDE and the amount of people it takes to do all of it.
For instance, I was outside cutting up chickens so Audrey could run them through the new handy dandy vacuum sealer we just got. Garth went to mow hay. Paul went to go bale it. Miles has been employed to babysit Clayton.....which he does for short stints because other people scoop him up to take him places on their short jaunts to feed the pigs or chickens or whatever.
Back to the house being clean (or not).....Some women have this elaborate plan on how to accomplish this on a more consistent basis than I do. My plan? (You might want a pen to jot this down......)
Invite company. Everyone just simply spurs into action when company's coming!
So, there's your quick update from the farm. Haymaking, chicken processing, house cleaning, and more.....
~Colleen
Because the house is clean.
The Window People NEVER come to our house when the house is clean. Nooooo. They've been here, what, 4 times EVER....and every.single.time the house has been a wreck.
And the thing about the Window People? They get to see every.stinking.room of your house when they come.
Just so you know why I was even thinking this.....the Window People were here the other day. Gulp. And you know, it would seem weird for me to speak up and say, "I'm really not the slob you think I might be." or "Come tomorrow, it'll be cleaner." or "In a family this size, it can be really clean one minute and a wreck the next."
No. That would just be weird. So, you just let them come as is and they can go home and tell their wives all about it. Humbling, it is. See......the Window People aren't blissfully from some-wheres-else. They live in this same neighborhood.....some of them even have some of the same relatives. Gotta love that "community" spirit....unless, of course, you have something for the neighbors to talk about.....
Anyhow. Pride is overrated. Pride is overrated. Pride is overrated.
I might add that it is deliciously wonderful that the house is clean right now because of all the things that are happening OUTSIDE and the amount of people it takes to do all of it.
For instance, I was outside cutting up chickens so Audrey could run them through the new handy dandy vacuum sealer we just got. Garth went to mow hay. Paul went to go bale it. Miles has been employed to babysit Clayton.....which he does for short stints because other people scoop him up to take him places on their short jaunts to feed the pigs or chickens or whatever.
Back to the house being clean (or not).....Some women have this elaborate plan on how to accomplish this on a more consistent basis than I do. My plan? (You might want a pen to jot this down......)
Invite company. Everyone just simply spurs into action when company's coming!
So, there's your quick update from the farm. Haymaking, chicken processing, house cleaning, and more.....
~Colleen
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