Chapter 9 - The Busier I Am....

...The "behinder" I get, at least that's how the cliche goes.

It's how it feels like around here.  The corn seed is almost all planted and the alfalfa is practically screaming at us to do the first cut of the season.

The boys have been spending every weather appropriate moment in the tractor getting the corn in the ground.

The spring has been wet, and with the longer than usual winter we've had, it seems there are never enough minutes in the day.  The big John Deere tractors have bright headlights to plant well past sundown, and if we get a break it should be done tomorrow.

Which means the cutter and rakes go on the tractor to start working on the first of what we hope is at least three rounds of hay baling this year.  The kids home from college can practically handle it themselves, which will be a huge help until we need more hands for the actual baling.

Harmon is recovering nicely and starting to join his teammates for baseball practice.  It's a bit difficult to play in the field, but he is getting to try some times up at the plate.

Since my talk with Pastor Bob last week, I was able to sit with Harmon a few minutes and talk about the accident and apologize.  He looked at me with a smile and asked if the ol' tractor was ready for planting.

It had taken me a while to check on it, but after talking in the diner I made an appointment for it at Marberg Implement and she's sitting there now.

The 1958 tractor doesn't need many pieces, but since it is "experienced" it takes a little longer and costs a little more than the average repair.

On the other hand, since it has a pretty basic motor and transmission there is no electronic do-dads to drive the mechanic and its driver nutsa-gooobers. For me, that is a enough of a reason to keep it around.

One more week, they tell me, and then I can pick it up.

In the meantime, it's my job to drive the tall tractor used to spray the fields in the delicate first weeks of growth.  Zipping across the field almost 15 feet off the ground feels like flying, but I'm going slower than I used to since the accident.  This tractor is one we share with several neighbors, so it's up to me to drive carefully.

This spring, we're tackling an extra farm, since John Johnson became ill with an early diagnosis of leukemia he can't get out and work his crops.  Scotty came up with a spreadsheet on his computer and there are at least six other farms chipping in their time and equipment to get them planted.

Even better, the members of the local Future Farmers of America are providing extra man (and women) power working with the dairy herd and all the farm babies arriving this time of year.

I sure hope and pray John gets better soon, but banding together is what we do in these parts and whatever happens we'll be there to help the Johnsons figure things out.

So, at least I don't have a lot of downtime with nothing to do!

Catch up on earlier chapters here.