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| New bin up |
Somewhere between the bliss of planting and breakdowns,
watching grass gro- crops grow I mean and the dive into the “green months’ projects”
(the months of April to November where farming supersedes all life, dictating
my schedule if you can call it that) life has been grand. Busy but good. And
mysteriously almost every weekend has had some event or other going on. My slow
day, you would think it’d be Monday, usually finds itself in the middle of the
week or not at all. And once again my goal of a weekly post slides into a goal
for the next month. It’s almost July, it’s early yet and the weekly posting
could happen.
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| Checking seed depth |
Planting was an unhurried affair this season; apparently a
startling epiphany to hubs. He actually had time to enjoy the moments of playing
in the dirt and crop scouting with his faithful sidekick Scooter. I didn’t go
south this spring (shock and awe). Don’t worry there were no bon-bons and couch
lounging in sight for me. Parts runs, switching out seed discs and cleaning the
planter boxes, greasing machinery, actually planted veggie garden in May, etc. (I’m all for greasing and keeping the basics
of maintenance up but a hand pump grease gun is for the birds, great for the
occasional use on the header but… we invested
in a battery-run grease gun and I’m happy (and faster).)
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| Gopher buddy |
We’ve had little rain again this year and by my estimate we’re
year three in the dry cycle; hopefully it doesn’t go for seven years. However,
we did get a beautiful rain this past weekend with a grand total of eighty
hundredths. We even canceled our movie date plans to stay home and watch it
rain (we eventually watched Clear and Present Danger, there’s nothing like
Harrison Ford). No thunderstorms but good old-fashioned rain drumming on the
tin roof and tapping out a staccato on tree leaves.
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| Steel planks for bin floor |
A new bin went up and by appearances it doesn’t seem as big
as it is. I traded hubs work on the bin floor for work on a new gazebo (I think
he got the better deal). Thankfully it was only 20C/68F that day in the giant
tin can. Father in-law slid the steel planks in and hubs and I put the floor
down. Thankfully time-sensitive bookwork (yay for bill paying) got me out of
the mindless task of clipping the floor supports together.
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| Thinks the guys did okay with the floor stands |
Steel though, it was hard work. And to snap the planks into
place you had to do a monster-step-pound walk down the catwalk of steel planks.
On each and every one. Hubs made it half way and then used the sledge hammer to
tap the planks down. I continued onward and found it’s a great way to work out
any angst – good or bad – right of my system.
Till at the halfway point across the bin, I was mid-catwalk (focused on
staying on the narrow plank) and FIL sends a plank sliding through the man door
and nails me just below the hip bone. It would have been what kids call a
paralyzer but the sharp pain of steel cut through that.
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| Bin floor half done |
Normally he pays attention to where we are so we can grab it
and take some of the pressure off him. Not this plank. I thought ‘that’ll leave
a mark.’ Turns out it left an odd
square-shaped nine cut and giant bruise but didn’t cut through my favorite pair
of work yoga leggings. (If you’ve ever shoveled out a bin on a hot, humid day
or spent a whole hot day sitting in a combine in jeans than you know the joy of
flexible, breathable clothing.) I slept great that night after soaking my feet
in Epsom salts. And I counted it as my workout for the day.
Hubs didn’t escape quite as unscathed as I did that day. We did
half of the flashing that day together before calling it a good day’s work. I
was outside putting bolts through and doing the occasional drilling through the
flashing (there were holes in the bin wall for it but not always on the flashing
pieces). Well Mr. Safety (not always) decided that as I was drilling the second
of three holes that he needed to reposition the flashing or some such. It was
never clear to me what he thought he needed to be doing.
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| Finished floor with sweep auger in and sensor cables ready |
He comes out of the bin saying he need to use the first aid
kit in the house with his index finger dripping blood. Sigh, farm accidents. The
drill bit had gone across the side to top of his finger from below the middle
join diagonally to the top. Not super deep but it probably could have used stitches.
And he refuses to go to a doctor, ever. Well we got his finger cleaned up with
soap and water, followed by several dousings of hydrogen peroxide. Then I put helichrysum
directly on the wound (it’s like liquid stitches, helps to stop the bleeding,
helps with scarring and smells like sunshine and yellow flowers) followed by a
couple drops of lavender (supports healing and promotes less chances of
infection) and then some correct-x salve. I adore doterra essential oils and
products as they’re a great tool for all facets of life, especially when the
hubs is stubborn about doctors. He did agree to go to the doctor if the finger
looked worse at any time. To his relief that didn’t happen and he cleaned it two
to three times a day. We used vet wrap to cover the bandage and pinched the end
shut to keep dirt off his finger entirely. Now, two weeks later, the finger is
almost completely healed and he’ll have a nice, faint scar. And he willingly
uses doterra essential oils with me.
Needless to say, we switched spots after that. 😊 Safety first.
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| Cool bi-plane stopped in for the event. Photo credit to hubs |
In between the planting and spraying, hubs’ pilot group had
their annual fly-in breakfast. He helps flip pancakes, pour juice and schmooze
with other pilots from the area that flew in. It was a beautiful day for flying
with almost four hundred people attending and lots of planes.
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| A long line of visiting planes. Photo credit to hubs |
May your week be full of sunshine, warm breezes and rain in
the forecast (or warm dry weather if you're inundated with rain).
