Three days ago we had wide con-trails overhead. The train whistle was loud across the field. But, we did not have the flocked sky and last night the sky was red at sunset. I didn't feel a serious drop in pressure and the barometer is at medium pressure and I just don't think it is going to do much.
She had pulled up to where I was greasing the stacker with her service truck. The baling crew was wedged into the pickup. There were two baler guys and her niece who was running the rake. The niece was kind of peeking out from behind her Aunt and laughing and making a bit of a face.
When I got to the field it was rougher than a cob and on a hillside.
The field was planted in circles, sprayed along the hillsides, and they swathed up and down the hills. This meant you had to go across sprayer ruts. We did five semi-truck loads in five hours which would have been pretty good time for one stacker.
Then i drove 10 miles toward the coast to pick up two more truck loads of annual ryegrass straw. It went fast. I went from 15 minutes a load to 6-7 minutes. Plus, I got to watch the coyotes catch mice.
And I was home for supper.
Not a bad day.
Sunday the wife and daughter went to keep Aunt B. company. "Lulu" loves her Aunt B. for good reason. Aunt had a major knee replacement and needs some company. I went to church.
Had an interesting conversation about bluegrass music on Pandora and the cultural shift away from Christianity and how the current cultural viewpoint affects our interpretation of history.
The fellow I spoke with talked about going past the Bob Wills dance hall on his way to the Youth For Christ meetings and how they always wondered just what went on there.
After church I listened to old reel-to-reel tapes and tried to figure out how to get the Magnecord to record. One VU meter is going nuts and the recorder has tubes so I probably fried a capacitor. Either my old reel-to-reel had miss-adjusted heads or this one does as tapes from my old player have no high-end on this one.
The infamous gang of four wanted to go to the river and play with my Tonka Trucks. I have a Structo steam shovel in perfect condition and they really wanted to play with that.
They build a large holding pond, big enough for a kid to set in, and filled it with five gallon buckets of water. When the "dam" blew out, as it did several times, much hollering and running around followed. It was quite the local crisis. I think they may have raised the turbidity level in the Yamhill river by a measurable level.
I engineered several roads and a couple smaller ponds.
A good time was had by all...
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Arrgh matey, ye tale of rivers and stove in dams puts me in mind of Talk Like a Pirate Day be approachin'. September nineteen, twenty ought elevin by me reckoning on yonder notches in me oaken leg.
ReplyDeleteNothing finer than childhood with time to play, friends and access to unchanneled running water. We used to make toy boats of wooden barn shingles, boards and bluejean sails. Later we rode (and sank) a few canoes made of 55 gallon drums split lengthwise with hammer and cold chisel and joined end to end with salvage 2x4 gunwales.
As promised, no rain!
ReplyDeleteCollie Guy, River pirates? Sometimes I worry about roaming pole thieves... Perhaps you need this link more than I: http://portland.craigslist.org/clk/atq/2548080668.html
ReplyDeleteMuddyValley, thanks!
I'd probably sink my own navy with that. Were you thinking of mounting it on the back of whatever you're pulling up 99?
ReplyDeleteBrings to mind happy memories of days on the river. What is it about sand, mud and water that brings out one's inner child?
ReplyDeletenotallthatfrumpy, happy to see you changed your name to a more accurate depiction-it was sand, mud, water, and really cool old Tonka trucks...I have years of Tonka road building experience that needs to be passed on to another generation!
ReplyDeleteTrue--I did forget the added value of Tonka trucks. My kids, with the help of an errant brother-in-law, applied rockets to the rear of their Tonka dump truck. It became nearly aerodynamic. Amazingly, the truck survived multiple near-flights. It was in better shape than I at the end of the activity. I hope your Tonka road building experience doesn't include explosives.
ReplyDeleteformerlyfrumpy, road building with your little brother did in fact involve the use of explosives. However, in this post 1984 age I really hesitate to introduce the fun of a good black power explosion into the lives of impressionable young kids. However, a rocket on a tonka truck does inspire my imagination!
ReplyDeleteWe had great fun blowing up the battleship models my neighbor built on his small goldfish pond. Rockets were powered with zinc dust & sulfur, both readily available to us kids from the local pharmacy in Portland. Ammonium tri-iodide was great fun! Today's kids are missing out. Now they are lucky if they can get Estes rocket motors.
ReplyDelete