A weird sort of feeling just swept through me.
I’m sitting here listening to the rain hit the window next to my “desk” in the living room. If this were six weeks ago, we’d be enjoying a day off. And, believe me, there’s nothing better than waking up during the middle of the night hearing that sweet sound of rain pinging on the cottage roof. No lunches would need to be packed and I would be able to sleep just as long as my body would let me. Unless, it meant ANOTHER day of sitting.
Tonight, it’s just rain. Our lives aren’t controlled with weather as much anymore. Well, it still is for Jim. He’s still harvesting but the rest of us are involved in the “real” world again. Speaking of Jim, he finished with the soybeans last night and was going to start with corn today. Not so much now. I talked to harvesters today from North Dakota to Kansas and everyone is sitting now due to rain. It’s a harvester’s holiday!
Jim left this morning, while I was on the phone, and I never saw him again until after 5:00. I’m still not sure where all he went but I heard him tell the girls he treated himself to Chinese food for lunch and he came back with these awesome coffee mugs.
He was like a little boy bringing them into the living room and standing over me holding them. “Look at these cool mugs. They have tools on the sides and wrench handles! They’re mine and they were FREE, with a rebate!” He tells me this while trying to pass the rebate form to me (guess that means I’m supposed to fill it out for him). It’s the little things that mean the most. Guess that means I’ll be throwing a couple of our older ones away because we have no more room for additional ones in the cupboard. I’ll just have to do it when he’s not looking or he’s liable to dig them out of the garbage.
Jim is a sucker for anything that’s free. We have more Case IH, New Holland, John Deere, and seed company hats than anyone, I’m sure. More hats than there are hats! I honestly don’t understand. And…what about all those years and years of freebies from farm shows and USCHI conventions? I bet we have things in those bags that could be worth large amounts of dollars – yeah right! And flashlights…
Speaking of rain, I found a journal that I had kept in 1992 the other day while attempting to put a pile of stuff away. In 1992, we spent over 30 days in Norton, KS sitting on like 100 acres of wheat. It rained day after day after day after day. We even missed our job in Lodgepole, NE that summer due to the rain in Kansas. This was one time hearing rain on the roof was NOT something I took as a relaxing sound. This particular year, the rain on the roof meant more sitting and more mud to deal with.
Monday, July 13 – “Rained again last night. Jamie (age 7) slept with Jim and Jenna (age 4) and I slept together. Needless to say, I didn’t get a very good night’s sleep! Got up late and fixed a late breakfast. Jim went to the mailbox. I wrote out some cards in the p.m. and went to the grocery store. When I got back, we all went for ice-cream (3rd day in a row). Before I left, it rained fast and hard. It even flooded the streets again. Fixed spaghetti for supper. Just as it was getting done, friends from home drove into the campground. It was SO good to see them!!! They ate supper with us and we went to their motel until 1:00 or so and viewed our summer on tape.”
Looking back on this, I almost feel like I should call them up and apologize for boring them with our summer tape and thank them for stopping. They had no idea just how lonely I was at that time. Even though I had two little girls and men to feed, I felt about as lonely as I have ever felt! Re-reading this, I went back 21 years but it felt like it was yesterday.
Before I sign off for the night, I wanted to share with you something that has sort of just happened for me. I was asked to be a contributing blogger on a new site, Housewives of Rural America. This is all thanks to my new friend, Jenny Rohrich. Remember her? She and her (now) husband, Mark, stopped in Jordan for a quick visit on their way to their wedding destination. I’m just so darn excited and honored to be a part of this adventure! Thank you, Jenny and Katie Vaz for letting me be a part of your dream. Friday will be my first blog on the site…wish me luck and I’ll meet you there!
Related articles
- what? another week is gone? (nebraskawheatie.com)
- Top 10 Things I Love About Farm Life (carolyncares.wordpress.com)
Rain was heard here last night too. I think back to April and May of this year and it was raining, (what felt like) non-stop. Planters were halted all across the Midwest. Rain does mean so many things, doesn’t it. Loved your journal entry from 1992!
Thanks, Laurie. 🙂
Yep, made me wish I had kept a journal all those years!! I was just so bad about making myself sit down and do something like that. Having this blog has helped with this job now. And, to put it in print, all I have to do is push a button.
I have all my “calendars” from at least the past 10 years, probably longer. I told my husband one day that these were not to be thrown away. It is not much, but it will be fun to look back one day and see what we were doing. 🙂
OH!!!!!!! THANK YOU! You just reminded me about all the calendars I have stashed away. I have every one since we started this journey during the summer. That makes me feel better. 🙂
Reblogged this on Housewives of Rural America and commented:
We are looking forward to hearing from Tracy Zeorian also known as Nebraska Wheatie on FRIDAY! I had the pleasure of meeting Tracy this summer while we were traveling through Montana. She references our meeting in this post. Tracy is a lovely lady inside and out and we had the best time talking and sharing about our lives. I originally met Tracy strictly via social media and online, when we met it was like we had known each other forever! That my friends, is the beauty of social media! I love this post from Tracy for so many reasons and I must say, I can totally relate with my husband bringing home all kinds of “treasures”… Enjoy!
Ah, yes, freebies. 🙂
My husband has worked for a New Holland dealer for 10 years and I recently left a job at a John Dealer to work at home. We have so much blue/yellow and green things laying around when in fact we love and run Case IH. Technically IH. Ha. Our stuff is old. I was just thinking this morning how I need to make a huge John Deere EBAY bundle and get rid of it all! A part of me holds on to it in case I want to go back to work there.
Excited for your future posts! You are a lovely writer and your story is amazing.
Isn’t it crazy how fast these freebies can accumulate, though?? My goodness – I should have a room in our house just for those. 🙂 Well, if you’ve followed us long enough, you see we run the yellow brand and Jim wears the BTI John Deere shirts every day. He catches A LOT of flack about that.
Thank you for your vote of confidence in me. It’s good to know there are people who enjoy what I write about. And as far as the story – there are a lot of custom harvesters out there that SHOULD be telling their stories too! Thanks for following our journey!
Norton, Kansas brings back memories. I know I have hitchhiked through there at least a few times over the years. I believe Norton is west of Phillipsburg and east of Oberlin.
Here are a few hitchhiking stories of Kansas:
“Greensburg, Kansas”
http://hitchhikeamerica.wordpress.com/2012/10/13/greensburg-kansas/
“A Providential Ride to Manhattan, Kansas”
http://hitchhikeamerica.wordpress.com/2012/09/20/a-providential-ride-to-manhattan-kansas/
“A Hitchhiker, a Knife and a Piece of Paper”
http://hitchhikeamerica.wordpress.com/2012/07/21/a-hitchhiker-a-knife-and-a-piece-of-paper/
Yep, you’re right on the money for where Norton, KS is. And we have wonderful harvest friends who went through the tornado in Greensburg. I never felt so sick to my stomach as I did the morning I woke up and heard about the town being wiped off the face of this earth. They’ve certainly come back, though. Interesting stories you have!
Just read this and was reminded of saying the other day that sometimes I pray for rain in the fall just to see my husband for little while outside of the cab of a Claas. Its the little things sometimes. And its almost lunch time here so that means grabbing the cooler and going to the field.
I understand about that – praying for rain for time with your husband/family! There are a lot of times that rain is so welcome (for more than one reason) and then, sometimes, there’s the times that we really didn’t need anymore! Tell me about your harvest and where you’re at. I would LOVE to hear more about it!!