Pity Party

Earlier this week, I had a what-if situation send me into a complete tailspin.  Yeah, stupid, I know.  But there it is.

I decided I would just have me a nice little Pity Party.  I had an agenda (bitch, whine, moan, complain) and refreshments (sea salt caramel chocolate bar, mint chocolate chip ice cream, and hot chocolate [since I couldn’t have the Dirty Girl Scout I really wanted due to being at work]).

In the course of my day, I noticed a coworker having a real-time situation crappy day, not just the maybe-situation kind of crappy day I had in my head.

My coworker’s dilemma made me realize how stupid the What-If Pity Party I had going on really was.

 

I reached out to my coworker, trying to ease his burden, and in doing so I got enough positive energy back that the Pity Party was canceled.

Mark Twain, a man much wiser than I am, was quoted as saying “The best way to cheer yourself up is to try and cheer someone else up.”  I am here to testify that he is 100% correct.  

It’s easy to get so wound up in our own problems--real or perceived--that we forget or don’t realize that there are others who are also struggling.  

I’m sorry that my friend was having a bad day, but I’m glad that by encouraging him, I was able to shed my own bad mood.  

I guess it all comes back to the core of the golden rule:  be kind to one another.  

Images used:

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/51/e6/7f/51e67f9eae72fd220349ab3ea90c0a2f.jpg

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/47/46/f4/4746f4cded0b71015ad1034c1224f9de.jpg

http://www.quote-coyote.com/album/small/Mark-Twain-Cheer-Up-Fun-Quotes.jpg

http://quotepixel.com/images/quotes/motivational/quotes-be-kind-whenever_10435-7.png

The Power Of The Jinx

I knew it!  I just freaking knew it!

As soon as I said I hadn’t had to run for parts, I’ve done almost nothing BUT run for parts.  

And has it gone smoothly?  No, of course not.  

The first run was Saturday morning after I picked Cubby up to watch her for the day.  I was supposed to just pick up one thing that Captain had ordered the day before.  A plain old belt.  Easy enough, right?  

Sure. I don't know which one of these belts it was, but they had it, and Captain knew what to do with it.

Then he calls me and adds a couple of things to the list.  So I write it down on my hand because I didn’t have any paper handy.  Now I need a belt, an auger cover, and guard bolts.  No nuts, thanks...he says he has plenty of guard nuts.  Fine.

Cubby and I made it to the dealer where the belt was waiting, and I added the two new things to the list.  They loaded me up and sent me on my way.  

We get home, with Cubby chanting “Yampa, ombine...yampa, ombine” (translated Grampa, combine) all the way home.  

Wouldn’t you know it...wouldn’t you just know it?!?!  Now he decided he really did need the guard nuts.  Except it isn’t a simple run to Hardware Hank to get them.  These nuts have to fit a 15-mm wrench.  Color me stupid, but wouldn’t that just be a 15-mm nut?

Nope.  I found this out when I made my second parts run in one day to Bishop’s in Kasson for a seal kit for the ripper.  Nuts are nuts, right?  Green or red machines...shouldn't matter.

That might be true, but apparently metric nuts come in even sizes like 6, 8, 10, and 12...none of which fit a 15-mm wrench.  I’m no mechanic but shouldn’t metric nuts fit metric wrenches?  Guess not.  

On top of all that, the stupid auger cover was the wrong size.  I was quite specific about it being for a John Deere 925 bean head, mainly because that’s one of the implement numbers that I remember.  

The belt worked, though, so that was a plus, I guess.  

Captain cobbled everything back together and hit the last 40 acres of soybeans here at home.  Whew...finally some progress.

Then I get a phone call:  “Go out and hook up the hose, I’m coming in hot...and I mean I have a fire to put out.”

What the fudge?!  Should you call the fire department?!

Oh no, it’s just a little smoldering fire under the motor.  Doused it with water (and can we say STINKY), called it good, and headed back to the field.  

Cubby and I decided this would be a good time to retreat back to her house, so off we went.  

When we arrived back at Chez Cubby, nothing would do but she take a few trips down her Little Tykes slide.  Since it was a nice afternoon, I had no problem with this.  

There isn’t a ladder on this, and she can’t quite handle the faux rock wall to get to the slide platform, so I have to lift her up.  I stood beside the slide prepared to help her sit down and then give her a little nudge down the slide.

Nothing doing.  One of her new words is “Stay” complete with the hand up, palm facing outward.  She meant she wanted me to stand back and let her do it herself.  Oh boy.

Luckily she did just fine, so we did another half dozen trips down the slide before she was tired of that.  

Tired altogether, really, so I put her down for a nap that really didn’t work so well, but she was quite for an hour or so, so at least she rested.  

Mama Bear got home to a little girl thrilled to see her mommy.  I left them to some bonding time and headed home.

Captain called me about halfway home to tell me he’d had another fire in the combine, but this one was full flames.  Thank goodness he, once again, got it out...even though he had to use the fire extinguisher for this one PLUS douse it with water.  

Do you know how unsettling it is to go to bed wondering if the dang machine is going to spontaneously combust overnight?!  Some of you do, I know.

Thankfully, nothing untoward happened overnight, and Captain was able to get the last acre of beans picked here.  During that process, he calls me and says I have to make a third parts run, back to John Deere.  

This time it’s for something for the sickle.  That’s the part that cuts the bean stalks before pulling it all into the machine to separate the vines and pods from the beans.  John Deere knows I’m coming and has the part I need waiting for me.

“Oh, and pick up half a dozen of those guard nuts while you’re there, too.”  Dude, I’d have done that yesterday if you hadn’t specifically said you didn’t need them, but whatever.  

Parts got picked up and delivered back here so he could fix that before heading to the very last stinking bean field for this year.  

I am pretty sure we’ll both be glad to transition back to corn harvest.  More than that, we’ll just keep crossing our fingers that the old combine holds together one more year!

Images used:
https://cdn.meme.am/instances/66209268.jpg
https://www.shoupparts.com/uploadedImages/Products/9500%20belts.gif
http://www.harborfreight.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/i/m/image_11341.jpg
http://images.clipartpanda.com/firefighter-clip-art-black-and-white-cof1396.jpg
http://image.shutterstock.com/z/stock-vector-kid-hand-stop-sign-vector-illustration-281651792.jpg

Harvest Happenings

I am feeling like I am not doing my fair share in the harvest of 2016.  Captain’s been at it for a couple of weeks, and I have not had to run for parts or even take lunch to the field.  

Of course, it’s early days yet, and now that I’ve said that...next week I’ll have to run for parts three out of seven days and deliver meals every day.  But I’d be okay with that!

Harvest started out so well with good yields and no breakdowns.  That all went to hell last Thursday, and it’s been nothing BUT breakdowns since then.  A clutch in the feeder house and two different bearings went kaput...all on separate days.  One day he was stuck in the mud, and then next day when he went to get the ripper out and do some tillage...it was leaking oil all over everywhere.  

Captain always likes to show me or tell me what part is broken or what piece he has to fix.  I understand that he is trying to make me feel involved and part of the whole process, but really, he could be speaking ancient Greek because it means nothing to me.  

I have NO idea what a feeder house clutch is...or even what a feeder house is, for that matter.  I know what a bearing is, but when the combine has multiple bearings...I have no idea which one he is talking about.

Trust me... showing me the broken or fixed part is not any better.  He showed me a worn bearing, and to me it was a piece of green metal with spinny parts on it.  Oh, and a dent where there shouldn’t have been a dent.

If it ain’t one thing, it’s half a dozen others, ain’t it?!

I am in charge of Calf Country again.  Louie the Little has moved on from the hutches to the young stock pens, so I only get to see him if I make a special trip over there and call him.  He will come running if you holler his name.  He’s still a cutie!

I also watch Cubby on Saturdays while Mama Bear and Young Man are working overtime at their respective (and competing) elevators.  She keeps me on my toes!

Her new word o’the day is “mine.”  She will literally pick up every toy or stuffed animal in their house, show it to me, glare at me, and emphatically say, “MINE!”  You know, because I’m a convicted teddy bear thief and might make off with something when she isn’t looking.  

I did ride with Captain to the elevator one night when he took the semi in to dump a load of beans.  My guy is a whiz at a lot of things like welding, mechanics, math, and raising dairy steers.  Driving an 18-wheeler...not so much.  

It was a hairy ride, my friends, let me tell you.  I love my guy, but the grinding gears and the super extra wide turns that brought us perilously close to the center line or ditch had me holding my breath.  But we got there and back in one piece, so it was all good.  

Luckily, Captain got all the parts he needed--albeit over the course of several days--and has everything all fixed up now.  This makes him a much happier camper and easier to live with!

As always in this busy harvest season, please be safe out there, pals of mine!

Images used:
http://www.quoteshunger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Mother-Teresa-Together-Quotes.jpg
https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ3WwZkSBNDk3HM7oeuhc9kMaqQagPT1iAb25EbftYO3LFQUbAu
http://www.thetshirtgame.com/toddler_rules.gif
https://iafarmwife.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/2010-1017-semi-blog.jpg

And Miles To Go Before I Sleep

Sleeping has never been a problem for me.  I am one of those people who drops into slumber within minutes of my head hitting the pillow.

And once I’m asleep...I might as well be dead as Moses.  Armageddon could happen while I am asleep, and I would be clueless.

Not so Captain.  Eight nights out of ten, he falls asleep in his recliner in the living room.  On the two nights he actually gets into bed at the same time I do, he might (I’m told) make it an hour and then it’s out to the recliner.  If there are mornings when I wake up and he is still in bed with me, I have to check and make certain he isn’t dead as Moses.

Before I fall asleep, I have a chat with God.  I always try to have more “thank yous” than “pleases” when we talk because otherwise I feel rude.  When I do have pleases to bring up, if they are for or about me and mine, it’s really quite simple.  Thy will be done and just get us through it.

If I am praying for someone else, it’s not so easy.  Often when we pray for others, we don’t really know the specific reason they need prayers; we just know they are going through some struggles.  How do you cover that?

Here’s my dilemma.  I have heard two schools of thought regarding prayer.  One is to not tell God what to do--He’s got it covered and doesn’t need us interfering.  The other is to pray intentionally and specifically.  That seems a little rude and overbearing to me, but it’s a school of thought.  

And how is “specific” defined?  What if a person’s prayer is “Please make me rich.”  First off, that’s a rotten prayer to begin with, but it’s too vague.  What if, in answer to that prayer, the person has a beloved family member die and leave their vast pots of money to the prayee?  Is the price worth the answered prayer?  I think not.

So, back to the sleep thing and people struggling and how to intentionally and specifically say a prayer to really help that person.  

I know that a lot of people aren’t like me and don’t fall asleep or stay asleep easily on the best of days, much less during times of high stress and struggle.  Therefore, when I pray for someone who I know needs some divine intervention, I pray that God gives that person one night of deep, restful, uninterrupted sleep that lets them wake up refreshed and ready to face whatever it is they are facing.  

It may not seem like much compared to “please cure his/her cancer,” but it’s specific, it’s sincere, and it can be extremely helpful to the person I am praying for.  

I can’t do much to make this world a better place, but if a simple request for a good night’s sleep makes someone else’s road easier to walk...I’m all about that.

Images used:
http://www.imgion.com/images/02/Sweet-dreams-with-restful-night.jpg
http://www.kappit.com/img/pics/201502_1557_bghfg_sm.png
http://gospelhomemaking.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Colossians4.2.jpg
https://hrexach.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/ang12.jpg

Half a glass

There is a current country song out right now with a lyric in it that says “Not doing half bad for a half full glass.”  Which brings up the age-old question...is the glass half-empty or half-full.

When Captain hears that, his response is always “Who cares?  Empty the damn glass and put it in the dishwasher!”

Half-full glasses are a thing for Captain.  When we are out to eat a fast food joint and get the cups to fill up at the fountain drink area, he never, ever fills it all the way up.  I’m not entirely sure why.  Maybe it’s a Catholic guilt thing wherein he thinks he doesn’t deserve a full glass.  Who knows?

The other thing he never, ever fills up is the gas tank in his pickup. He will drive around until he is floats into the gas station on fumes and prayers, and then only fills the tank half full.

My question is...why?!  His answer is that it pains him to write a big check to fill his tank so he’d rather write twice as many smaller checks.  He has no answer when I ask him how much gas and time he is wasting running back and forth to KwikTrip every other freaking day instead of once a week. Not to mention the cost of using twice as many checks that have to be replaced.

Of course now during harvest, he is putting many, many miles on the old pickup, so he’s going past a gas station just about every day anyway, but still.

Most of the time, Captain’s world is of the half-empty variety.  He is, by nature, a pessimist.  This is why we call him Negative Norman on a routine basis.  

If you want to know the absolute worst possible scenario for any given situation...just ask Captain, and he’ll tell you.

I know I’ve talked before about being grateful for what you have, and you might be tired of hearing it.  But I think it is a sentiment worth repeating again and again because it is so easy to forget in the day-to-day routines we all have.  

If you have gainful employment, food to eat, clothes to wear, a roof over your head, and people who love you...count your blessings.  You’re glass is more than half full.  

We can also be grateful for things we don’t have.  If you don’t have a chronic medical condition, financial worries, relationship stress...count your blessings.  Your glass is still more than half full.  

If you have just one thing to smile about today, smile big and be grateful.  

Use that gratitude to bring a smile to someone else’s face.  None of us know the crosses that others must bear, and your smile may be the only bright spot in someone’s day.  Give them something to be grateful for.  

Images used:

http://ytimg.googleusercontent.com/vi/f9li3iW25vU/hqdefault.jpg

http://thedailyquotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/doesnt-matter-glass-half-full-or-empty-life-quotes-sayings-pictures.jpg

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/65/0d/52/650d525a33a8859bf0769d965d9a74b9.jpg

http://louisem.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/30-days-of-gratitude-prayer-quote.jpg

http://inspirationboost.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Karen-salmonsohn-Grateful-Quotes.jpg

http://jp5.r0tt.com/l_9ff564e0-f867-11e1-91de-f16e5f600005.jpg

Smile pretty!

Did you know that September was Dental Health Month?  We had no choice but to know this, since Molly reminded us when she urged us to take advantage of a special at Family Dentist Tree where she works.

The deal was that if you scheduled an appointment in September--even if the appointment was actually in October--the x-rays were free.

Captain had to take advantage of this special because he broke a tooth and needed it looked at.  Turns out he needs a crown on it.

He had his appointment to get the temporary crown put on, courtesy of his daughter, and then came home for a breakfast of a fish omelette (let me just say eeuuww!).  First bite of eggs, and the temp crown came off!  So back he went to get it recemented.

Since Captain had gone, Molly urged me to also make an appointment, which I did.  My appointment was this morning and wasn’t nearly as involved as Captain’s.  I just have a couple of cavities that need attention.

Our approach to dental hygiene and care around here, for the most part, is to go when there is an emergency of some sort...broken tooth, pain, sensitivity.  Whatever.

Not so Molly.  She is the only kid I know who begged to go to the dentist.  I’m not making this up, it’s totally true!

As young as kindergarten and on, she would hound me with “Is it time to go back to the dentist?  Can you please make an appointment for me at the dentist?  Are you sure it isn’t time to go to the dentist?  Please, please, please?”

She’s...unique...that way.  So it was no surprise when she pursued a career as a dental assistant.  For awhile, she wanted to be a teacher or a nurse, but in the end she followed her passion and got a dental assistant license.

When she was in college and I was helping her with her homework, I was stunned--absolutely floored--at the amount of science needed for this degree.  She had to know all the names of the facial nerves and which part of the face they were in.  

In hindsight, that makes sense since giving anesthesia for dental work would be a fiasco if you got into the wrong nerve cluster!

As part of her schooling, she had to practice doing x-rays on five different people because there are five different ways to do this.  

I was her first guinea pig, and she picked the most intrusive, grueling process to try on me.  It wasn’t pleasant, but it wasn’t horrible either.  She kept telling me I was a real trooper and made it easy for her to be tested on this skill.

Turns out that a few weeks later, she was the guinea pig for a classmate for this same process, and when she was done, she called me and told me she was so sorry she had put me through that.  

I assured her again that it wasn’t as bad as she was making it out to be, and I was glad to help her pass her tests.

Even after she got her degree, she still had to take two different licensure exams for the State of Minnesota.  Our great state has the most stringent laws and regulations for dental assistant licensure in the nation.

This means that--as she successfully passed the exams--she is now employable from coast to coast!  

I don’t know where her love of all things dental came from, but I am happy that she found a career that is fulfilling for her, earns her a good living, and is a job that is available in every town in every state so that she will never have to worry about unemployment no matter where she may end up living.

For me and Captain, we will never, ever share that love with her and will continue to approach dental care on an as-needed (never wanted) basis!

Images used:
http://www.toothzonenetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/dental_health.jpg
http://www.relatably.com/m/img/funny-dental-memes/4-funny-dentist-funny-memes1.jpg
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/83/cf/f9/83cff9d90f2adb46caf3cf6c2bce382a.jpg
http://www.relatably.com/m/img/dental-assistant-memes/cf79cb5953be68b37b2760b6c5e78a8d847febd2a2b8adbec610e4d9de1aa15a.jpg
http://66.media.tumblr.com/ea24c5b609e4874b1416c6ca1ed099af/tumblr_inline_nnopswKvA21ro6j75_400.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGMNon4vxRjRcZTXzZ8ov0IH42HWteuWut6tKafkclb2CmVdhAjpawAr-4hTyvCNA0lJ99RvPXPBHcnG9eWjxU-yoY6I3TtCF_9kX3-uB6YWoTxA30qlM09j0ZkqjMHmaUHtIBF6bZ0_ZY/s1600/funny-memes17.jpg

Winterizing

And here we go...harvest 2016 has begun.  Captain started yesterday on soybeans.  So far, so good!  We are only 24 hours into the deal, but sometimes those first 24 hours are the worst! That's when all the kinks have to get worked out and everything running smoothly.

Captain is on his own this weekend as Sparky had prior commitments to take care of. I'm sure he'll be around daily from now until the bitter end, though. It's actually okay for Captain to fly solo with soybeans since the amount of time it takes to fill the semi is two, three, or four times what it is for corn.

The weather the last couple of days has seen everyone heading to the field.  Diane and I had occasion to go to Austin yesterday for a baby shower for Captain’s cousin, and along the whole route, rural rush hour was in full swing.  

Fall is the time of year when it is human instinct to start storing things.  Captain harvest and stores his crop.  I store summer paraphernalia.  

While Captain is in the field, it is my job to “winterize” the deck, patio, and yard.  So, this morning, I spent time on the patio sanitizing Shannon’s swimming pool, some of her outside toys, and then I sanitized our Igloo cooler.  Pretty sure we aren’t going to need that in a few weeks!

I did get laundry hung out on the line...probably one of the last times that will happen this year.  I love the smell of towels and sheets that have line dried, don’t you?

I need to start emptying all the flower containers around and about everywhere and get them stored away from winter.  I am surprised that there are still a couple of them blooming very well!  Others have given up the ghost and called it quits for this year.  

I even washed some windows this weekend...and that’s a high accomplishment for me.  I hate washing windows, and Captain usually takes care of that for me.

Getting the glass clean is easy with my Norwex cloths.  It’s the gunk in the track that is beyond nasty...lady bug and fly carcasses everywhere.  Eeeuuuwww!

I have discovered, however, that if you blast it with a can of compressed air, those little dead bodies come flying out of the track like greased lightning, and then you just vaccum them up off the floor, wipe down the track, clean the glass and call it good.  Yay!!

The other thing I like about fall and winter is that the whole meal planning thing gets easier.  I have a list of 21 different meal options that we rotate over the course of all and winter.  Since Captain did the grocery shopping this morning, we are set for meals for the next week or so.  

The menu rotation consists of stews, casseroles, soups, and other things that reheat well for when Captain comes in hours after supper was ready.  The grilled things that we have in the summer don’t do that so well.  

Last night I put a ham in the oven before I went out to Calf Country to do the feeding.  By the time I got back in, the savory scent of cured pork was wafting throughout the house and made me hungry!

Before I went to bed, I put kidney beans in water to soak overnight, and this morning they went in the crockpot with leftover ham, onion, celery, and garlic to make an extremely fragrant soup.

The other thing on my winterizing to-do list is defrosting the chest freezer.  The ice buildup is getting....impressive.  Since we have a hog being processed at the locker right now, I need to get that done so we have room for Mr. Piggy when he is done in a couple of weeks.  

I remember my Mom doing that job.  She would wait until the chest freezer was almost empty, put everything that was left into a cooler, and then put a large pan of hot water in the freezer and shut the lid to melt everything...or at least soften it so she could chip it away and scoop it out.

Me, I blast it with a hair dryer.  I don’t know what the proper procedure is a la Heloise, but this option works for me.  Then again, my chest freezer is half the size of the one my mom had!

For all of our farming friends who are also busy this time of year, please be safe in the fields.  For all of our non-farming friends, please say a prayer for the safety of everyone working long, late hours to get things stored away before the nasty Minnesota winter hits!

Images used:
http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/iowa-soybean-harvest-j-laughlin.jpg
http://static.wixstatic.com/media/bdc684_49317223436e4397b89d740e9372236c.jpg_srz_648_486_85_22_0.50_1.20_0.00_jpg_srz
http://vecto.rs/1024/vector-of-a-cartoon-elephant-pressure-washing-window-with-water-from-a-bucket-by-lafftoon-43952.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSt_b33Mh00ozAeRB4BmKZvfYVi6c_7FR9ircbGt8TrRPTGX1E4o04I9NmMKnBu3jbU-MWKuTmNILYXO7qGqpv_bt3kgwtB5bCBK66t0IxCNBHUckMGmWAnh641tOehcFsZseTwabtyA5Q/s1600/SCHamBeanSoup03.JPG
http://images.roadtrafficsigns.com/img/lg/K/Slow-Moving-Vehicles-Sign-K-7424.gif