Sand is not snow

9/1/07 Saturday
It’s been quite a couple of days. I didn’t think I wrote anything yesterday but looking I see I did. Cherie is so far behind on her cotton surveys that I pushed her to go out and get some done last night. One of the fields required us to go down a path between fields that the farmer made for his tractors to go down. The spot we were to survey was a half mile or so from the road and not an easy walk so I elected to drive down the path. That worked fine till we were done so I went farther to find a place to turn around. The place I found turned out to not be fun. Walking over the surface it seemed solid but it was just crusted over sand. The dirt does that out here when ever it rains. As soon as I hit that area the wheels broke through and I was bogged down in sand.

Now after twenty five years in Toledo I’m really good at getting out of deep snow but I’ve learned that sand is much different. In snow and ice you don’t want to spin your wheels at all. That heats up the tires and makes things worse. So I tried to ease out, rocking back and forth by going from drive to reverse and then digging out the sand with my hands. I would get the truck to move a few feet before I would have to dig out again.

It looked like we were stuck so Cherie called up Janie. “We’re stuck!” she told her with a little emphasis added. Janie called a friend who had a four wheel drive. I continued to try and get out and in frustration floored it. Oh!!! That works better. I still had to work at it but with the new knowledge I just gained was able to get the truck moving and once moving I kept my foot on the gas. It was way past dark now. Janie’s friend called us just as I got back on the road. We thanked him for just being willing to come out and help us. Then we called Janie to let her know we were ok.

Janie had already called us to let us know that she had arranged for the electrician, her husband Steve and the other Steve (Jib and Jab) to come out and get the oven and stove top wired up and installed. They would be here at 9:30 or so in the morning. Now with the push to get the surveys done by the deadline of today we were squeezed so set the alarm for five thirty this morning to get out to the field when the sun was just coming up.

We got that survey done and got back to the house in time to meet everyone. Cool. Joe Fussell is the electrician and drove up just a few seconds after the rest of the gang. He’s quite a guy and apparently an avid Christian. Just has a great attitude about everything. We, umm, they got to work right away. There wasn’t a whole lot I could do but keep out of the way.

Joe let me know that the wires were the correct gauge, which was reassuring. He had to redo a few detail things on the work his guys did and then it was time to carry the oven/microwave in. Jib and Jab performed that duty. Steve did a great job with the cabinet as everything fit snuggly. He liked how I sheeted it with the oak. They got it all put in great and Joe’s experience putting these in really helped things.

Now we have a complete kitchen, we no longer must cook with a toaster oven and hot plate. We are so grateful to the many who have done so much for us. There aren’t enough words to express what we feel. Thank you guys, we love you all.

After everyone got done we headed back out to the fields. We laid out survey spots on new areas and got to work. It was after twelve so the temperature was climbing pretty quick. At 3:00 or so Cherie had to stop because the heat was getting to her so she went to the truck where she was going to turn the air on. I planned on finishing as much as I could, determined to get this all done, but when I sat down to count cotton boles on the ten foot strip the ground was so hot it burned my ass. That’s it. Time to call it a day.

We hit Sonic for hamburgers and something cold to drink and came on home. I was done for as well and had to lay down. I always push too hard. Then I had a partial seizure so that was it for the day. Have cleared up no but it’s time to say “goodnight all”. See ya next time.