Little by little

5/8/09 Friday
It’s 10:30 in the morning now. I made it two and a half hours before I had to come in and rest. The pain level is extra high. I’m sure that the work I put in yesterday is a major contributor to that. Plus I’m doing the same thing this morning so that just aggravates the same muscles and bones. Had a hard time putting that sentence together where it made sense. Not a good sign.

I’m still working on getting the corn planted. Will try to not get distracted till I finish the job. If I had a plow for the tractor I could have done this in seconds instead of days. Little by little we will build this place and acquire the tools needed to make it a profitable working farm. Till then I bust my butt, aiming for the goal. But I need to be careful about that. It’s going to be 105 or so degrees today and that can be dangerous. Can’t believe how tired I am already.


These pictures will give you an idea of what I’m doing. The first shows the drip tape being installed to go around the entire plot. This will water the sudan I’ve planted to make a fence/windbreak.

Next you can see the rows I’m making for the corn. First step is to water it so the soil is softened up and then run the tiller through one row at a time. Once tilled I use a hoe to pile it up like it was plowed. I learned to do this from what I saw at Matt’s place. (Matt is the guy who runs the farmers market in Midland) Then I take the shovel and make a groove in the top. After sifting and breaking up the clods in the compost I’m putting it in the groove. Later I’ll sprinkle some fertilizer on that and carefully mix it all in. One of the problems I have is I can’t remember all the lessons learned last year so I must relearn them. I would experiment with doing different things different ways to see what works best but then would forget what I did and where I did it so it was an exercise in futility. But I seem to remember doing something like this last year. I know the black eyed peas were done this way only without the compost.

Once I get all that done I will install the drip tape on each row. Then, and only then can I plant the corn.

I just drifted off for a few seconds and had my finger on a key so it filled a page with kkkkkkkkkk’s and then llllllllllll’s. Can’t believe I’m so tired so early but it’s been that way now that I’m working out in the heat more. Tomorrow things are supposed to cool off some. That will be a big help. Right now it doesn’t take long for me to get soaking wet from sweat, which means I get pretty stinky too. Today is a poop scoop day so I’ll be going to Midland. I can’t smell things well as that is one of the senses damaged by the TBI but I can sometime detect my body odor. If I can smell it you can bet everyone else within miles can too. We don’t have a shower so jumping in and cleaning up isn’t an easy option. Pouring a bath is a long operation that I don’t have time for. So when I go to town I’m sure I will bother others but that is the way it is. Don’t like it and it’s embarrassing but like I said “That’s the way it is”. I’ve figured out that when I come in and lay down to rest I soak the pillow and blanket so they become odiferous. I’ll start putting a towel or something over the pillow to reduce that.

Geese, it’s 11:30 already. Doesn’t seem like I’ve been in for an hour now but I have. Suppose I should fix something for lunch even though I don’t feel like eating.