Crap in the wind (literally)

3/15/10 Monday
We’re off to a cold start for the week, with the high forecasted as being only 45 degrees or so. Saturday I remembered that I haven’t gone to the old man’s and picked up the manure that he saves for me so grabbed Cherie’s truck to go do so. It clearly has been a while since I’ve done that, clear being illustrated by the mountain of poop waiting for me. The old man came out and suggested I use his trailer, otherwise it would take five or six trips with Cherie’s truck. Fortunately he had a backhoe/frontend loader there and offered to load it up for me. That saved a lot of work and pain but I still had to unload it by hand. By the time I got the first trailer load emptied I was pooped out (Pun intended) and had to take a pain pill and lay down, so that ended my Saturday. There was still plenty more poop left to get and I try my best to fulfill my obligations. Someone we know told me that he does nothing out of compulsion, quoting Paul from the bible where he said “Owe no man anything”. I have a hard time grasping this, or at least understanding where he’s coming from, but I have a hard time understanding lots of things. For me, if I say I’ll do something I feel it’s a reflection on my character and integrity how I follow through and try my best to be a man of my word.

After church yesterday we went to the widow’s house. She had been trying to get her 27 year old grandson, whom she is letting stay with her while he’s going through a break up in his marriage, to mow the lawn for over a week now. She tried to start her lawn mower and do it herself but wasn’t able to get it started. When I heard this I told her I would be over Saturday and mow but forgot all about it. So I remembered Sunday and we went over. Cherie visited while I mowed the lawn and the widow loved having someone to talk to. When I got done we all visited for a while and talked about things of God and her financial mess. It appears that her case was brought to the attention of a higher authority in Met Life, who called her and offered to drop half of the debt, the one they created, and let her make payments on the remainder. That’s a blessing but I feel that Wells Fargo should share in this as they are the ones who told the widow that it was ok to spend the money that had magically appeared in her account.

After we got done visiting I grabbed Cherie’s truck and went to collect the rest of the manure. There was more left than I remembered, but that’s normal as my visual memories are often off. Looking at the pile I had the thought that we could load it in the back of Cherie’s pick up but when the old man came out he took one look and vetoed the idea. Here’s a perfect example of the strange difficulty my mind has judging volumes. Even with the truck sitting next to the pile of poop I couldn’t see that it would have filled her truck overflowing at least four times and had the idea we could get it in one load. It’s so weird to have this anomaly, this glaring evidence of how the brain injury still affects me. That’s why it’s good to have others who can advise me and steer me in the right direction.

You can see the crap flying, and it's not from my vigorous efforts. Poor Cherie was on the receiving end as she took this picture

I brought the loaded trailer back and worked on emptying it for a couple of hours before I had to quit and give my body a break. While doing that a storm rolled in, this time blowing out of the east. It was just wind and sand, no clouds, but the temperatures were dropping and my bones told me there was a change in the barometric pressure so it was pain on top of pain and time to quit. Cherie fixed dinner and I laid down to let the body relax. It was well after dark that I thought I’d better check the weather, because something was obviously coming in. Nuts, It’s going to rain. I was thinking that I would finish unloading the trailer the next day but knowing rain was coming changed all of that. For one thing rain mixed with manure is a nasty situation. It triples the weight and turns it into a gooey mess that either turns into cement of some kind of nasty smelly glue. So I got my headlight on, pulled on the boots, kissed Cherie, and went back out to finish unloading the trailer. That’s farm life, you work when the weather tells you too or despite of it. I was already full of crap from shoveling it in 40 mph winds when it was dry and blowing into my eyes, ears, and hair along with every other crevice it could find. Cherie came out to take a picture and got a face full too when the wind hit it. She’s a tough little girl and such a blessing.

It’s raining out now. We’ve had lots of rain so far this year, and that bodes well for the farmers (me included). Alan called to say he had lots to do so wouldn’t be in till later. I told him to take the day off. He knows we are broke and can’t pay him but wants to help anyway. What a blessing that is and how this meets a need. He will work to pay his lot rent for the mobile home we are planning to move out here so that’s a win win situation for us both. Plus he knows that as this farm grows he can grow with it, so is investing in his future.

I’ve got plenty to do inside, lots of business plan research and writing, along with a bible study I started weeks ago and then neglected. Here’s a picture of yesterday’s sunset. All the blowing sand sure puts a pretty spin on it.