Country Chatter

We get six holidays off in the store (New Years, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas) and it seems they often get filled up with some place to go or something to do. I am not complaining when that happens. I love having guests but once in a while it is good to have a full day to do my stuff.

Today was my day; no where to go, no one coming to visit, and no cookout to fix. A full day for just me and whatever my little heart desired to do. I looked forward to it like a special, treasured gift.

This country gal slept in until the late hour of 8 AM. I sat on the patio and drank my coffee and listened to the sounds of birds and critters waking up to a new day. It is so quiet and peaceful back on the farm when the store is closed. Then I had my quiet time and I was ready to tackle my relaxing day.

I started a batch of brisket for the Farmers Market and then meandered out to the garden,  ran the tiller and weeded two of the raised beds. I put mulch on the ground between the beds and took some radishes to the house. Gene brought me a rotten, round bale of hay and I put it around the tomatoes and peppers. Then I trimmed the spent blooms on the roses and sprayed 3 gallons of roundup around the fence posts along the driveway, the flower beds at the end of the drive and the trees along the fence line coming up our road. I had intended to have that area cleaned up this year. I started earlier this spring but did not get it accomplished. Now the Poison Ivy is rampant and I have to kill it before I can complete my project.  In between all that I did two loads of laundry.

At lunchtime, I again rested on the patio with my feet propped up while eating my sandwich.  Re-energized I cleaned the front of my kitchen cabinets, made two batches of turnovers (blueberry and cherry) for the Farmers Market on Thursday, and a strawberry pie for supper.  After doing my chores (watering the greenhouse, feeding the chickens and gathering eggs) I mowed along the ditch banks at the end of the drive until I ran over an unknown object and stalled out the blades and had to quit.

After a supper of brisket sandwiches and fresh salad from the garden, Gene helped my pull apart the brisket and get it in the freezer. Then we sat on the patio with our feet propped up and talked about our day.  The evening was quiet and peaceful as we watched the cows grazing in the pasture until the birds started fussing as they prepared for bed.  A pair of cardinals chirped “pretty” and then finally about 8 all was quiet as they settled down for the night.

Gene’s day was frustrating. He had planned to mow hay all day Saturday and bale today. He is having problems that he can’t seem to solve with his tractor and of course on Saturday afternoon the equipment dealers are closed and we don’t farm on Sundays. Sunday is our day of rest and worship. About a week ago they had to replaced the injection pump on the tractor. All worked well for a few days and now the tractor can’t seem to get fuel.  He and Sam ended up spending all Saturday afternoon cleaning the fuel lines,  fuel tank and replacing filters. It still did not solve the problem. The IH dealer in Crewe was open today and he got a fuel pump.  This did not solve the problem either. He is beginning to suspect the injection pump is defective. Tomorrow he will call Cavalier Equipment. He did manage to get some hay cut using a smaller tractor but he is frustrated.  What was suppose to be a good hay weekend with good drying weather fizzled on him.

Tonight I am one whipped little puppy but satisfied with what I accomplished.  It was a good day.  Relaxing….yes!!!  No phone calls, no questions to answer, no invoices to post, no order deadlines to meet.  Today this farm gal was in her country world and that was relaxing.