Farm Work 1

This is part 1 of what life is like on the farm where I work:

The sun barley peeps over the hills when I get the phone call.

"Are you ready to drive the tractor?"

"I am ready!" I try not to sound groggy as the words fall lazily from my lips "I will be there in just a minute."

I fall out of bed, pull my work clothes on, throw my hair into a pony tail, then go downstairs as quietly as I can. We have guestsin the house, rare as they are, and I don't wish to disturb them from the pleasant dreams they must be having.

I slurp down some cereal quickly, grab my boots, and hurry outside. I slip my boots on as I hop to the truck.

When in the truck, I say a quick prayer and cringe as I try to start the motor. YAY! It runs!

The sweet smell of alfalfa is in the air, and Grandpa has already baled two rows when I arrive at the alfalfa field.

I jump onto the tractor and carefully watch the baling machine behind me flip the dry, cut alfalfa up into its mouth. It goes "CLUNK CLUNK! CLUNK CLUNK!" as it cuts and compresses the alfalfa into square flakes, then wraps two pieces of twine around it, and shoots it out the back, leaving a fresh alfalfa bale behind on the ground.

Grandpa drives back to the house to get the hay wagon: the machine that picks up the square bales and stacks them neatly. As I watch the hay wagon work and line up on a hay bale, I can almost imagine hearing it go "THWUUURP! GULP!" then line up on another bale and go "THWUUURP! GULP!"

I laugh to myself as I imagine such silly things. No one can hear me laugh while I am on the tractor, so I laugh as loud as I can just because I can. HA-HA-HA!

It is a beautiful, sweet morning, and no one or anything can take away my joy!

It is about 10 o-clock AM when we finish. Next, I fuel up the truck with gasoline followed by the two 50 gallon tanks on the the back of it. One tank holds gasoline, and the other diesel. I need to keep them full in case one of the tractors or combines needs a fill up!

Don't worry. I am used to driving around a ticking time bomb.

Sounds neat? Sounds fun? Sounds peaceful? Don't worry. I will make another post about the hazards that come with this job.