Sometimes Leaning

 is

 the most important

part of a job.

Not Worth A Load of Seed Ticks

It was a cooler day this morning but I was feeling a little under the weather.  I guess I got too hot the day before.  So I decided to stay in or rather Hubby TOLD me to stay in and rest.  He took off on the tractor.

He has been busy planting food plots for wildlife this winter.  He also wanted to bush hog (mow) the pastured land so the new grass would have a good start before winter.

I did some paper work after my head stopped hurting and my stomach settled.  I called the internet server to fix my wireless extender that they messed up (a complete story by itself). When that was resolved I decided to take Hubby a cool drink.

The dogs and I headed out.  Lizzy riding shotgun with me in the Gator and the others running free.  We could not hear the tractor anywhere.  So I drove and they ran with a joy only dogs can show.

We traveled up and down hills stopping to listen now and then.

We stopped to cool and get a drink at every watering hole while listening and looking for the Tractor Man.

It was warmer than we thought

 and the water saved us all.

All this trouble to take Tractor Man a cold drink! (Persimmon on top of can) I went places I haven't driven following the mowed brush. I headed down one hill and decided, nope, no way, not going down there cause I have to drive out. Stopped at the next pond to let the dogs cool again. Walked down to look at the water and felt something crawling on me...seed ticks!!!!  Too tiny even for a macro lens!!!  I tried to wash them off, swept some away with a cedar branch and headed home. Still no tractor sound.  Stopped at the creek and by this time my imagination had seed ticks all over me!  Tried once more to wash them off.

Went to the house. Took a shower and heard the tractor pulling in.

Where had he been??  That hill that I would not drive down has a dry pond at the bottom. He was down there removing grass seed from his radiator grill with the tractor turned off.

Hubby's not worth the misery of seed ticks. He laughed but now his imagination is feeling the crawl! 

My Love

Happy Birthday!

The love of my life and I have grown up and grown out together.  

We've known each other close to a half century. 

It certainly has never been boring.  

He is my center. 

I am his challenge. 

Love you always, husband of mine!

Sometimes The Rain Takes Things

into places we would never look

Can you tell what it is hiding under water?

Tractor Man's square nosed shovel was left toooo close to rising water.

Recovered and on higher ground now.

Resurrecting The Dragon

I discovered the trapped dragon on a cool autumn day in a dry creek.  She could not escape without my help.  I called out the big equipment and climbed carefully down into the unknown to help resurrect this lady.

Stopped in her tracks and trapped here for decades maybe centuries of floods.  Once majestic now worn and polished by time, sand and water.

I carefully placed the logs tongs around her middle and stood by for the big equipment to safely extract her.

 Up she rises, wings 

as if in flight.

Lizzy directed my climb out by cheering me on.

 As the dragon rested I planned safe transport.

While the Man In Charge directed (much like Lizzy)

I hooked my dear dragon for her home journey.

I hooked her again

and again.

 She is airborne! 

Almost home

She lies in wait for me to awaken her magic.

Well...

Hubby helped me place this wonderful huge rock with his tractor.  No way a normal human could lift this.  I worked.  I arranged.  I dug.

Hubby arrives a few days later and says, I've found a better rock!!!  It has a hollow and a stream build into it.  So we spent a  little time dragging the other "perfect" rock out and placing the second.

It was so heavy the tractor had trouble lifting it with a chain.  Hubby has this wonderful idea.  As this rock is suspended from the tractor with a chain I am to take a rope and twirl this "perfect" rock in position.  It didn't happen.  I struggled.  Hubby did most of the work with his Kubota.

Removing the liner from the tractor tire was quite the job.  It had to be emptied.  I removed the tacks that held the liner in place.  

Hubby made short work of removing it from the ground

and delivered it to the new location.

The old tractor tire will live on in a new location. 

Water will circulate from the rock/water fall into tire.

I have much more to do but I am tired for today.

Even in our yard I found treasure!

Saving The Basement...

from the next high water.

Every job needs a boss and Andrew did well.

The grade had to be lowered to allow the water 

to run down the hill instead of into the basement.

Hubby works magic with his bucket.

The saving slope is reestablished 

and ready for the next big rain.

Some Reasons My Hair Is Grey

Grateful for the help.

Carry On With Poetry Jam and Real Toads...

The challenge at Poetry Jam this week is to spin a tale about the ability to "Carry On"...our take on the resiliency of the human spirit. Real toads challenges us with Hello/Goodbye.

    

My heart stopped
When his almost did
Do we stop
To count each mistake?
No
We carry on
Moment to moment
Knowing
We are not immortal
But our love is.

Our first hello
Was
Also
The beginning
Of our last goodbye
We carry on
Moment to moment
Knowing
We are mortal
Our love is not.

Tractor Man Update...

Three hours through POURING rain to my favorite part of the state...the big capitol city.  Twenty yards visibility driving until I arrived and now the rains have stopped.

I have delivered real pants...soft knit ones...so Hubby will not flash every one.  I don't know why he doesn't love these gowns!!!!  While I'm waiting I shall copy a pattern from his gown so I can sew some just for him when we return home.

Tractor Man is not skinned yet nor been put out to dry.  He has been poked, prodded and questioned constantly.  The Mighty Collective are putting their heads together to decide what is the best approach.

He has discovered new talents like peeing in jars and wiping the floor with one napkin and a foot.  He has more wires than the grand boys' PS3 and tv put together.

He breathes, he lives. He sits up because he can't breath laying down.

I can feel the prayers surrounding us.

Thank you...will do updates til my battery dies or I find a plugin.

Three PM and nothing  yet...gotta love those swift answers.

Tractor Man And Prayers...

Hubby with the Other Woman, Maggie Mae

Hubby and Zander 

Hubby went to the hospital today.  He has had heart problems for a while.  His cardio refraction rate (however you spell it) has decreased from 25 percent to less than ten percent.  If you're wondering that ain't good.  

Tomorrow he will be transported to Baptist Hospital in Little Rock for more looking and poking.  Possibility of consideration for a heart transplant.  

Please pray, light a candle, cut off a chicken's head...whatever your religion...ask for help to guide us through this and bring him home healed.

Sorry for the sick humor, that is the only way I can make it through this.  Thank you.

Planting The Carpet....

Remember when I talked about Dating The Plywood?  Well, Tractor Man has not finished that project so I decided to attempt it myself.  After removing the ancient chipboard I balanced to measure an inset and so began the much delayed job of replacing ancient chipboard with plywood. 

My main tools were a pry bar, a hammer, a flat edge screw driver and a pair of tongs.  After removing the ancient carpet from said inset most of the chipboard just dropped.  That's how old it was.  Carpet was all that kept us from falling through in some places.  Lucky this was an extra room and not used much.

You may wonder why I chose these tools.  The hammer and pry bar were used to remove the tack board and the remaining chip board.  The staples were pried up using same tools or with hammering the straight edge screw driver under and prying them out.  The tongs???  To pick up the chip board that had fallen under the floor so I wouldn't have to crawl under there and get even more dirty.

I did not ask for help but Tractor Man cannot stay away when someone is working.  He stood behind me a while (which drives me #### crazy).  After listening to advice on what better tools I should be using I left the room. 

Returning I discovered poor Tractor Man straddling a two by six within the hole I had opened.  I asked politely what happened.  He informed me he slipped and fell and his toes were not touching the ground. I tried not to laugh.  I really did then I offered to help him up.  He decided he might just rest there a minute before climbing out.

I continued to work and Tractor Man brought me loads of power tools to make my life easier.  What he didn't know was I wanted the simplicity the peacefulness of doing it by hand.

I was ready for sawing and placement. He helped then left the room.  I do only one area at a time finish that and move to another.  Inset finished and solid, move to next spot.  Bigger space, pieces tonged into old dog food bags ready to dispose.  Replacement piece measured three times and cut once.

Tractor Man is just dieing to do something.  He had not done any of this since April but now that I am doing it, he's here.

I decided to remove all the carpet and padding and see what I had to repair.  After dragging all this onto the porch, we decided to fill a bad wash with this biodegradable trash.

The bucket runneth over 

Lizzy helped me drive the Ranger

and approved my careful placement

after I had thrown dead limbs and rocks

into the gully.

The old carpet will bring new life

feeding the soil and preventing soil erosion.

Dog approved, the gully is now a nice seeded spot

for late fall and early spring grass.

Now back to that floor to be finished

another day.

My Main Men...

Tractor Man and Andrew

Jake and Zander...

all the men I need!

Tractor Man's New Tool Box...

Just one small problem with the tractor and Tractor Man.  They both kept losing tools.  There was only one small tool box on the Kubota and all you tractor people know they are never big enough.Tractor Man, who is very inventive when forced to be, found an old rusty tool box and decided to fasten it to the tractor.

I said, but it will rust more. You need paint. He agreed. I was nice enough to ask what color he preferred. He stated he didn't care soooooooooooo....

 I used what I had.  No need to run to town just for special paint.  I make do with what I have.

Tractor Man's new tool box.

Sadly I ran out of lavender and had to pull out the pink then I ran out of pink and had to get creative.

I'm not a graffiti artist.

This was my first try.

I think he will get the message when he uses the tool box.

The box is now installed and handy as a pocket on a shirt.

Even if it's girly colored.

This N That

This corral is now re enforced with big cedar posts.

Head gate installed in concrete.

Tractor Man ready for surgery today.

Gonna get a kick starter for his heart.

Think of us today.

The 'possums have been released into the wild

far from dogs and chickens.

The mole patrol remains on duty

while a rose pretends to be a pinwheel.