Is It Any Wonder?
This morning, Dennis and I hit the Super 8 pool for a good hour workout of bodies that tend to become tight from the cold and from watching the ice patches when we walk.
After a good session we had a cup of complimentary coffee. Coming home it was a lot easier to kick it in gear as I had wiggled every which way but loose in the water to limber up. I started the laundry and took a few minutes to crochet several rows on a project that was lying on the sofa just begging for a few stitches. The pool does wonders on the core body, but the hands need the manipulation that can be achieved by whipping the crochet hook around with the right hand while the left manages the tension of the yarn.
Is it any wonder the hands need more TLC than the body? Dennis and I began to recount the farming days. Five gallon pails full of feed with handles that were nothing more than a stiff rod with no padding for the hands, and more than anyone could count were the 40 lb. bales of hay with twine that would cut into the palms as the livestock was fed. Dennis and I agreed that the all time favorite was the pick ax in the silo of frozen silage that needed to be broken loose, thrown down the chute, and then carried to the mangers for the milk cows. For me, it amazed me how content Carrie was as she was carried up into the silo facing me in a sling that I had made. She had a sand pail and a shovel that we left up in the silo, complete with an old blanket for her to sit on, and it kept her happy. It sounds like she may have been cold, but when the top six inches of the frozen silage crust was broken into, the heat within the silage actually made steam. I just kept moving her from one warmer spot to another.
Oh yes, thus was life on the farm. Dennis in Watonwan County and Carrie and I in Renville County, it was the great life of farming. Wouldn’t have changed a thing, other than remaining farmers.