you snooze, you lose

I should have set the shot up from my back porch yesterday when I saw a wrecker easing up the hill in the hay field. He was getting ready to haul out the old tractor and baler that caught fire in the fall. The bales are still scattered around the black carcasses of metal and they have become part of the daily landscape. I remember the day it happened and I ran out with my camera to catch the fire from a distance. Ya'll...it was huge. All that fuel went up quickly and the operator managed to jump and roll to safety. Obviously not his first rodeo. This same guy and his female rake partner cut all the hay around this farm and others nearby. It is sold or bartered with now since there are no cattle to feed. Sometimes, I miss their mooing, ya know?

It is cooler today, but still on the mild side for the dead of winter. My spring bushes have already been tricked into putting out a few flowers which will be promptly frozen to death sometime in the near future. The asparagus bed is halfway chopped/burned with a couple more months until it shows signs of life. The rest of the stubble will go up in flames before then. It is a much easier to maintain now that the ancient wire fencing is gone and a bean field sits next door. Slowly but surely, the remnants of my daddy's 50 years of fencing are going by the wayside in favor of wide open spaces. I like the new look, even though I miss the familiarity of the old wooden sheds that once stood in my yard. With fences, of course. Pride is still roaming and loving it and hasn't once attempted to cross over to the golf course. He just stands there eating and watching those crazy people swing sticks!

The crossroads atmosphere is more apparent than ever in my life here...fifty seven years in one place is a long time and I will never leave it behind emotionally. This farm has provided for my family during that time, and provided my father with the ideal farmer's job...managing the place for many years with minimal financial risk. The day the checks stopped coming for cattle, that deal was over and the reins were handed over to my brother. He grew up knowing every hill and slough on this farm so it was an easy transition. His border collie, Sally, is a year old now....we picked her out last January and brought her to the condo/doghouse behind his home. The polar opposite of his previous wildeyed boy, she sits quietly in the bed of his truck and enjoys any and all attention. She'll be a good mommy.

It's quiet here now, with BG at work and only the hum of the washer and dryer. I am still in PJs and thus missed the money shot over there when the tractor got hauled. That's okay though. Today is the first day of the rest of our lives, and you can't catch it all on film.

Peace and love ^j^