June 4, 2021
It is now the early June. The wedding was beautiful. A lot of people were there. Many of our family from around the country were able to make it. We got a suite at the hotel where our family was staying and turned it into the hospitality room. There was plenty of food, drink, games, familizing and reconnecting. It was wonderful and we are thrilled to welcome a new daughter to our family.
Two weeks later, we headed to St Meinrad, Indiana for Nicholas’s graduation. It too was quite beautiful. Nicholas had to pack up and say goodbye to the friends he had made in the last five years. From St. Meinrad, Nicholas headed back to Springfield while John and I headed to our next destination.
We visited my sister in northern Alabama to pick up our new-to-us farm tractor! We’ve never owned a tractor, and while we could have waited a few years for it, this deal was too good to pass up!
When we got home, we couldn’t wait to try out our new toy. That Sunday, we were supposed to tend the garden but instead John bush hogged (or brush-hogged, depending on where you live) the wooded sections of the property. He loved riding up high and cutting down bushes and brambles and planning on how we will use the area (we decided that we will probably rotate pigs there next year). Then, without him realizing, a branch got caught in the roll bar and when it snapped, it clobbered him on the side of his head and sent his classes flying. With the side of his head all bloody, John texted me to come help. With Joshua’s help and some paper towels, we wiped up the blood, found the glasses, and then John hopped back up on the tractor to finish.
The spring rains finally slowed down, so we decided to dig trenches to facilitate better drainage and to lay down 200 feet of pex hose for outside water spigots. The pipes to the 2 spigots we had burst during The Big Freeze! We rented a trencher. It made quick work of the job, for the most part. But, as has been our “luck,” it became a big ordeal! Our yard is a mix of clay and Missouri rock. But in one spot, it was mostly clay – and because of the rain, it was saturated ooey gooey clay. You guessed it, the trencher got stuck! And, it happened less than an hour before we had to return the equipment or get charged another full day rental. We used the truck (in 4-wheel drive) and the tractor, and after several attempts from various directions, we were able to pull the trencher out of the trench, wash the mud off it and return it with about 2 minutes to spare!
With 2 of our boys home for the summer, we have 4 vehicles. That’s a good thing, so we don’t have to worry about coordinating rides. That’s a bad thing, though when ALL FOUR BROKE DOWN in one way or another AT.THE.SAME.TIME! The first problem happened when the window on the farm truck would not go up. We replaced the motor, but it still didn’t work. We realized we had to replace the entire internal mechanism, but it was back-ordered. While we waited for it to come in, the window was taped up with blue painter’s tape – boy, did that look nice!
The next casualty was the sedan. First, the alternator went out – thankfully our youngest fixed it quite quickly. But soon after, the engine stopped in the middle of traffic, while I was driving it! I was able to start it again and drove it home. This repair was quite a bit more involved, but our youngest son rose to the challenge and fixed it, too!
We thought all was good until the van wouldn’t start after a trip to the store. We had to leave the van there for the day while we diagnosed the problem and purchased a new starter. That evening, we spent 5 hours in the store parking lot working on the van. We were thrilled with the bystanders who offered to help – we live in a great community! The store closed at 10pm and we were there almost 2 more hours before it was fixed!
Finally, our middle son was leaving to visit friends in southern Alabama. He was 2 hours from home when he called to say that something was wrong with his drive shaft and he couldn’t drive! Really!?!?! I had to drive out to pick him up (it was Saturday evening). The truck was parked across the street from a muffler shop, so we planned to have them fix it on Monday morning. That did not happen – by Tuesday afternoon, we decided to go pick it up and limp home – it drove extremely loudly! We took it to a mechanic who claimed they fixed it. They did not. We took it to another mechanic and he taught us how to fix it! Whew!
It wasn’t until all the other vehicles were taken care of that we got around to fixing the truck window.
It was certainly a trying time – we were chest-deep in chickens and gardening. Our house needed so much work to get it livable. But we were spending so much time on our vehicles. Just as we were getting very frustrated, our youngest son reminded us of 2 very important things: 1) all our cars are paid for so the money we spent on parts was better than car payments, and 2) we taught our kids how to learn, to figure things out and to try. If it wasn’t for their willingness to help us try to fix our vehicles, the repair bills would have easily been 3 or 4 times what they were!
We are blessed, and undaunted!
Undaunted Farming 