25 years today

Since the boss and I met...(been married 22) He asked me to dance and I did, only because of his farmer's tan. I thought by the looks of him that he must have had fifteen years on me (only four, but he was kind of a party animal in those days and didn't get a lot of sleep).


A lot of water has flowed down the Mohawk since then. Lot of gallons of milk been made. Tons of hay baled or chopped. Corn planted. Gardens grown. Toddlers morphed into teenagers, and at least one twenty-something. The babies I used to haul to the barn in a Snugli or Gerry carrier are running it now. They started helping as soon as they could pick up a shovel. Liz has been showing cows since she was six and we gave her Sonora who made the front page of the Recorder when Liz took her off the trailer at the fair. We were the first people I ever saw to get one of those high rear wheel jogging strollers so we could haul the kids around. We started with just Liz in the seat and ended up with Becky in the seat, Alan on her lap, and Liz riding on the foot rest. They were darned heavy too, but our bright red kid buggy would go over anything. Now everybody has them, but I will never forget how excited I was to find something practical in which to drive babies around fair grounds and such.

I will also never forget the day I had Becky in the Gerry on my back while I worked, (not really doing much more than keeping the boss and his late father company. There is danger in inherent in family farming and I always tried to be careful. However, things happen that are impossible to predict.) After a while she got heavy and I had just taken her to the house to leave her with grandma when a steel barn support upright fell on me and crushed me. Cracked my skull, broke the little cartilage thingie on my sternum. (My head is still pretty fragile and I am careful not to bump it.) God was sure watching that day, because if she had been on my back things would have been a lot worse. No one could have known THAT was going to happen, so we sure got lucky.

At one point I often walked around with Alan in the Snugli, Becky in the Gerry and Liz hanging on to the hammer loop on my jeans. Sort of a human baby tree. We hardly ever left them, no matter where we went. Still don't if they want to ride along and amazingly they usually still do.

I think the best thing we have to show for all the years is the kids...Anybody can run a business or grow a crop and there are plenty of farmers who do it bigger and better than we do, but I sure am proud of my kids. Wouldn't trade em for anything, although some nights when they get fighting...well, dang.

Anyhow we are still crazy after all these years. The boss is still flying with one wing and we are still covering all the milking and feeding, although he is chopping corn every day. I don't know how he even gets into the tractor, since most of the time we have to tie his shoes for him....but I am still glad I fell for that farmer's tan and those rugged, outdoorsman good looks. Really I am.