The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Looking at the kitchen calendar, I can envision how things should go for the day. However the best laid plans don’t always work out the way we plan. They may even work out better.
When we scheduled our annual tax meeting for the end of February, there was nothing else on the calendar for that day. By the time the meeting arrived, so had three other things..a rescheduled School Honors Breakfast, FFA Barn Yard and a make-up home wrestling match. It was going to be one of those days. Would our logistic plan stand the test?
As everyone rolled out of bed early that morning, the race was on. Chores were completed in record time. The stock trailer was bedded down and a couple of baby calves were blanketed and loaded for a full day of attention and petting. The plan was for Katie and Austin to drop off the trailer at the school and head over to the Legion for breakfast. Michael was to drive the John Deere tractor with a bucket loader to the breakfast and then to school to give tractor rides to excited first graders in the afternoon. It was such a strange site to see him decked out in dress slacks and a tie as he climbed into the tractor cab. More people took notice of how he was dressed then the fact that he parked a tractor at the Legion for a school event. This is when you know you live in a small town!
Every winter our school hosts an honor roll breakfast and a National Honor Society induction ceremony. Students, parents and grandparents fill all the tables and many stand around the edges of the room nibbling on a caramel roll. Everyone turns out to recognize the positive achievements of our students. After pictures are taken and congratulations shared, everyone heads back to school, work or tax meetings.
We made the tax meeting on time and I had a very short list of additional information Ron needed to complete our returns. It was shaping up to be a successful schedule for the day. Everything was falling in the right places. To top it off, we even made it to the wrestling match that evening.
After surviving our tax day meeting events, I thought I was becoming quite an expert at logistics. I felt that I could even teach Fed Ex a few things about scheduling. With extra drivers in the family, it was becoming easier to be at several different places all at once. Maybe the kids’ growing up isn’t such a bad thing after all.
As things just seem to fall in place on some days, other days they just seem to fall and scatter. When I agreed to travel to the Twin Cities for a dairy producer media training workshop, there was nothing on the calendar except the All-Breeds Convention at the end of the week in Mankato. I figured I could pull off both things. By the time the new week arrived, so had a number of other commitments and chaos.
On Friday John called to say he was heading up to Minnesota to picture cattle. He would be at our place on Monday morning, just before the next big snowstorm was scheduled to hit. With Michael at the State Wrestling Tournament, we were a little short handed, but still managed to get the priority stuff done. Saturday had Austin and Al pitching out the calf barn. Katie and Mark were clipping cattle in the barn for photos and visitor. I was floating between barns to help where ever they needed me. Things were going so well, that Mark and I even slipped out of chores early to watch a basketball game in Pierz. It was a great date night.
Michael finally returned home in time to celebrate his 18th birthday and to deliver a heifer calf from his show heifer Garnet. He is now searching for a “G” name for his new calf. I suggested Geode, since she is a granddaughter of Crystal. He’s still thinking about it. This was probably the last thing on my schedule to go right. From here on out, it was a scramble to keep things rolling in the right direction.
As we walked out of church on Sunday, it started to snow and didn’t quit until Monday morning. We ended up with 4 inches of fluffy snow on top of everything else. Mark revved up the tractor and snow blower and cleared a patch in the farm yard as a backdrop for the photo session. As that hurdle was cleared, I thought everything would work out for Tuesday.
Ron was going to stop by and drop off our tax return at 8:30. Steve was going to stop by with people from Japan to look at cattle at 10. Once chores were done, I figured the guys wouldn’t need me and I could slip out to catch the media training workshop in the cities and there would be plenty of help around home.
I soon discovered Michael couldn’t miss class that morning to stay home and help. Al ended up having a creamery board meeting that morning to continue their search for a new general manager. It looked like Mark was going to be the only one home to finish chores and cleaning cattle before the guests arrived. I couldn’t abandon him. Once our “15 minute” tax meeting ended an hour later, Mark didn’t have much time left to get things done in time and I was already late for the media training. Time to punt and reschedule.
The rest of the day is a blur. We put the finishing touches on the cattle just as Steve and his guests arrived. We talked cattle for an hour before it was time for them to hit the road and for us to get back to work. We loaded Vern’s semi up with corn for contract delivery. Then Mark decided it was warm enough to open up the north silo. As he pitched rotten silage down the chute, I pitched the junk into the bobcat bucket and filled the spreader. As I caught up with Mark’s pile, a couple of farmers from Nimrod just stopped by to look at bulls and cows we had for sale. After another hour of talking cattle, it was time for chores, supper and school conferences. It is amazing how things work out, even when our best laid plans don’t.
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As their four children pursue dairy careers off the family farm, Natalie and Mark are starting a new adventure of milking registered Holsteins just because they like good cows on their farm north of Rice, Minnesota.
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