The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
I feel like Ol’ Mother Hubbard whose cupboards were bare. I looked in my cupboards for glasses only to find plenty of room.
I looked in my cupboard of sweatshirts to find no extras anywhere. Where or where could they be?
Well it is harvest time, so I’m harvesting my lost dishware and clothing. When the kids were little, we use to go on a “treasure hunt” to find the lost items.
Now I just go collect my dishes and clothing because nobody seems to remember to bring stuff back to the house.
Many meals, snacks and water bottles made it out to the tractors during the summer season. Very few dishes returned.
As I climb in the tractor cabs, I am amazed at what has collected behind the tractor seat.
Remnants of every crop harvested this season, enough dirt to start a flower bed, pop cans, candy wrappers, a single glove, lost clip pins, a note with an important phone number that was needed last month, fertilizer delivery receipts, extra water jugs with lids and my missing dishes.
I try to use paper plates and plastic spoons, but sometimes it is too easy to grab the real stuff.
Most of the food delivered to the fields is consumed, but sometimes they just don’t finish the last gulp of chocolate milk.
YUCK! I’ll let that glass soak for a few days and maybe return it to the cupboard.
Now the missing clothes are a different kind of search. They could be anywhere! This warm fall has presented itself with a number of challenges.
The biggest challenge is how to get everything done while the weather is so nice. If this is global warming, I’m sure enjoying it!
The other challenge is deciding how to dress for a day of work.
The cool mornings have given way to gorgeous fall days and as the temperature rises, the clothing falls.
We start out the morning with a full arsenal of warm clothes. Once we get warmed up working, the clothes are stripped off and left behind.
The farm yard is like a giant walk-in closet with lots of storage space and hooks. I find sweatshirts draped over the trash barrel.
Coats are hung on nails in the barn by the feed alley. Hats and gloves are left behind in the milk house. Sometimes I’ll even find sweatshirts out in the straw shed lying on bales.
At least I get a complete tour of the farm while I’m out looking for laundry. Who says you can’t combine work, play and exercise?
Once all my treasures are collected and hauled to the house, the real work begins.
The sink if full of soaking dishes and the clothes line is full of clean clothes flapping in the breeze. Once everything is dried and folded, my cupboards will be full again…at least for a couple of weeks.
Then the fun begins again. It’s kind of like dairy farming. Once the day is done and the jobs completed, we get to start all over again tomorrow!
We can have a treasure hunt everyday if we just look around and “discover” the hidden treasures. I see my five treasures around the supper table at night. After we say grace, I ask everyone to say something good about the day.
I get the usual answers of rolled eyes and heavy sighs, but they will come up with something. If we keep our eyes open, we can find the treasures of the day in the simple things.
For me a simple treasure is when Mark flashes me a smile that lights up his whole face, I just melt and know it is a great day! Have fun on your treasure hunt today!