The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
As the morning feed tumbles from the mixer into my feed cart, a sudden inspiration hits my mind.
The perfect combination of words and imagery to bring my thoughts to life..but I am at the age where inspiration leaves as quickly as it came. If I don’t write it down immediately, it will be lost forever.
I scramble to capture my thoughts on paper before they vanish. As Mark glances up from milking Commotion he realizes I must have a deadline fast approaching as I scribble down my latest thoughts on scratch paper from the breeding desk. Here is what I was able to capture.
I’ve been looking at the tortoise and hare symbols on the tractors and chopper boxes for the past ten days while we push through the corn silage harvest. As the season comes to a close, I’m starting to run out of fuel.
We all seem to be moving at a slower pace despite our best efforts to throttle it up and move quicker. We just are starting to tire out and can’t seem to pick up the pace. Our help has moved away and it is just Mark, Al and I putting up the harvest.
Jonathon has helped when his schedule allows and it is greatly appreciated. It is amazing what a difference one person can make in our situation. When he is around in the evenings, Mark can keep chopping while Al and I peel off to start milking. Talk about getting things done.
By the time we make it to the house for the evening, you just want to get off your feet for a while and not listen to the roar of the blower tractor for a few hours. Silence is bliss on these nights.
I am starting to think my variable speed is on the fritz. Lately I seem to be stuck on turtle speed. It takes me longer to get the same jobs done as when we first started farming together.
However, when I move slower, I notice more of the scenery surrounding me. I see water cups that need to be cleaned out as I bed stalls. I notice a swollen front knee on a cow as I deliver feed around the barn.
I check out the low tire pressure on the manure spreader. (Ok, so maybe I pawn that job off on Mark.) I start to breathe a little easier and enjoy the fact that at least I am still able to keep working and moving.
Maybe the turtle had it right about a slow and steady pace to finish a long race, but I still prefer to move at a quicker pace so I can be done sooner.
The slow pace does allow you to see more of the details but it also seems to create a longer list of things to do.
My mind starts to wander as I bounce over rough field roads and barren fields with corn stalk spikes. Rocking over irrigation ruts and tracks with full chopper boxes tend to loosen things up a bit.
Not only do things loosen up on the equipment with such jerking but my mind starts to let loose as well as my head rocks back and forth.
What comes out are lists. Lists of things to do in the barn, things to do in the house, and things to do in the next five years. Some jobs are perennial favorites on the fall list of things I should do, like wash barn windows and maybe house windows? Clean the garden out of weeds and oversized beets. Relieve my apple tree branches of their heavy load.
The list of missed or over looked jobs keeps growing, just like Pinocchio’s nose with each jarring bounce in the tractor cab.
By the looks of things in the cabs, I have a couple more jobs to add to the list. Wash tractor windows and clean out tractor cabs.
Driving chopper boxes can be a mind numbing job as you bounce along the open fields but it does offer you the chance to let your mind wander and think and even relax as problems get shook out and priorities get squared away.
I know once the harvest dust settles, there will be a million things to do before the snow starts to fly and I’ll have to be able to throttle up the variable speed and start moving like the hare.