Flue Season at Fairview

First it was my husband. He’s still not feeling healthy yet, but he is up and moving. Last night my daughter came down with it--I was up every half hour like clockwork. Now my oldest son has it.

I hate the flu. I think the only time I seriously considered dying to be easier than living was when I had the stomach flu. It would be very nice if my youngest and I were to avoid this. If the thermometer outside the door did not read in the teens and single digits, I’d suggest pitching a tent!

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Today my husband was trying to feed a big round bale of hay to the calves. He drove up to the “old” farm, the land we 1^st purchased prior to buying the property with our house. He picked up a bale with his tractor and headed down the road towards home. But he did not get here. The tractor died. It was good that he was on the edge of the road, because that big old tractor was not going to go anywhere. So he walked back to his truck and drove home. He asked me to come and help, and he called the sheriff to let them know about the tractor in the road.

I jumped into the old truck and as we drove up the road we saw there was a white car with flashing lights behind the tractor; one of the deputies must have been close by and had come to help with traffic, and I was glad since we were near the top of a hill where the traffic moved a little faster than necessary.

Now it was my turn to drive. After Hubby connected the two with a chain, he got into the tractor and tried to steer it while I pulled—not an easy task without the power steering. I put the truck in 4-wheel drive and 1^st gear and began to pull—and the tractor immediately twisted around into the lane of traffic. A van come over the top of the hill and stopped—I was thankful for the deputy. Scott talked through his walkie-talkie and said I needed to pull more slowly. (More? I never got the clutch out of 1^st gear!) A car driving by pulled off the opposite side of the road and a man all dressed up in church clothes walked over to the tractor.

“Who is that?” I asked over the walkie.

“Someone who will drive your truck!” answered my husband. And then I recognized our neighbor who had moved away a few months ago. Who would recognize a dairy farmer in fancy clothes?

Bruce got into the truck and the two of them made much better progress.

Now the tractor sits in the farm lane with its hay bale suspended in the air. Until the tractor can be started the bale cannot be lowered. The calves got a few small square bales tossed into their yard tonight. Hopefully the weather will warm up and not snow so that it will not be so difficult to work on the tractor. Working on it outside in the wind, and on the frozen ground, with gloves off, for long lengths of time, can be very cold. Farming in winter is not easy.

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No one in our household made it to church today. I don’t suppose anyone minded since even the healthy ones could be flu carriers (and my son who is sick now would have attended this morning). I am going to see if anyone is still interested in getting the tree up tonight. I will need to start working on updating my Web site, Fairview, with pictures of Christmas and winter. Blogging is slow right now, so this would be a good time for it.

Blessed Advent to you and yours!


Last night's moon--tonight is 1st quarter moon.