The past week has been mighty stressful. My buddy Jizzy has been having a rough road of it acting way down south. He drove a long ten plus hours up to call things off with his girlfriend face-to-face. Jizzy blew back into town around midnight. Tearfully and through many beers we sussed him back together. I could relate and the heart blood was all across the tracks... Jizzy slept to sober and lit out south in the early morning.
We're starting the long way to filling up the fields. A mess of cauliflower, kale (toscano and green leaf), cabbage (red and green), swiss chard and brussels sprout are in the ground up on the hilltop. The pea varieties are coming strong, the fava beans have broken surface, the spinach/beets/bok choi have sprouted. Things are coming along. We've had a few days of heavy rain and the cold frame has (barely) managed to survive.
I managed to mess up the tractor one rainy morning. When harrowing a small field along a row of blackberries I got stuck on a boulder while trying to turn around for another pass. Kicking the machine into reverse everything went haywire, the back wheel caught on a hydraulic line-- tearing the hydraulic system's connectors into a pretzel shape and busting a dagger sized hole in the tire. The boss was ready to strangle me.
Tractor wheels don't typically have inner tubing anymore, so repairs are more simple-- but a highly caustic (and expensive) anti-freeze solution was jetting from the hole. Fortunately, the tire mechanic came on short notice-- patching up the tire for just a hundred dollars. The bent hydraulics are another matter-- next week's problem.
After a few days the boss eased off me. Running over a hydraulic line is a problem, but a relatively common one. The real issue was why the safety release didn't trigger and eject the line-- instead the coupler stayed attached and bent everything up. So the boss has relegated everything as mostly not my fault. He wouldn't even let me cover the repair bill...
It's been real busy these past days-- I'm forgetting almost everything that's happened. But the "pre-season" is almost over. Hard planting is about to begin, and Bah is due back next week.
I'm working this weekend-- on a special job. We're doing a little cattle drive tomorrow-- moving the heard across the town road up to new pasture. A lot of the boss's family is coming in to lend a hand and the town police are gonna be there to mind the traffic. It'll be a crazy day, most certainly.
Off and onward, we'll click into gear here soon enough.
Take it easy.
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