Never would have thought…

Driving a tractor would be so exhausting!

For the past few days I’ve been out in the field round bale picking and by the time I get home in the evening I’m just beat! I can barely keep my eyes open long enough to cram some food in, then its light’s out. Much to the amusement of my household, my new bedtime is around 8:00 pm. Thank goodness I have today off (from tractoring anyway) so I recoup some much needed energy.

Seriously, how do people do this day after day?!

It is exhausting work. I have distant memories of driving a combine during harvest in the Foremost area. Twelve hour days for a good part of the summer. When I wasn't driving I was doing repairs.

Always wanted a day of doing farm duties , baleing , swathing , combineing etc , just so that I can say that i've done it .

Flicker chick, your post brought back memories of my childhood back on the ranch in Alberta. We had over 4000 acres and every person on that ranch went morning to night without stopping in hay season. My dad worked on the ranch, so did the foreman and several hired hands who lived in the bunk house. While my mom didn't drive any equipment, she cooked. And cooked and cooked and cooked. She fed all those guys. I remember HUGE basket lunches loaded into the trunk of the Cadillac (the only local farmwife with a Cadillac) and heading off cross country for a couple thousand acres until she found the crew and fed them.

Then back to the house to start dinner. Everyone was exhausted, sleeping in the recliners while the news played on the tv but no one was awake to watch. Then if one farmer was sick or hurt and couldn't bring in his crop, everyone headed over to their place and did their fields by night. IT was a life that most don't get to experience anymore. There is somethig honest, right and wholesome about being tired from a day of such down -to- earth production.

We had wonderful meals made by my exMIL brought to us in the field in a plain jane Pontiac. The coffee was awful made from terrible well water, but the sandwiches were the best. My exFIL did not have any place for a car that had more options than a cheap radio and a block heater.

Most morning were spent for the first couple hours digging out the dust out of eyes from the previous day while greasing the old combine that had more ------- than a Vegas chorus line.

IT was a life that most don't get to experience anymore. There is something honest, right and wholesome about being tired from a day of such down -to- earth production.

^ Very true Uno. It is a wholesome tired that’s for sure.

I have fond memories of riding along in the combine with my father as a child – and of curling up and going to sleep on the floor by his feet. I couldn’t have been very old, but those were the days. I was totally daddy’s girl. I still miss him terribly…

I also remember running food to the fields with my mother and grandmother. And cook, cook, cook is right! As tiring as farming is, cooking for large crews is no picnic either. She was constantly on the move or in the kitchen.

When I wasn't driving I was doing repairs.

LoL rosewood. I’ve quickly learned Murphy’s Law is no where near as apparent as when running farm equipment. And fixes sure aren’t cheap.


Prairie dog: Well if you’re ever in the neighborhood during hay season, there is always use for another pair of hands around here.

Welcome to my world! An exhausting, but rewarding lifestyle.

O If I was out that way I would help out no problem , would be a great life experiance

No worries prairie dog.

coopslave wrote:Welcome to my world! An exhausting, but rewarding lifestyle.

^ That it is. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.