Day 59, "Every picture has a story"
I sat on the seat and carefully held the knife blade to the stone. Really, I did not need it to be very sharp but over the last several days it had gotten much use. We were kind of in the "in between" stage of farm work. Well it seemed as if Dad always had some idea of how to keep Dave and I busy BUT at this stage of the summer, June, there tended to be some days when we could avoid work if we worked at it!!! Dad would often get in the car and head to town and IF Dave and I could avoid contact before he left often we were on our own, no work. June was the best time for that. The wheat and oats were up to the point where you could not drive in the field picking rocks. It seemed that our land was so good at growing rocks, better at that than growing grain many summers. Anyway NO rock picking for the rest of the summer. Then there was the 30 acres on Jim's land down south that was summer fallowed for the summer. We would go over that a few times a summer with the Ford and drag but that was a quick job. SO today, as Dad was gone, I had time to myself. I had a board, about 12" X 6' in the shop. It looked like a war zone as there were marks from top to bottom and side to side but that was good. With a bit of pride I have to say most of the marks were kind of in the middle of the board! I took the board outside and set it up against the plow hitch and then marked off 15-20 feet. I would then expertly take my pocket knife out of my right pocket, that is the pocket Dad kept his knife in, and extend the 3" blade. With the arm of a baseball player and the skill of someone who had done this many times I would hurl the knife towards the board with pace that would be the envy of any young boy on the farm. Almost without exception the knife would hit the board with the blade in perfect position and I would smile with delight at my skill. BUT of course there were times when I had to sit down and sharpen it so there is the story of the stone!
Tennis today at 7:30 but I am not sure I will play. I have asked a guy on the team who just arrived a week ago. Last year he had some memory issues and it sounds like they have gotten worse so now when I send a message to him it goes to his wife as well. I have not seen him play so I will let him play in my place this morning as I will be using him on the team tomorrow and I am not sure which court to put him on and who should play with him. Today will give me some answers
Enough as I need to get over early to talk to the tennis pro as he was going to talk to the kitchen staff yesterday about our after meet snacks tomorrow. I will leave one cup of FP for my return at 9:00.
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