TERRY
Terry had an OT session yesterday and today the PT person will come. I would say at this point it would be nice if they could come more often but both of the gals are just super therapists and nice to have in the house as well. I am having a difficult time knowing what work the in home care people should be doing and what I should do. I try to keep Terry in the loop and often ask her who she wants to do a certain thing. The OT said she did a great job yesterday with her work. She had Terry stand and as she was holding on to the walker she stood for almost 5 minutes. Yes, she pretty much was DONE at that point but it was a good start. We will see how PT goes today.
I get so so tired of dealing with clinics, hospitals etc I could throw a phone book across the room. Oh, I forgot we really do not have phone books anymore but that is all the more madding! I called the clinic for a paper copy of Terry's blood work from last Monday. They gave me the phone # of the record place. I called them and they asked if Terry filled out a consent form to get records! What the heck you need to consent to get your own records! So now I have to get that done. I called Dr. Vickers office to make an appointment for Terry. They said they would check on the consent and call back. Six hours later the phone is still begging for a call so I called again. Then we got an appointment for next week.
Friends from Minnesota live just around the corner. Yesterday Cheryl brought over a delicious dinner. There was so much it will last for several meals. My meal making skills are not the best in the world so that kind of thing is so welcome. Several days ago another friend brought over a homemade dessert and that was great. Before that friends brought over food and that also was very good. It makes my skill in heating frozen pizza pale!!!
As I sit here and type I am enjoying Kona coffee that Kim had sent. I am sure it will start my day with gusto as it goes down so smooth and does not have an after taste.
I took care of Terry at 5:30 and then decided that I could not go back to sleep so I got up. I may need some shut eye later in the day. I am guessing 5:30 rise and shine is not all that great for tennis mid morning.
My goodness it looks like Minnesota is trying to compete with FL for rain. The St. Paul weather showed they had 2+" a day or two ago. Here we have had 2 1/2" in the last two days.
This picture does not do justice to our haystacks as ours were MANY times larger than this BUT
July 19th a Friday in 1957
As Joan, Dave and I scrambled down the stairs we knew we were in for a busy busy day. Over the last several days we had seen Dad cut the alfalfa and let it dry for a few days. Then Dave and I hooked the Ford to the rack and went round and round the field getting the hay in rows. I thought, "Why does Dad not have a side delivery rack that would do that?" Well it would take money I am sure. After the field was in rows and rows of hay we then drove over them the long way and made bunches of hay. That is the way the field stood as we hurried to eat breakfast. I was kind of looking forward to the day as I did not have to stack the hay as that would be Joan and Dave. Actually that was not a bad thing unless Dad happened to come in with the wind at his back which meant the hay dust would blow into the faces of Joan and Dave. My job was to drive around the field with the rake behind the Ford. I would drive over hay that Dad had missed with the stacker and then I would drive over a bunch of hay and trip the rake by pulling a rope that was attached to the fender of the tractor. So all I did all day long was drive and drive. Joan and Dave had the hard work. Anyway here it was almost 9:00 AM and Dad said we could get to work as there had been a slight breeze so the hay was dry already. As Joan and Dave made sure they had long sleeve shirts in case there was a lot of dust I grabbed the gallon jug what was wrapped with a burlap sack. I made sure the burlap was very wet and then I filled the jug from the hose near the garden. It was my job to make sure the water jug got to the field and then was placed in a spot out of the sun so it would not dry out. That would mean we would have cool water all day long. By 9:00 we were ready and Dad was already a bit cranky and impatient as he wanted to be sure and get all the hay stacked by Saturday night. If we could get the hay stacked without rain on it he said it was much much better for the cows. He also talked to Joan and Dave to let them know that maybe he would hire the stacks hauled home by Mr. Brecker who had a haystack mover. Dad wanted to be sure that as Joan and Dave set the stage for the stack they did not make it too big so that it could not be moved. Well we all remembered that a couple of years ago Ronald and Dad actually cut a huge hay stack in half with barbwire and the two tractors but Dad wanted to be sure we did not have to do that again. So by 9:45 we were in the hay field just to the north of Rollof's farm. We had gotten nice rains so the hay was nice and there was a lot of it. As for me I was happy to drive around the field with the Ford and sometimes jump off to see if I could kill a mouse!!! Dad had said that we really needed to finish the work by tomorrow so he had asked Mom to make sandwiches and bring them out to the field instead of going home for dinner (noon meal). He also said that if the weather stayed dry we would work until dark which meant Mom would get the cows and milk them. She did not have to do that very often but I knew she could do a great job. So the day went by. Dad seemed to kind of enjoy driving the Jayhawk stacker. To my memory he NEVER allowed anyone else to drive the stacker. It was the kind that attached to the front of the "M" so that when you wanted to turn the stacker to the left you had to steer to the right. About mid afternoon Dad hit a rock that was almost hidden in the ground but was above maybe two inches. One of the long tines snapped off when he hit the rock so for the last several hours we stacked hay with the stacker looking like a kid with a front tooth missing. That meant more work, or fun, for me as it meant the stacker left more loose hay which I would gather up with the rake! About 3:00 Mom drove up in the car with lunch and a full jug of water. I poured the water into our jug which was under a pile of hay and felt the burlap which was still cool. Not for a second did I ever think I would someday be purchasing water in plastic bottles!! By dark we had finished one stack and were well on our way to finishing stack #2. As we turned into the yard with our lights on Dad said that if we had good weather tomorrow he was sure we could finish with hours to spare. He was happy as there was no rain in sight and that meant the work would be done and the hay would be in good shape. AND IF we finished early maybe Dave and I could shot blackbirds or play some ball! A good day came to an end as Dave and I rode up to the lake on the bikes so we could wash off. It was late so it was kind of a challenge to ride on the gravel in the dark but oh my the lake water felt so fresh. Back home it was a late snack, up to bed and then Dave and I would drift off to sleep talking about what the world was like beyond Cayuga, Geneseo and farther. It would seem like a long time but really we would find out as we got older and then way after that we would have an appreciation for our early life ont he farm!
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