Saturday, September 19th

 TERRY

Some progress, maybe.  Terry did not have a good day yesterday.  For the first time she did not get out of bed.  I asked her if she wanted to get up, wash up a bit and go for a walk at about 8:30 and she said at that time she would like to stay in bed for a while.  I do NOT think it says anything other than she just had a day where her thoughts were about health and her inability to get up and walk.  I am hoping and expecting her to be up for a walk this morning, maybe later in the AM.  I did have a conversation with a in home care agency and I was impressed with our talk.  The lady is coming over Tuesday to talk and then we will make a decision if her agency is a good fit for us.  She did say that there are MANY things an agency can do that help in a situation like ours.  She said a person can get excellent meals brought in, meds can come in labeled by the day etc etc.  I am not saying we need those things at this time BUT it is nice to know they are available.  I did tell her we are fine with meals as at this time as I make a mean tuna sandwich with pickles and mayo that Terry loves!!!  Really I can do more than that but she thought I was pretty funny and it made for a "light" moment in the day.  I do feel that Terry's spirits have been down and of course one can not blame her for that.  I think getting outside will help today.

There are things down the road that will help.  Daughter Kim is coming back into town and said she will be here for dinner on Monday.  Now back on the farm dinner would mean the noon meal as supper was in the evening but that is not the case today as we city folks have different labels!  I have no idea how long she will be in town but any amount of time here is a help.  I also have high hopes that after Tuesday we can have a different agency on board and I feel that would help a lot also.

I have not been on the tennis courts at all this week but will go over at 9:00 this morning as there is that group that gathers every Saturday.  For the last two weeks the only time I played was a week ago and then we were cut short by the rain.  Will see who shows up this morning and what the weather is like.  I do not think it is supposed to rain.

No other plans for the weekend.  I do need to go to the store this afternoon but that will be a short trip. 

ONE OF THE FARM ICONS (it is not our truck but close to it)

First this is not our "big red" but very similar.  Big Red had a grain box on the back and we had a hoist that would tip the box up for unloading.  Some memories of Big Red:

• Big Red had a hoist behind the cab that would tilt the box for unloading.  To my memory there were no other farmers who had that yet our farm was pretty antique like.
• Big Red had a front windshield that opened on the bottom and one could crank it out for fresh air--pretty cool I would say.
• You had to double clutch it when changing gears.  That meant you pushed the clutch in to get it out of gear and then let it up.  Then you pushed it in again to put it in another gear.  Of course you did all that in one motion.
• The 100's of conversations Dave and I had were priceless.  They ranged from having a home with an indoor toilet (one of our goals), to moving away from an antique farm, to making money and having some nice things, to school and friends and of course it seemed that GIRLS often entered into our talk.  Well why would we be any different than any other guys?
• Driving to the Farmers Union meeting with no water in the system--not good!
• Driving to Halvors farm and getting hit by a neighbor who thought they owned the road.  I know if I I were to go over to Phillip's farm where Big Red is rusting in the trees I could show you the dent in the iron.
• I still can see our dog Tiny jumping our of my arms through the open window as we drove north on the road home.  She just jumped up and got into the cab again!
• When Dad took a load of grain to Geneseo to the elevator we always guessed how many bushels there would be.  I don't know who got the closed the most but I can say that the box held 4 combine hoppers which meant 200 bushels BUT because oats usually weighed more than 32 pounds per bushel there were times the count went as high as 225 bushels!
• I am sure there were MANY stains on the seat from eating chokecherries as we sat and talked.

As one can tell Big Red was an icon of the farm and was part of many good memories.  After the farm burned Dad towed it over to Phillip's farm and to this day it sits in the trees with things growing out of it.  Not really a fitting end to such a trusted icon.  Big Red, you served us well!

Here it is only 6:45 and I am pretty much done writing for the morning.  I am debating if I should eat before I go over to the tennis courts and have decided not to.  BUT the FP is still in my cup and making the start to the day a good one.