May 7th, end of the first full week of May 2021

 TERRY

Terry is the same.  We were home all day yesterday and perhaps will be home today as well.  I can not say anything new as she continues to go back and forth from the bedroom to the living room.  At this point she has no interest in getting outside at all.  

It is a big day for me.  It is the summer of 1957 and I am venturing into new territory.  For the most part I have been driving the tiny Ford tractor for a few years now but the International M has been off limits.  It is a bigger tractor with tall wheels and a narrow front end as the tires are close together, not like the Ford with the wide front end.  As I woke up this morning Dave said he was sick so he stayed in bed as I dressed and headed downstairs to have breakfast.  I am pretty happy as Dad told us yesterday that the oats and wheat are just starting to merge out of the ground so we can NOT pick any more rocks now.  That was wonderful news as rock picking is a pain in the wrong place.  Well it really is not that bad but the deal is this.  You pick rocks until you are blue in the face and then you look out over the field and it is full of rock again!!!  It just seems that it is never ending.  Well that is true for our land to the east.  To the west and on James land the rocks are not so bad.  Well anyway as I eat breakfast and hear the news that we can not pick rocks any more I start to file my agenda into my brain.  Dave is in bed so I need to find ways to be busy during the day.  I decide that in the morning I will get my fishing gear and walk up to the lake for a while.  Just about the time I start to get excited to do something fun Dad comes into the house with a look on his face that I do not really like.  He says, "Dave was going to disc the summer fallow on Jim's land but he is in bed so you can do that today!  You should be able to finish by lunch time. What, I think to myself I have never done field work with the M tractor and it is kind of big.  Dad goes on to say the disc is near the fence south of the corn crib so I should just hook it up and take it down to the field.  He said I can leave it there when I finish for the day.  He goes on to say that we will need to disc the idle acres at least one more time this summer.  With that he turns and heads out the door.  I sit with a stunned look on my face.  Now I have driven the M but only for very short times.  It is a bit too big for me.  In order to put it in gear I need to pretty much get off the seat to depress the clutch and then change gears and sit back down.  BUT I say to myself I can do it as I finish my two eggs and toast.  The M is parked near the barn with a can over the exhaust as we always did that so rain would not get in.  It starts right up and I drive it over to the gas pump to fill with gas.  As I am putting gas ON (as Dad would say) Mom comes out of the house with a shirt and hat.  She always feels I need that.  I take them and tuck them under the seat as my mode of operation all summer is NO shoes, NO hat and NO shirt.  Finally I drive over to beyond the corn crib and back up to the disc.  Now I know how it works.  When you are in the field you back up a bit, pull the rope and then go forward to engage the discs.  That takes it from a straight line to a V shape and that is how you till the soil.  Finally I get things together and head down the road.  The disc makes a lot of noise on the road and I wonder why we don't have a trailer to transport it.  I arrive "down south" and see that there are already tiny weeds coming up so Dad was right, we need to disc it now.  I will be discing east and west so I head east with the disc engaged.  When I get to the east end I back up to disengage the disk, then I turn around and engage it again and head west.  After the first round I think, "That took a long time.  How does Dad think I can finish by mid afternoon?"  After a few hours I get off the tractor and stand facing north.  Yep, my shadow is pretty much straight north which means it is noon and time to head home for dinner (noon meal).  When I get home Dad is getting the mower on the Ford as the first crop of alfalfa is due to be cut.  As we eat dinner he asks me when I will be done.  I say I will not be able to finish that day.  He looks at me as if I am doing something wrong!  He says, what are you doing anyway as you should already be at least half finished?"  I reply, "Dad it takes a long time to turn around."  He says, "That does not make any sense as you just do it."  I said well every time I have to back up, go forward and then after I turn I back up and go again.  With a kind of discussed look on his face he says, "YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DISENGAGE THE DISC WHEN YOU TURN!!!"  I take another bit without saying a word but in my mind I say, "Why didn't you tell me that???"  End of story as I went back down south and finished by the end of the day.

Well here I am it is 8:45 and Terry and I are alone on this Friday.  Sonia really wanted to do something today so I mentioned she should take the day off.  That means the meal that comes in the mail is on me today.  I did make Terry a new batch of fudge yesterday and she did say it is as good as always.  It should last a long time IF I can keep my hands out of it.  She has been on this kick where she loves cream peas on a slice of toast with cheese so I have made that several times.  

I spent about an hour and a half yesterday on the travertine floor in the kitchen and now even the food was better this morning!!!  BUT ALL the floors need to be cleaned yikes!  I know the picture almost makes it look like they is still dirt but "for sure" the floor is clean.

I promised I would show the dining room and the den today!

So there is proof that I do some work around here.  I do admit to the left, out of the picture is a box of papers that need going through but I felt cleaning up the table was enough work for one day!

Well here now it is 9:05 and my FP is pretty much gone and I have the DAKOTA ATTITUDE book nearby so will read some and post one thing!

"One thing led to another and eventually I got a letter in the mail from the township trustees and they said they were gonna sell the three story old school and told me what to offer and that is when we bought it.  Actually, Donna wasn't part of the "we" at that time.  There was a lady before me, she laughs.  I inherited this when we married.  David picks up the story from there.  I was dating a gal; she didn't want anything to do with it, so….  Here I am, Donna says,  My first time seeing it was the weekend he asked me to marry him at the Norway Lutheran Church, which is south of Denbigh.  Why propose in an isolated church at the end of a 12 miles of gravel road?  That's easy, David answers.  It was a long walk back to civilization if she said no".

Time to sign off.  I am about finished with the FP.  I am in need of a haircut so may get that done this morning.  I often put it off as I do not like haircuts.  I guess it brings me back to the days of a towel around my neck and NO shower afterward as the shower option was in school or a jump in the lake!