My day started out with doing a favor, running some cable and romex then replacing some insulators; it turned into a very long and busy day. After payday my brother in law is always short on help, anywhere from 1 day to 1 week - but they eventually come back - and since I was there anyway, maybe I could do another?



First job, pooper scooper duty, get into the skidsteer and move a mountain of manure, "sure where to", "The liquifier", awwww, nice. Looking out I see the "Big" tractor sitting there, wondering if I could take it for a spin, I knew they where getting it ready for the fall hay ride; so maybe, I could do a little riding around, backing it up to the flatbed and riding it out to the hay bales, sort of thing. I did get closer, my next favor, rather the same favor, was loading bales onto the flatbed; I was close enough to be noticed admiring the tractor - this is where my favor turned into an all day affair.

After lingering a little too long around the tractor, my brother in law shows up and says, "Nice one isn't it, you want to take a short trip to check out some utility tractors?", like I'm going to say no. We take a trip to a small John Deere dealer and look around a bit, he picks out a small utility tractor w/loader and asks the dealer if we could give it a test run and check out the bucket. He lets me drive and play with the loader, I'm hooked, he knows it, I'm not leaving the farm today.

It's back to the farm and we're heading in to get something to eat, my brother in law mentions, "The kubota's sitting up there on the upper fields, if you want to take it for a spin I just need a few post holes dug."; now, he has offered me hospitality and he's catering to my weakness - it's insidious the way these farmers minds work. Heading out, I'm handed a wrecking bar and posthole digger, in case the auger hits a big rock, he asks, "Twenty five holes isn't too many is it?", no of course not. Twenty five holes later and an aching everything, I'm too tired to take the kubota anywhere but back to the shed.

Last job of the day is a little electrical work, adjusting the light sensor in the lawn lamp - a luxury; right now I'm not thinking about tractors, I'm thinking, "I'm right back to where I started, doing the electrical job "favor", How? How? How did it turn into an all day job?" Oh, that's right, my drooling over the tractor. That's the last time I underestimate my brother in law's resourcefulness at rounding up help when he really needs to.

It's the end of the day, 14 hours since I started, and I'm going home to a shower then to bed to count "Deere" and to dream in green and yellow.