Our Day Off

It's not a big secret that it's hot. We're both several shades darker than a month ago, and I feel several years older. May and early June is perhaps the busiest time of the year for us, and as most of you already know, our picking crew is Wendy and me, with help from Carleigh and Noah. So we sometimes get stretched a bit thin.

Finally this weekend we decided to take a day off. Never mind that the weeds need attacking, or the August veggies need planting, or that the pigs have decided to worm out from under their fence, and they've been meeting us halfway to the barn every morning for a week. Never mind that the deer have found us, and we need to get some kind of barrier up, or that we literally have a fox in the henhouse. Everybody deserves a day off occasionally, right? Of course, cows have to be milked, pigs fed, and the other daily chores, but heck, that's just everyday stuff. We're talking about a day off. Maybe we'll even go for a drive, or fishing, or even sit in the swing and read a book. So here goes.

We started off in good shape, not even going out to feed and milk until 7am. That's a real relaxed schedule, and even the cows didn't seem to mind. Of course the sun was up already, and it was a bit warm by then, but what the heck. It's our day off. Since we're both pretty much workaholics, I did have a few little piddly things I wanted to take care of, so after the milk was put up and breakfast over we set out. We decided to walk through the blackberries and gauge whether there'll be any this year (indecisive) , then picked the tomatoes (a real early treat this year). So far so good. By now it's after 10, and in the low 90's. There was this one section of fence that I didn't get to last week, to finish off our little kitchen/trial garden here next to the house, so I spent a few minutes on it. Meantime Wendy was watering newly seeded flats and pulling the last few things out of the oven/greenhouse. Still not too bad. Then my stupidity ramped up. I found some watermelon seeds, and it just so happens that there is a long row full of weeds that is sadly in need of melons. So in the second hottest time of day, on our first day off in months, here we are pushing hoes through endless ranks of weeks in the broiling sun. But we were having fun!

While recovering in the shade and trying to decide what leisure activities to engage in, I remembered the two rows of pole beans we had meant to put trellises up for. Most of the posts were in, but I had run out before getting to the end of the last row. Oh well, that shouldn't take too long, and it really needs doing, because the beans are starting to run. And 96 is just a number, and we'll still have some time left over to frolic.

So all of the starch is now drained out of me, and I finally did get to sit in the swing with a cool, refreshing beverage in hand. I think I enjoyed it, too, but I'm not real sure because Wendy (who spent the last couple of hours of her day off cooking) woke me up to tell me dinner was ready.

What's a guy to do? Maybe next Sunday. We're lousy examples of how to relax.