Today I was feeling like I had nothing interesting to post about. It has just been ordinary daily life around here. But then I remembered that most people have no idea what "ordinary daily life" is on the farm, especially in between seeding and harvesting. And I remembered my pledge to write more about the everyday moments.
Since school started our weekly routine has included soccer practice twice a week and games every weekend. This last Saturday Tom was unable to come to the games with us because he had someone coming to pick up hay. (Speaking of hay, we are sharing a little more about that part of our operation over on His Tales today.)
I pulled up to the soccer field, parked, and was getting ready to get out of the car when a policeman knocked on my window.
"Did you know you had a brake light out?"
"Good to know!", I said. Well, I did already know that, actually. We had discovered it a while ago and tried to replace the bulb, but realized it was a wiring issue and not an easy fix. I was operating on 2 other functioning brake lights and didn't think too much about it.
I thought he was just being courteous and letting me know, but how naive of me. He then said "Can I see your license and registration?" I knew I was going to be there for awhile and became shamefully aware of the fact that he was parked conspicuously behind me in the parking lot while everyone walked by to the fields. Woot.
I sent Sarah off to her game and then waited for an eternity while the cop issued me a warning and told me I had 3 days to get it fixed.
This morning we prepared to call our local mechanic, but Tom decided first to pull the car into the shop to see if he could figure out the problem on his own. Now this is where those of you who know my husband will perk up and say "that doesn't sound like Tom!" Tom isn't naturally mechanically inclined. He is usually the type of person who would rather focus on what he knows and pay someone else to take care of the rest. But on the farm, time, money, and convenience factor into the equation and in this case paying $x to fix the car wasn't very enticing.
And you know what? He fixed it! I don't tell you this to embarrass him or make a big deal out of a (perhaps simple to some of you) brake light wiring issue. The point is, being a mechanic often doesn't mean knowing everything about cars. Or trucks. Or tractors. It's having the courage, patience and tenacity to dig in and figure out what you don't know. The knowledge and experience comes over a long time of doing this very thing. In any case, I was proud of my husband this morning, and proud that over the last 2 years on the farm he has had a number of successes like this.
The next day we were driving home and stopped to pick up and move a truck. I was driving ahead of Tom when I looked in the rear view mirror and saw that I had a headlight out too. Its a good thing the cop pulled me over in the daylight or he would have had a hay day with me.
My poor car—the "ranch limo"—we have put over 30,000 miles on it in the last year. I am hopeful that we will have it payed off before we have to trade it, but at this rate we might hit the 200,000 mile mark first! I have had to have 2 flats repaired in the last month, and on my most recent visit to the tire shop they told me my barely-a-year-old tires are looking awfully gravel chewed and will need replaced soon. Country life is just rough on cars. You'll see in the photo above that it is muddy and bug splattered. I do wash my car occasionally, but the shine lasts no longer than one trip back down my gravel driveway. What should I get next? A Mercedes? Ha ha. Luxury cars will not be for me.
See the shop my car is parked in? We are hoping to spend some time giving it a major organizational overhall. Believe me, it will be no small job. I wouldn't dare show you any before pictures before we have some really nice after photos to redeem ourselves. We also have a new giant shop door to install so the guys will have a second mechanic bay. In the meantime, I'm just trying to get our garage cleaned out and under control. Baby steps, now. Baby steps.
I hope you've enjoyed this installment of everyday life on the farm. Riveting entertainment to be sure!