Got rain?

I am currently listening to thunder and watching another storm roll into our area.  We had rain Tuesday evening and it looks like we may get some more within the next hour or so.  Today is one of the days that we pull double duty in the milk barn so I am really hoping it rains like right now before I have to head back to the farm. 

 

This is the view from my back porch right now.  Got rain?

 

 

This morning instead of gearing up to head out to the fields we brought all of the combines, tractors, and trucks back to the farm and packed them in.  The wheat harvest and planting is at a standstill yet again.  We've had a few summers like this in my lifetime, but this is the wettest June we've had since I was in high school. 

 

My dad is an extremely funny man with a great sense of humor.  The one thing that makes him the most anxious is the weather.  I've said before that we live and die by the weather.  He will never complain about rain because we would rather be too wet versus too dry, but at this moment I know he is willing it to be dry for at least a week straight.  Being in the fields is my dad's favorite thing to do and right now he is anxious because he knows he is getting even farther behind.  Plus doing the whole start and stop thing gets old very quickly. 

 

Even with all the rain we haven't had to cancel any of our tennis classes so far.  Our last class of the summer is tomorrow and hopefully the rain will stay away for at least one more morning.  And then my July will hopefully be less hectic with one less thing going on. 

 

Now the big question of my evening is:  Will I be getting soaked at the farm?



Sister problems

I've been back from our vacation for about a week now.  The vacation was awesome! We road tripped and had a great time.  It was the longest road trip that my husband and my best friend Amy had ever done.  We got back and the next day I jumped right back into the swing of things. 

We finally got some dry days last week so dad and Frank were in the fields non-stop.  Planting and harvesting wheat.  It rained again the other night so we are once again at a standstill for a couple days.  The weather dictates everything in my world.  Normally I have a very peaceful and calm life.  Busy, but peaceful and I love it.  This summer has been everything but peaceful so far. 

My sisters are supposed to make things easier for dad, Frank, and myself when they're home for the summer.  Instead they have both decided that the farm isn't a real job and they basically show up when they feel like it instead of when they are supposed to.  My youngest sister, Brenda, didn't want to work at the farm at all this summer so she is working at Sonic and is no longer at the farm.  Aadrian doesn't want to get a different job, but she also hasn't been showing up when she is supposed to.  When she doesn't show up this puts extra stress on me.  When dad and Frank are out in the fields I have no one else to help me during the week. On the weekends I can luckily call my husband and he comes out and helps.  That isn't his job though and my sister doesn't seem to understand that not showing up doesn't work in the real world. 

Many people don't view my working on the farm as a real job and sadly I think this view has rubbed off on my sisters.  I love both of my sisters, but there's only so much that one person can take.  It sucks when the people that are supposed to care the most about you don't care at all.  Dad, Frank, me, and even my husband are ready for both my sisters to go back to school.  Instead of being there to help things at the farm go smoother they are just causing problems by not showing up.  Aadrian seems to think that as long as I'm going to be there why should she have to show up on time, if at all.  Obviously this mindset isn't working for anyone but Aadrian.  I love my sisters and hopefully they'll get their shit figured out, but for now I just want to go back to my peaceful and stress free life.

Mud, Tennis, and a short vacation

As you have figured out I love working on the farm, but that isn't all that I do.  During the month of June I help teach a tennis class three mornings a week.  For the first two weeks of June we have our beginners class and then we have the advanced class for the last two weeks.  My typical day still starts at 4am.  I do the morning milking and then I leave right after I'm done to be at my tennis class by 9am.  This leaves the cleaning to my sister Aadrian on these three days.  Since I'm not able to help clean three days a week during June I try to do most of the cleaning the other mornings that I am at the farm. 

Tennis is something that I began playing when I was 15.  I was introduced to the sport by watching it on television and then I found the tennis classes during the summer.  While I was in high school I did compete for my school and I was a decent player.  Bottom line, I loved playing tennis and I still do today.  When I was 17 I began helping my coach teach the summer classes.  Thankfully there's only been one summer that I wasn't able to help out with it and I happen to have a job that allows me to continue teaching. 

On the farm side of things it has been an interesting summer so far.  Technically it is still spring, but we've had interesting weather.  The last two weeks of May were extremely wet and so far June is looking to stay wet.  The mud is constant.  I'm not complaining about the rain, but when you milk cows that are out in the pasture you would kill for some dry hooves to come into the barn.  On the plus side our corn has shot up with all the rain.  As far as everything else getting planted, well we may be harvesting in December at the rate were going. 

Going from a college student to a farmer in training has been very interesting to say the least.  While you are a student your entire life depends on assignments and tests.  When you are a dairy farmer your entire life depends on the weather and how the cows and calves poop is looking.  If their poop looks weird, something is wrong.  If the weather is bad, you have to keep a closer eye on the calves to make sure they don't get sick.  Our weather has been going from hot to cold and that is never good news for the babies.  So far everyone has been doing good and hopefully things will continue to go smoothly, especially since the hubby and I are going on a short vacation.  This leaves things to my sisters.  Let's just say that they don't have the best track record of showing up on time everyday.  Dad will just have his hands full while we're gone, but everyone needs a vacation from time to time.  I love the cows, but I'll be good not seeing them for a few days. 

 

These are my twins and they turned one month old last week!  Look how big they've gotten!

 

Running with the big boys

May has finally come to a close! I enjoy the month of May, but it is by far one of the busiest months of the year.  During this month we work calves and move cattle out to grass.  With three girls we also seem to have graduations either for one of us or for family and friends.  This year the youngest McCollum girl, Brenda, graduated from high school.  Aadrian, the middle McCollum girl, also had to do her annual move back home from college.  Basically, the month of May is not only busy on the farm, it's busy in every area of life. 

We've also had a large amount of rain during the month of May.  For almost a week straight we seemed to have rain at least once a day.  Needless to say our planting is a bit behind, but our corn has started to come up! 

When Aadrian comes home for the summer she becomes an extra hand out at the farm with me.  This year we put her to work helping us work calves.  It was her first time and she did awesome! She was nervous at first which is to be expected, but now she is on her way to becoming a pro.  This leads me to my story for you guys.  Last Wednesday we worked another batch of calves and we had a crazy calf in the bunch.  I have never seen a calf act the way that this little dude did and neither has my dad or Uncle Frank.  When we first got all the calves gathered behind the shoot he was running back and forth trying to jump the fence.  His nose and mouth were all bloody from him running into the fence all morning.  At one point I was trying to separate the crazy calf from the rest of the group so maybe they would all calm down and I ended up getting knocked in the nose with the gate.  There was a lot of blood and it's still swollen and sore, but on the bright side it's not broken!

After all of that happened we took crazy little dude out of the pen and put him in the bigger pen away from the other calves so we could get the rest of them worked.  It was much easier without the crazy calf in there.  Once we were done with everyone else we had to figure out how to get the last one in the shoot without anyone else getting hurt.  Dad took a stick into the pen and the calf ran at him.  Dad hit him in the head a few times and basically wore him out enough to get him into the shoot.  After we worked him his energy level came back up because he went right back to charging at everybody.  Luckily we're all great at climbing fences to get out of the way.  We were worried he was going to give himself a heat stroke from trying to jump the fence and running at everyone, but thankfully he didn't and now he is out on grass for the summer.  Aadrian and I were so happy to be done with that calf.  The next day we were both tired, bruised, and scratched up from our time with the calves. 

Our dad was blessed with us three girls.  Since he has no sons, we were raised the way he would have raised sons.  Instead of being in the house we have always been expected to be out working the calves with the guys.  Granted there are some things we will never be able to do that boys can do.  We will never has as much physical strength as our dad, but that's okay.  We'll always figure out another way to get things done.  Working on the farm is still largely considered a man's job in a man's world.  I think it's a shame that people still see it as that.  You see things about being the farmer's wife, but never the farmer's husband.  My husband married into the crazy family business and he is the most awesome man.  He gets called into the farm to help out more than he should, especially since he has a full time job.  I am very blessed to have him in my life and for him to be willing to help out on the farm.  My sisters and I work just as hard on our family farm as many sons do to help their fathers.  I hope someday we will see more women going back to the family farm and more recognition for all the farmers, men and women.  For now Aadrian and I will continue to work like the big boys and we'll see how many bruises we come out of it with.