Tuesday, February 24, 2009, 06:46
Shock and Loss
It was a very bad day here at Rural Route 2 on Saturday. About 7 p.m., a friend of ours called to say that another friend of ours had died that afternoon. Debbie was the maid of honor in our wedding nearly 17 years ago. She laid down for a nap in the afternoon. When her husband went in to wake her up, she had stopped breathing. She could not be revived. Debbie was six months younger than me.
The visitation will be Thursday and the funeral is on Friday. Randy has been asked to be a pall bearer. Debbie lived in Madison, Wisconsin, with her husband. He was the love of her life. They were high school sweethearts. Then they drifted apart. They found each other again after about 20 years. They would have celebrated their second wedding anniversary on March 17.
The story below is one of my newspaper columns. I wrote a column for the local newspaper for seven years. Rest in peace, Debbie. I love you.
LeAnn R. Ralph
Green Acres
It was a dreary, cold March day. At the time I lived in southern Wisconsin, and a friend of mine named Debbie had accompanied me to the stable where I kept my horse.
Debbie and I were both students at the university, but whereas I had grown up on a farm, Debbie had grown up in Madison. Her childhood had consisted of shopping expeditions to Chicago and excursions to places like theaters and museums.
My childhood, on the other hand, had consisted of fishing expeditions to the Norton Slough and excursions to places like the feedmill and the hayfield.
Still, Debbie liked horses as much as I did — although as a child, she had taken formal riding lessons. My pony taught me.
That afternoon, since it was so cold and raw outside, Debbie and I eventually decided it was time to warm up. There was always a large pot of hot coffee in the main barn.
Now, in addition to boarding horses, the Thompsons (who were in their late fifties) owned about 50 head of Tennessee Walkers. And when a place has 70 horses, you can imagine how much hay needs to be fed out daily. Mr. Thompson had worked off the farm for years, and Mrs. Thompson managed the place in his absence.
"Thank goodness someone else is here!" Mrs. T exclaimed as we walked into the barn.
I glanced at Debbie. "Why? Is something wrong?"
"I've got to haul hay to that far pasture," she explained, “but I don't think the truck will make it through all the snow and mud. And I don’t know how to drive the tractor. You grew up on a farm. Do you think…? I mean, could you…?"
I smiled. The Thompsons were friendly, kind, honest people. I'd often thought it must be quite a bit of work for Mrs. T to take care of the place by herself, and from time to time, I didn't mind helping out.
"Let me guess," I said. "You want me to see if I can start the tractor and then haul hay."
The little tractor they used to clean the barns was an old Allis Chalmers. I'd never driven it, but I was pretty sure I could. After all, I HAD grown up on a dairy farm.
In the meantime Debbie's eyebrows crept higher on her forehead, and as we walked out to the indoor riding arena where the Allis was parked, she grabbed my arm.
"DO you know how to drive a tractor?" she hissed.
“Of course. Nothing to it.”
Debbie looked doubtful.
I spent several minutes trying to get the Allis started, but finally the little tractor spluttered to life.
Debbie laughed. "I'll ride in the wagon," she said. "I've never ridden in anything pulled by a tractor before. This is going to be fun!"
We drove around to the hay barn, loaded the bales, and then headed out to the pasture. Soon the horses were all munching happily.
"You know," Debbie said, as she climbed back into the empty wagon, "I've never DRIVEN a tractor, either."
I shrugged. "Just like a car. Put it in gear and steer."
"Could I?" Debbie asked. "I mean, do you think…?"
"Sure," I said. "When we get back to the driveway where it’s not muddy, I'll show you how."
A few minutes later Debbie settled into the seat while I stood on the drawbar. "Okay, let the clutch out SLOWLY,” I instructed, putting the Allis into first gear and adjusting the throttle so we wouldn’t go too fast.
As the tractor started forward, Debbie’s face beamed. She sat back, took a firmer hold on the steering wheel, and although driving a tractor didn’t seem all that out of the ordinary to me, Debbie must have felt otherwise because she suddenly burst out singing —
"GRRREEEEEEN ACRES IS THE PLACE TO BE.”
I couldn’t help but smile.
"FAARRRM LIVIN' IS THE LIFE FOR ME,” I agreed.
"LAAAAAND SPREADIN' OUT SO FAR AND WIDE — KEEP MANHATTAN JUST GIVE ME THAT COUNTRYSIDE!" we bellowed in unison.
When we finally arrived in the riding arena, Mrs. T was waiting. “I see you're learning to drive a tractor, Deb.” She grinned. “Didn’t know you girls could sing so loud, either.”
(Later Debbie confessed she’d always wanted to belt out “Green Acres” at the top of her lungs but the right opportunity had never presented itself.)
Yes, all in all, it had been quite an afternoon. I had managed to start the Allis, the horses had gotten their hay — and a city girl had received her first lesson in tractor driving.
I guess you just never know when growing up on a farm might come in handy, do you.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009, 18:33
Looks Like Winter
Well, it *was* looking like spring around here. Most of the snow had melted and there were only patches of it along the edges of the fields and in the woods. Out in the open, the ground was pretty much bare.
Notice that the emphasis is on WAS looking like spring.
Now it looks like winter again.
The snow started in the evening on Tuesday. All together we only got about three inches. But it was wet snow with lots of moisture in it. Snow that stuck to everything.
On Wednesday morning, before the wind picked up out of the north and started to blow the snow off the trees, the little lilac bush by the house was covered with snow. So were the trees on the northwest side of the yard -- along with the rock table. There was white snow covering everything as far as I could see.
We have not gotten any measurable snow around here since January 12.
Tuesday it was actually warm and pleasant with a temperature in the upper 30s.
Wednesday morning the wind out of the north felt cold, and it was starting to blow the snow around.
I put a little hay outside for Isabelle and some inside her shelter. As I was finishing shoveling the path along the house, I looked up time to see Isabelle chasing her hay across her pasture. The wind had caught it and had taken it away. So, I went back to the barn and got more hay for her to put inside her shelter. No sense in Isabelle standing out in the wind and trying to catch her hay so she could eat it.
I put Kajun's hay in the barn to begin with. He is in his late 20s and does not need to stand out in the wind to eat his hay. When I went back to get more hay for Isabelle, Kajun was contentedly munching away. He had pushed his hay closer to the door so he could see outside, but he was still out of the wind.
It really is too early for the landscape to look like spring. We often go through periods of "false spring" when it looks and feels like spring but then it snows again and gets colder. Spring is at least another six to eight weeks away. Maybe longer. We've had years when there were snowdrifts at the edge of the yard yet in early May. We might as well have winter while it is still winter. There is a time and a season for everything, and now is the time for the winter.
LeAnn R. Ralph