We moved up to Leedey, Oklahoma today. Since the guys have been cutting so late the past few nights, they all got to sleep in until after 7 this morning before hooking up the trailer houses for moving day. We learned our lesson the hard way, and now always made sure that hired men get plenty of sleep the day before moving day, so that no trailer houses get flipped over in the ditch. Again.
Note to self: always properly secure light fixtures before moving.
The kids’ favorite part of moving day is getting to ride the slides in the trailer house. They jump on a random section of flooring, then squeal with delight as it slowly creeps across the floor and the trailer house folds into itself. It all seems pretty mundane to me, but apparently it isn’t, not when you’re under three feet tall.
After we got the trailer house slides all folded in, the electricity and water unhooked, and the walls bared, the kids and I had extra time before Jake and the guys left. So we went to the only logical place to go: the donut shop. There is nothing better than being a kid, walking into a donut shop, and seeing dozens of donuts just waiting to be chosen. It is magical. Several sticky fingers and a baby-wipe-bath later, we left Texas and headed up to Oklahoma.
Rainbow being restrained (I mean cuddled) during the trip.
Grace, Claire, and Michael are great travelers. They watched movies, played on iPads, and colored in coloring books. Our cat Rainbow, however, is a terrible traveler. She crawled on the dashboard, sat on people’s heads, and howled for 3 straight hours. It was super.
Even after stopping for lunch at McDonald’s, we still arrived earlier than the crew, so we went to the local park for a while, then to the quick stop to order pizza for the guys. While waiting, the kids got their own packets of Skittles and a bottle of juice, and ate them while watching a movie on the iPad. Again, they thought it was magical.
Riding up to Oklahoma.
Eventually, we all got situated in the trailer again. The kids rode the slides back out, we hooked everything back up, and took supper out to the field. The kids are in bed, the combines are out cutting, and life continues on as normal, the same things will happen here in Oklahoma as they did in Texas, as they will in Kansas, and on through the summer.
And so concludes my week of journaling. Nothing really changes from stop to stop, or from year to year. We always start in Texas, always end in North Dakota, always live in the same trailer house and stay in the same towns. I guess people could call it mundane. I do sometimes. But for the first time in many years, I am actually enjoying the harvest life. A lot. I guess it’s all how you look at it.
At the Leedey park.
It’s like going into a donut shop; you go into the store, and it’s always those same kinds of donuts sitting on the shelves, the same tables and same chairs as before. But when you walk into the donut shop, it doesn’t feel monotonous, and it doesn’t feel mundane. It feels almost…magical.
Not because everything is always new and exciting, but because you’re with the people you love, and you’re doing something you love. And when you’re lucky enough to have that, everything, even the mundane harvest life, feels magical.
1. Be ready to go at the drop of a hat...sometimes without a lunchbox.
2. Has removed the word impossible from her vocabulary!
3. Can hold a baby, take care of a toddler and drive a tractor or combine all at the same time.
4. Must be able to cook for a crew - large or small.
5. Must be able to read minds.
6. Must be able to banter with a parts man until he realizes you DO know what you're talking about.
7. Must be the entertainment director for those rainy days.
8. Be a wife, mom, friend, helper, cook, problem solver, taxi driver or extra crew hand at all times.
9. Can handle the call that makes you react, "You need what? When?" Dropping everything you're doing to make it happen.
10. At the end of the day say, "I really do love this life".
