Audra Zimmerman – Zimmerman Harvesting
Sometimes Rain is a good thing
Last Saturday afternoon, we finished up our job in Manchester, Oklahoma. It takes us two trips to move our equipment for each new harvest stop. When you run a small crew (one combine), it’s just the nature of the game. It was off to Johnson (or Johnson City, Kansas – it depends who you ask or what sign you are looking at as to the official name of this town) for the first trip on Sunday.
Monday, we made the trip to Dallas, Texas to pick up my dog. She has been in the animal hospital in Dallas since the Friday before Memorial Day. She was bitten twice by a rattlesnake on a job in Texas. I am so glad she is home. But her vet visits are not over. We have to find vets along the harvest route for bandage changes, until she is completely healed.
We made our second trip to Johnson on Tuesday and by Wednesday we found work…a small job. But this is the year to take every job you can find.
Today is a rain day. We got a nice shower yesterday evening. There are parts of this country that need rain, so we must not complain when God sends a shower on harvest. Actually, I like rain days. I usually make a real meal. I get so tired of sandwiches on harvest. There is no one to cook for us when everyone runs a machine or trucks on our small crew. Rain days are also laundry, grocery, cleaning, and book work days. For Andy, it’s usually “fix the machinery” day. And if I’m lucky to have two days off, a rest and relax day.
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".
