If you read my last lengthy post you may remember that B-rad had to work on the sprayer where his brother fell in a hole... I told you he hurt his hand welding & that I would tell you about that later.
Well it's later...
So it started innocently enough...B-rad sent a picture of his hand & said a 'welding rod' went into it. NOW-even city slickers are bound to know what a welder is... & you may also know it's hot as Hades.
Disclaimer: this is not B-rad - this is a pic I found on the internet to show you a welding rod. See that long stick thingie that goes down into a ball of fire? WELDING ROD.
I think the welding rod is like a metal stick thingie that when heated up melts onto whatever you're welding to make the 'weld'?
(My technicalness dazzles you, doesn't it?)
This was the first picture I saw of his hand the morning after he did it (Monday). It looks pretty harmless here...kind of like a bug bite. He had gloves on, but it went right through. It immediately cauterized the wound because it never bled a drop. I would say it went through his hand like it was butter!
That night I was awoken at 3:30 AM by B-rad tossing in the bed. NOW-B-rad doesn't toss & turn. He works hard & he works a LOT, people - so when he sleeps he doesn't move. He said he had been having chills & his hand was killing him. So I gave him some Tylenol to help his fever & at 4:30 AM when his alarm(s) started going off he emailed his work to say he was going to the doctor that morning. I got this picture around 8:00 AM that morning (Tuesday)...you can see the swelling starting.
He went to the doctor, got an anti-biotic & a tetanus shot & went off to work. The doctor told him it would probably be swollen for another 24-48 hours & to take ibuprofen for pain. He thought maybe he had damaged some of the ligaments that surround the knuckle as well. That was the day we got 1" of rain (my trusty calendar reminded me of that!) & I was glad it rained so he could stay home & rest a bit. When I got home from work he was laying on the couch sleeping off & on. His hand continued to swell so we took his wedding ring off as a precaution. (See the band-aid on his arm from his tetanus shot?)
This is also the definition of farmers tan...
The next day (Wed) I texted him to see how his hand was feeling & they say a picture is worth a thousand words...
Mmmmm hmmmm...
On Wednesday night B-rad was fooling himself thought his hand was getting better... He gauged his progress on whether he could make a fist. (Which I yelled at him about because I felt like he wasn't giving his hand insides a chance to heal & he yelled back at me that if he didn't make a fist back & forth it would get stiff & hurt even more.)
Hmph.
He seems to think it wasn't as red as the pic looks...but I beg to differ. He thought it was the lighting in my new the bathroom... Look at his arm - it's not red like his hand.
B-rad continued to go to work & farm each evening (you know - farming doesn't care about welding rods to the hand). He would try to baby it as much as he could, but that really doesn't work on the farm. I would beg him to put ice on it each night (he wouldn't) & I constantly reminded him to take his ibuprofen. (Because if he didn't take it it would start to hurt & bother him a lot...)
It stayed swollen that whole week. On Friday he sent me another pic asking if I thought he should go to the doctor. He had forgotten his ibuprofen the night before & it was swollen more & hurting. He could use it, but it was really tender. He was sure he had burnt the tissue/muscles/ligaments in his hand & his knuckle was hurting as well so he also thought he hit the bone.
Turns out a welding rod to the hand makes your knuckles disappear.
Shauna is a nurse so I told him to ask her what she thought. She told him to try & hold out onto Monday before going back to the doctor. She sent him a pic of what I'm assuming was a similar hand injury to what he had (I wasn't privy to this pic {& I'm happy about that}). She thought he had most likely burned the muscles in his hand. She told him to ice it & to continue the ibuprofen & to baby it as much as possible.
He did pretty well over the weekend of icing it when he came home in the evenings, but clearly he didn't baby it enough over the weekend. (He was putting down nitrogen & he uses his left hand to steer the tractor, plus he has to wrestle w/ hoses to fill the tanks w/ nitrogen.) This was my Monday morning update pic.
We are at past a week 'post-cauterization' & it's still swollen, it still bothers him sometimes, but it is getting better - he has knuckles again. I'm guessing the skin peeling is from the burning of the skin?
I said, "Let me take pics for the blog!" He said, 'Does anyone even read the blog anymore?'
Uhm.
Er.
Uh.
Crickets...
If you're reading this - thank you, loyal blog stalker from me & B-rad's burned hand...
Ok-planting is behind this year. Like way behind. B-rad has used all his vacation days to take off to plant but its still not been enough for him to stay ahead. According to crop insurance, corn has to be planted by Jun 5th & beans by Jun 15th. For everyday you're late, they drop your coverage by a percentage. Not only do we need the seed in the ground as soon as possible for the crop insurance coverage, but to get the best yield as well. B-rad was off the week of Memorial day planting corn non-stop. Like when I say non-stop I mean he was doing farm related tasks most of the 24 hours in a day. He would come home between 11:00pm & 12:00am (one night he was out until 4:30 am) & when he got home he ate supper, fell asleep & then I got him up around 7:15am before I left for work. His goal was to get corn done by the June 5th deadline but as the end of the Memorial Day week approached he still had several hundred acres to go. Brady had been working on planting beans {but he was going back to Illinois to school}, but our bean planter is small (17') {in perspective the corn planter is 40' wide!} so it takes FOREVER to get anything done. A couple of weeks ago the boys came to my work to talk to one of the owners about letting us rent a used planter we had in inventory. Of course they agreed & B-rad came home & said, 'And-just like that - I'm done w/ corn.' They decided to stop planting corn {since that was the day of the deadline} & do the remaining corn ground in beans instead & use the planter we were going to rent. It is 40' wide like the corn planter (again-as opposed to the 17' wide Brady had been planting) so it will cover over double the acres in the same time.
The used planter from work needed quite a bit of TLC so they spent that weekend working to get it ready & then B-rad was off planting beans. This past Friday I had to run some parts to B-rad after work where he was planting in Georgetown. I got us dinner & decided to ride around w/ him for the evening.
He likes when people ride around w/ him. I can't imagine how lonely/boring it is in that tractor hour after hour, day after day. He likes having the company & someone to talk to. I quickly wear out my welcome by constantly saying:
"OH MY GOD."
"OUCH!"
"DO YOU SEE THAT HOLE?"
"ARE THERE SNAKES OUT HERE?"
"ARE YOU SURE THIS DOOR IS LATCHED & I'M NOT GOING TO PLUMMET TO MY DEATH?"
"When you get done planting I need you to do 'X, Y, Z' at the house."
When I got to the field, he had just started it & he was checking his seed depth & population.
It's strange rolling up to a guy on the ground digging in the dirt...
THIS is my seat, people. It's small - it's uncomfortable, but it's better than nothing. (See how it's right NEXT to the door? I check the door latch 150,000 times while I'm in that seat...) When I would ride w/ him in our younger days I didn't even have a seat. I put my butt wherever there was an empty spot. However - my butt was a lot smaller & a lot younger back then so it wasn't as big of a deal...
I went to the field straight from work & I always bring my MacBook to work w/ me. It was HELLA hot last Friday & I wasn't about to leave it in a hot car. I stuffed it into my purse & toted it into the tractor cab w/ me. Priorities...
While B-rad replaced the part I brought him, I got settled in the cab. I had to situate where to put our food & drinks & in doing that I accidentally hit the throttle but I didn't know it. Suddenly the door popped open & I was all like, "Oh hey, Mac!" but he quickly said, 'you're worse than a kid! Pull the throttle back - you hit it & the engine is revving!'
Ooopsie...
So we FINALLY got going & finished in that first small field. We had to move down the road a bit to another field. I was in my car & he was in the tractor. (Duh.) Since they waited until the last minute to make a decision about corn or beans in this field it hadn't been sprayed yet. (If you spray for corn- you have to plant corn; if you spray for beans you have to plant beans & since we didn't know what the hell we were gonna do Brian hadn't sprayed for anything yet.) The weeds were taller than my dang car.
I did not sign on for this...
After we moved, Brady needed hydraulic oil in his tractor at another field. Obviously B-rad was busy so I volunteered to go get him to take him to the farm. B-rad dropped me off at my car & he had to pee. I decided I also had to pee (besides w/ these guys constantly saying, 'ok now go here', 'ok now do this' I had NO idea when I'd actually get to a real spot to pee!) so after 9 million questions about "Where should I pee?" "Are there snakes here?" "Will I get a tick on me?" I squatted behind the trailer while B-rad held my purse because I wasn't ABOUT to put it on the ground, the trailer OR in the bed of that truck.
Do you know how dirty they get stuff? (NO, I'm not peeing in this pic...I had already pee'd & it struck me funny seeing B-rad holding my purse in the middle of a field of weeds.)
Off I went to pick up Brady...
Saturday morning I had to go to work to get more parts for the planter. I had already packed B-rad's lunch before he left at 7:30AM (because I had big dreams of staying home all day & doing NOTHING.) so when I had to drop off the parts I decided to take lunch w/ me & ride around w/ B-rad for a while.
I'm a giver like that.
When I got to the field he was WAY in the back & told me to wait & he would be up to get me in 10 minutes. I used that valuable time to eat my lunchable on the trunk of my car rather than trying to do it from the buddy seat in the tractor.
He's been in Georgetown planting & most the fields are RIGHT on the highway. I would say 95% of our fields are on backroads so having cars right in front of us prompts several "OH MY GODS" from me.
(This is the spot where B-rad & I saw one girl rear-end another girl so hard {they're re-paving the road here so traffic is awful} it blew her air bag & then 30 minutes later someone nearly rear-ended Brady in the planter. I was ready to jump out of the cab of the tractor to give that person a piece of my mind. Honestly, a lot of people do NOT pay attention to what's going on around them. I can tell you that no matter the hurry you're in - your day will be a LOT worse if you hit a piece of farm equipment & SURELY you won't make it to your next destination on time!) You would be surprised at the number of people who do not slow down when they see HUGE equipment coming towards them. It floors me every time.
We had to go across a creek to get to another field & yes, you guessed it - I was 'oh my Godding', 'ouch', 'oh' & 'are you sure we can make it across?' the whole way. Poor B-rad...
While B-rad was outside the tractor moving seed around in the boxes, his brother called & sounded like he was about to cry. I said, "UH-are you ok?" He said, 'Yes, I'm fine - the sprayer is not.'
He had hit a HUGE hole in the sprayer & needed B-rad & Brady to come pull him out w/ the tractor & assess the damage.
B-rad pulled chains out of the semi & he & Brady got the things together they might need to fix it. (Brady is shirtless because he had been working on his planter & was hot. I accused him of wanting to even out his farmer tan...)
This is the sight we saw...not good, people... (Don't forget the weeds are extra tall because spraying was behind so he really couldn't see the hole...)
The sprayer was totally full, which meant it was going to be at its heaviest while they tried to pull it out.
I typically wear shorts & flip flops when I ride w/ B-rad, but I was never so glad that on this day (for whatever reason?) I chose to wear jeans & tennis shoes. Ya'll know I'm allergic to everything & walking around in all those weeds I would've been miserable. (Yes I was on the look out the WHOLE time for snakes, but I knew we were in a high stress situation so I kept my mouth shut about them...)
I video'ed' them pulling the sprayer out. Things to note - #1 When you see the video shake at the beginning that's because MY dumb-ass fell in a hole as I was walking & you are really, REALLY lucky I didn't say a cuss word for you to hear. #2 Watch how the back sprayer tire spins as B-rad pulls it out w/ the tractor. (Brian is in the sprayer & Brady is in front directing traffic...) #3 When I scan over to the boom coming at me it's because I was deciding when/how fast to haul ass outta there.
UHM, you can tell it was in there pretty good. Those are weeds in the boom. (Ok the 'boom' is what stick out on the sides & it has nozzles that point down & that's where the spray comes out.)
Next step was assessing the damage. (The little pine tree branch hanging on the top of the boom cracks me up.)
I don't know what this thing is or what it does - but it was broken... & it was bad...
It was decided that Brady would continue to plant beans while B-rad helped Brian fix the sprayer. It was 1,884 degrees Saturday & I did NOT sign on to stand out in the heat all day fixing a sprayer... I am all about the air conditioned cab ride. I stood there like a good little soldier for a long time until it was decided someone would need to take the truck to another field to get something else...that's when B-rad said, 'Jaime-you can go w/ him to your car & go home.'
Ya'll - there's NO WAY he wanted me out in the sun & weeds all day w/ him...
And just for the record - he got home around 10pm that night & the sprayer STILL wasn't fixed. (We got the call he fell in the hole around 1:30pm. PLUS Brady had torn a marker arm off the planter they would have to fix the next morning... YES it's always something...)
This is also when B-rad took a welding rod to the hand. Uh, YEA that's painful...more on that in another post. I'm gonna go over my character limit on this one.
Sunday was our anniversary but I still had farm related duties. I had to beg one of the owners to let me into work to get B-rad a part. I drove it to Georgetown to drop it off then I headed home. B-rad planted beans all day (after they fixed the sprayer & marker arm) & I had a graduation party to attend.
Moving on to Monday!
B-rad texted to ask if I could take him to Georgetown after work. I'm not gonna lie - I had a really bad day at work so I was more cranky than normal. We got to the field & it was too wet to plant (they had gotten caught in a rare, quick rain storm Sun night in Georgetown--it rained 2 1/2" in 15 minutes!) but we had extra vehicles there that needed to be brought home. Brian needed rear end oil in his truck before he pulled the trailer with bags of seed on it from Georgetown to Depauw & guess who got elected to go get oil? Yes, me. I told B-rad, "I barely have the patience to deal w/ you today - I SURE don't have the patience to deal w/ him."
Poor B-rad again...
Apparently it's super important to get the correct oil & B-rad looked it up online for me & sent me a screen shot of it. (Yea, I would never remember those numbers. Besides I would get to the auto store & all the numbers would start to look the same & I would get confused about if I needed 75w-140, 75w-90 or what about 15w-40? WHO KNOWS?!)
I met Brian on the side of the road to give him the rear end oil & then it was decided I would follow him to Depauw w/ the trailer & then bring him back to Georgetown to get his work car. (B-rad was already heading to Depauw in the tractor after I left to get oil...)
We timed it almost perfect because as I was pulling into that little drive B-rad was coming at me. I quickly backed up to get out of his way. Clearly I'M smart enough to know to get the hell outta the way when a big piece of equipment comes at me!
First they had to fill the boxes w/ seed.
I leave the heavy lifting to B-rad...
Pink beans!
All those bags of seeds had to go in the boxes on the planter... what a crappy job...
I started to feel a bit lazy just following B-rad around back & forth so as they threw the bags onto the ground I gathered them up & stacked them in a nice, neat little pile.
Then I was sweaty.... hmph...
Finally, I had to follow Brian back to the farm to drop off the trailer, then go BACK to Georgetown to take him to his car. I ended up getting home around 8:30pm. Those hours may be acceptable for B-rad, but not for me...
Mom & I started seeing Phantom of the Opera at the Kentucky Center for the Arts WAY back in January of 1994. NOW-you may wonder how I remember that? It was my senior year of high school & on our way home it started to rain/sleet. That storm ending up being the storm of the century in Louisville where we got like 20" of snow or something crazy & it was cold as all get out. We were out of school forever & the whole town of Louisville & interstates were shut down for days.
Since way back in 1994 we've seen it every time it's come to town SO-when I heard it was coming back again I told mom I would get us tickets for her birthday. Her birthday was last August & the tickets went on sale in January. Finally the day was upon us to go see it on Sunday afternoon in June. (This had to be the longest birthday drag out ever...)
We parked in the garage next to the Muhammad Ali Center. There were news vans everywhere.
There were a lot of people milling around as well & we saw a guy set up w/ a hot dog cart. I think this guy is a genius. Location, location, location.
Ya'll know I love to be early & we got there so early I'm embarrassed to tell you HOW early... But listen to my justification - traffic can get really crowded downtown closer to the start time. Once you make it through traffic you have to find a spot to park, walk to the venue, etc. One time we were stuck in traffic in front of the Center before a Lion King performance. I nearly had a stroke thinking we weren't going to make it in time & we got to our seats w/ only seconds to spare. I do NOT roll like that. For the record - I wanted to be there about an hour early- it started at 1:00. However my timing calculations for eating before we went & accounting for 'Sunday brunchers' we ended up with extra time... Ok, ok - we were there an hour & half before it started.
Don't judge me...
The place was pretty empty when we got there, but it started to fill up quickly.
Mom said, 'Look-we're not the only ones here early!'
That's mom code for 'look Jaime - you're not the only crazy one here!'
I knew that they had made changes to the show & I was excited to see them. But when we walked in & I saw the chandelier on the ceiling I wasn't happy. If you don't know about the story of Phantom, the chandelier is a seriously big deal & an integral piece of the story. In the other shows we've seen it starts on the stage, then is illuminated & hoisted to the ceiling before our very eyes... this time is started out suspended to the ceiling...no sitting on stage...no hoisting...
So everyone asks me 'what did you think?' Well--I give it an 'ok'. The music was the same which is good because the music is AWESOME. However, I didn't like some of the set changes. I'm definitely a person who embraces change, but in my 'be it ever so humble opinion' the changes they made weren't for the better.
For example, when Christine goes to the Phantom's lair there were hundreds of candles that came up out of stage - come on - that's cool! But nope, no candles outta the floor this time...
And the chandelier? Well, don't get me going on THAT again...
During intermission mom asked what I thought & of course I told her my issues. I ended my sentence w/ "but no one cares what I think" to which she responded, 'Oh - no one called you to get your input?'
No, they did NOT.
Rest assured though - if it comes to town again I will go see it AGAIN. I'm a glutton for punishment like that. Besides - the music is reason enough to go. (But if they start jacking w/ the music it's game over - be warned Phantom of the Opera people...)
'Tis the season for B-rad to be busy w/ farming. Normally this time of year he should be done planting & moving on to side-dressing but nope, not this year.
Everyone knows we've had some crazy weather this spring & a LOT of rain which has put farmers WAY behind.
B-rad started planting corn at our house on April 23rd...then we got a lot of rain & he couldn't get back in the field for 2 weeks. TWO. (& YES I am accurate on these dates- I keep it in my calendar along w/ how much rain we get. DUH.) You can really tell now that the corn is coming up just how much time there was between the end rows (which were planted first) & the long rows.
SO-it's crunch time now & he's been taking 1/2 days off from his 'day' job, pulling all nighters (LITERALLY) & taking vacation days for this week to try & get it in the ground. Some of our fields are really too wet be planting but we're at Def Com 5, people. It's GOT to get in the ground.
A couple of weeks ago, B-rad got up around 5AM to go to his 'day' job on a Thursday - he worked all day there then came home & got in the tractor...
And he told me he wasn't coming home that night (they were calling for more rain the next day & he had taken the day off from the 'day' job) & he didn't....
He didn't quit until about 1 PM the NEXT day & according to my calculations that's 33 hours of being awake. He did take a few 30 minute 'power' naps throughout the night but still. I HATE when they pull all-nighters. Farming is very dangerous anyway & w/ lack of sleep it only makes that danger factor go up. I called him that morning when I got up to go to work to check on him (that's also the morning I fell in the shower so I had to ask him to check the shower out when he came home.) & then again around noon. At noon he wasn't making much sense w/ his words. He 'says' it's because he had just woken up from one of his power naps but I don't totally buy that...
***
I've been wanting to go to Niagra Falls FOREVER but other things have come up that have delayed that. (Someone had to have a new bathroom, we went on a trip to Jamaica, we go to the houseboat in the summer when B-rad doesn't have archery shoots) - you know how it is. Alicia had asked us to stop by on our way home from dinner the night of my birthday to visit before they moved out of their house. Her & I were talking about what we had planned for summer & she mentioned she had been wanting to take her kids to Niagra Falls but that they were going to be repairing it in the next couple of years & it would be shut down. (Now-I don't know how you 'shut down' a natural phenomenon, but I don't want to take any chances!) I told B-rad, "OK- we have to go this summer." Of course he is fine w/ that - but he doesn't really get bogged down w/ the details so when I start asking him, 'when do you wanna go?' , 'where do you wanna stay?', 'what else can we do while we're there?' his eyes start to glaze over.
I've heard that Niagra Falls is kinda like the Grand Canyon - once you see it - you've seen it & that's really all there is to it. A guy I work with went a couple of years ago & told me a couple of fun things to do but that it would only occupy about half our day. Rose suggested that while we were up that way we go to Hershey, Pennsylvania & anything to do w/ chocolate I'm all about.
I started doing research about how long it would take to get to these places (we're driving) & what else there might be to do on our way home, etc.
I wrote out a ghetto itinerary but I was going to have to talk to B-rad about when he could take off work to go. (He's burning up all his vacation days w/ farming so he will have to take them un-paid) I had to see how his schedule fit w/ my schedule & figure out how to work around other vacations at my job.
With B-rad either A) not coming home at all or B) coming home at 10:30-11:00 pm when I'm going to or already in bed didn't really leave me many options for finalizing my plan...
Before I leave work in the evenings I call to check on him to see if he needs anything, etc. Last week he said, 'yea - I need a Code Red' & I knew he would be unable to escape me in the tractor! I rode around w/ him for a bit & went over all the excruciating details to make sure he was ok w/ my ghetto itinerary. Next we figured out dates (which means I told him the 2 dates I was thinking & he could pick one - he had no opinions on the dates so I made an executive decision & decided...).
& Voila - we're going to Niagra Falls, Hershey World & the Flight 93 memorial this summer.
***
Brady's girlfriend, Sarah, graduated high school over Memorial Day weekend& Alicia's niece, Kaitlyn, also graduated. I got to kill 2 birds with one stone & see them both get their diplomas.
Congrats, Kaitlyn! (& mom, Robin! Hi Robin!)
B-rad had a HELL of a Memorial Day weekend & when he has the kind of HELL that involves stuff breaking - that trickles down to ME getting to be in hell as well because I have to beg people I work with to open up the store after hours to get him parts. The running (for me) started Friday night at 7 pm when I had to get a tire for the planter (you should've SEEN me & the salesman who let me in the store try & put it in my trunk!). Saturday morning I had to come back in to work to get some parts, then Saturday night I was at a graduation party for my bosses daughter (B-rad was in the field-not at the party) & he was having trouble w/ a hydraulic hose so he was talking on my phone to the service manager where I work (most the people I work with were at the party.) about PSI pressures & other non-sense (while I was trying to beg one of the owners who lives across the street from work to let us in the store first thing Sunday morning to get the hose made!) Fun times.
Us McAfee's took pics w/ Sarah & her family after graduation. Look closely - can you tell who is missing? B-rad couldn't go because he was planting... Sigh...
(Alicia had texted me to see if Brady was at graduation because she hadn't seen him. I said, "did you mean Brady or Brad?" {You know - auto correct...} & she said, 'Brady! I know where Brad is!')
After graduation the Mertz family invited me to eat dinner w/ them in town. I called B-rad to check to see if he needed anything (because if he did I would've skipped dinner) & he was having trouble w/ the planter & NOT in the mood to talk at that moment. I went to eat dinner & I knew Alicia & Daniel had closed on their new house & had been working on painting over the weekend. I texted her to see if they would be there that evening & when she said yes I invited myself over to see their new house after I was done. While I was visiting w/ her B-rad called to say I needed to head home because we were going to go north to 'meet a guy' to get a part for the planter. (That part he was having trouble w/ when I called him after graduation.) This was around 7:45PM. SO-I headed home & at 8:45 PM Sunday night B-rad & I headed north to meet a guy in Brownstown.
The fun never stops, people...
***
When I got home from work one evening I noticed that the door in the garage was unlocked. (YES I'm psycho & check such things.) I sent this text to B-rad.
***
Laying in bed around 10:30 I get a call from B-rad:
B-rad, 'Hey - what are you doing?'
Me: "UHM laying in bed watching tv."
B-rad, 'Uh, uhm, er - can you come get me at the end of Brunner Hill road? My truck ran out of fuel.'
NOW-his fuel gauge has been broken forever but it's a bitch to fix & who has time to fix that when there's all kinds of other crap to fix? He re-sets the trip when he gets fuel & he goes about 250 miles before he gets fuel. Well, it's farming season & everybody & their brother (literally) drives his truck & I'm sure w/ everything going on he didn't even think to check the odometer. I picked him up, took him to the farm to get fuel (we have road & off-road fuel tanks there) & he put 5 gallon of diesel in his truck to get home.
AND just to prove to you the time - I took a picture of my radio. 10:45 PM, people.
