A Day in the Life of a Farm Wife

Tuesday was a crazy day on the farm!!  When Krissy texted me from work last night and asked, "How's it going?", my reply was "Crazy!!"

I started off my morning with no phone.  Our phone and internet use the same line.  We had internet, but no phone from sometime late afternoon or evening on Monday.  I checked to be sure the phones were on the hook.  I unplugged the cordless phone.  I tried everything I knew to try.  Still no phone!  I called Centurylink and waited on hold.  The lady asked me if I'd done all the things I'd already done.  Then she said she was going to try to call me.  Lo and behold, the phone rang.  After I answered, she told me to hang up and see if I could call out.  Yep, there was a dial tone!!  I asked her what she'd done.  Absolutely nothing.  How crazy!  Aggravating, inconvenient, and a waste of my time.

Then I took Erin & Kara down to the dairy farm to feed the calves because Meagan was busy in the field.  When Kara went out to the pasture to bring the calves around to the feeder, she managed to step in a pile of "sunshine."  As she got back in the car, I saw it up the side of her boot and screamed, "No, don't put your foot in the car!"  My floor mats are the cloth kind, not rubber.  What a mess!  We used a napkin and wiped up the little bit she had gotten on the mat before I caught her.  Then I made her take her boots off and hold them out the window on the way home (about 2 miles).  Her arms were pretty tired by the time we got home.  

I was outside at about 11:30 taking this picture of Nathan drilling beans when

Autumn's truck pulled in the driveway followed by Krissy's Equinox.  They both got out of their vehicles and turned to unfasten carseats.  Krissy called, "Grandbaby drop off time!"  On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Autumn works noon to 4 and Krissy & Jim work 1 p.m. to 5 a.m., so we have Grady for the afternoon and Ryan all night.  They always arrive at about the same time and are both ready for lunch when they get here.

(This picture was taken after supper and both boys had had their baths.)

I'm kind of getting things out of order as I'm adding pictures.  The reason Nathan was drilling beans in this field is because of the 10 inches of rain we had a week or two ago.  They had to till up 90 acres of beans and replant them yesterday.  They also had to finish planting the 50 acres they hadn't finished before the rain.  They had to replant beans and corn in all the drowned out spots.  They also had to side dress corn.  Gary, Meagan, and Nathan were running around in circles yesterday!!

After the girls dropped the babies off yesterday, it was time for lunch and naps.  (Wish I could have taken one too!)  I put Grady in the high chair first and fed him his freshly mashed mangos and bananas. Then I handed him off to Erin, and she rocked him to sleep.  I fixed Ryan a toasted cheese sandwich.  He wasn't too interested in that, but sure did enjoy the mixture of strawberries, mango, bananas, and kiwi.  After he was finished, I rocked him to sleep.  Two sleeping babies!!  Of course, that didn't last very long.  Then we were in the business of bottles, diapers, snacks, and following Ryan around.  We also cleaned bathrooms, dusted, and all those fun things yesterday.

I fixed meatloaf, parsleyed potatoes, lima beans, and strawberry shortcake for supper, but I had people scattered all over at supper time.  Meals on Wheels goes into action again!  I fixed Meagan and Gary a plate and delivered it to each of them.  Nathan stopped in the house for a quick bite.  Then he took Autumn with him to help him replant the sweetcorn that had drowned out.  I dispensed Erin & Heather to Grandma Cooper's house to make beds upstairs in preparation for family coming this weekend for a funeral.  Then Gary called and needed me to bring some corn to the field for him.  Hmmm...what to do?  I left Leah at home to babysit Murphy the Great Dane so he didn't get into anything, and I loaded up Laura, Kara, Nanna, Ryan, and Grady to go to the field with me.  

The girls are used to entertaining themselves while we are at the field helping or waiting to follow the equipment to the next field and play taxi service.  Now we're training the next generation to do the same thing.

When we got back home, it was about 8:30.  We had two tired boys and some girls that needed baths!  While we were trying to get everybody settled down for the night, Nanna broke a vase full of water all over the kitchen floor.  It took quite a while to clean up that mess while trying to keep Ryan and the dogs out of it.  In the midst of that, Meagan called me to ask me to give Elly her pain meds for her arthritis and hip dysplasia.  Now I'm adding dog sitting to my list!!  By that time, Autumn was here to take the sleeping Grady home, and Ryan had decided he wasn't sleepy!  Oh joy!!  I finally had everyone settled in their beds with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads by midnight.  With all the other 'everday' details and events that were part of our day added to what I've written about here, it amounted to a very busy, crazy day on the Cooper Farm!