Summers... Part II

A very dear friend of mine that I grew up with, requested that I touch on a more specific topic that was a large part of our every day lives as kids, growing up in a piece of farm equipment.  So here is my Part II to yesterday's post.



Growing up in the grass seed capital of the world the way I did, I wasn't the only teenager that had this type of summer job.  And those of us that did the same thing during the summer time had a type of understanding that other friends did not.  We had similar work ethic without other options.  At the time, most of us were in it because that was our only option for summer work.  They were either a direct descendant of the owner, or in my case, my family was very good friends with the farm's owner.

We were barely into the days of cell phones.  They were not smart phones, and they didn't do anything besides make phone calls, text messages were expensive, and if you were lucky you had snake on your phone.  It was before the days of social media.  Our biggest means of communication was through the radio.  Talking on our cell phones was highly frowned upon and incredibly expensive back then.  I think they used to charge by the minute!  There was also a thing called Roaming.  We would wait patiently all day until the "live request show" on the local country music station would come on.  Pure Country, 103.7!!  In my best radio host voice.  The MC, he'd let us teenagers rule the air waves.  Requesting song after song, night after night.

There was an understanding between all of us that you listened to that station in the evening to see who would get on air.  Friends would request favorite songs, girls would request romantic songs to try and get the point across to that special boy.  But Marie and I would request classic Bellamy Brothers, Redneck Girl often.  Because as all of you know, a redneck girl wears the name on the back of her belt.  Both Marie and I proudly wore our leather belts with our jeans displaying our names across the back. (If you don't know the lyrics and that made no sense to you, shame on you.)

Certain songs had certain meanings... and every time I heard that song, I knew that somewhere out there in some piece of farm equipment was my friend Marie singing along.  Marie and I go back a long way.  You see, we've never been the super close type of friend that always hung out or did other things outside of school all of the time.  But we did have the same babysitter when we were just wee ones, and that takes us way back.  Being a farm kid, sharing that special bond with friends holds a fairly significant place in my heart.







I'll do my best to take you back in time to our high school summer-time playlist.

Redneck Girl- Bellamy Brothers
Fishin' In the Dark- Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Cadillac Ranch- Chris LeDoux
Where The Sidewalk Ends- George Straight (because everybody loves George)
Watermelon Crawl- Tracy Byrd
and anything by The Judds
... you get the idea.

Music was all we had out there.  Alone in the cab, nothing to do but talk to the radio.  I don't know about others, but my own personal game was to seek through the stations, whatever song came on through the speakers, I needed to be sure I could sing along to the lyrics.  Some will say that is the reason I'm a music freak now.  To this day, if I'm on the hunt for something good on the radio, whether I'm by myself, or with a group in my vehicle... you must, "Name that song"  or "Name that band".  I must know who sings it and all of the lyrics.  I also have that music memory, let me hear it once and next time I'll be singing along.

My mom and I take it to another level.  Randomly, I will receive a text message with a set of lyrics typically not the chorus to name the song, and extra points for naming who sings it.  If I'm driving, I'll record myself singing lyrics and have her name it.  I don't drive without music on and I think that I blame that tick on having worked in the fields for so many years.  To keep myself from getting bored or tired, I needed to SING!!!  So... there is never a quiet cab when I'm driving.  Some habits die hard.

The last struggle that I know my fellow farm gals will understand is finding a comfortable temperature.  Depending on the time of season... whether we were cutting, thrashing, or working dirt really determined how I would dress.  When I was young, my dad always advised long pants and tall boots.  Keeps the seed out.  However, sometimes my rebelling teenage attitude came billowing out and I wasn't able to stop it.  If I was stuck in a cushy, air conditioned, clean combine cab all day and I didn't have to climb up on top of trucks to settle seed down before tarping or if I didn't have to do a lot of running around the field... all I had to do was drive, I'd wear shorts.  Tank tops, tshirts, and sweatshirts.  Then Boss would get in, crank the AC while he rode a round with me and completely mess up the comfortable temperature I'd finally achieved.  As an adult, I learned that jeans and tall boots were the only way I could function.  I really couldn't handle dirt or seed being in my socks or in between my toes.  I needed clean, dry feet.  To keep myself cooled off if I had to spend much time outside, I was a tank top gal through and through. My armpits get claustrophobic I used to say.

These days, Marie and I have no need to cruise in our daddy's pickup trucks... we have our own.  Again, if you don't recognize it, shame on you!  Look up the song and get familiar.  

Summers with Dad

This time of year, believe it or not... is hard for me.  Most everybody else is getting geared up for summer.  Hair is getting lighter, skin is getting darker, drinks are going into the coolers, music is getting turned up a little louder, and water is beginning to get warmer.  Here I am, thinking of memories of sitting in the cab of a windrower or combine driving around in circles for 10 or more hours a day.

When I think back, my summers have always consisted of some sort of farming.  My dad taught me how to drive everything.  I remember my summers being spent with my dad.

My memories go back to an age I'm not quite sure of.  However, I remember my red Mickey Mouse alarm clock (the loud ringing bell kind), my Igloo lunch box that was turquoise and yellow, and my first pair of work boots.  I can remember waking up with Mickey, attempting to pack my own lunch, and getting dressed and ready to go to the farm with Dad.  My dad has worked for Knife River (formerly Morse Bros.) driving a cement mixer my entire life.  You do the math, we've already established that I'm now 30 years old.  He has, for as long as I can remember, taken 2 weeks off during the summer-time to work on the farm.  His friend's farm, to help out.  That was his vacation.  Something he enjoyed doing... mom probably would have wanted to go on an actual vacation, but dad's heart needed the tractors.  The smell of ripening ryegrass, diesel fumes, and a plethora of dust and dirt.
I always took a pillow with me, despite the cabs being small and quite cramped back then... I always found a place to curl up and sleep.  When I wasn't napping on the floor, I was sitting either in dads lap or right next to him.  I can very distinctly remember driving a combine, sitting on dad's lap.  I turned around, and his head was tipped back sleeping.  I woke him up at every corner because I was worried I couldn't do it myself.

The first time I had to squat to pee in the field was an experience of it's own.  I was with dad, he didn't know how to explain how to squat, he didn't have to worry about that.  It's easy for boys to pee when you're out in the field.  But dad treated me just like the boys that were out there.  The first time was pretty painless... I had dad there to run interference.  But as I got older and began driving equipment on my own during the summer, it became more difficult.  Being the only girl on the crew out in the field, if my machine came to a stop (so that I could get out and pee), here came the boss in the pickup bombing across the field to make sure I hadn't broken down or plugged or something.  There's no telling how many times boss-man saw my little white rear-end.  I had to get creative.  Spacing myself perfectly with the other people driving, and waiting until the furthest corner away to ensure extra time, or making sure I could do the first round so that I could be right up next to the tree line for some privacy.

Dad teaching me how to pull the 18-bottom plow.

All of the things that I know had to quickly become common knowledge.  Every single bit of it came from my dad at some point.  He taught me how to drive, how to drive straight, how to turn a corner, how to round a pointed corner so that it was easier for the next driver to get his header in the small space to cut the grass.  He showed me how to look at my sickle bar and check for problems.  He bought me my first pocket knife to pluck the mud out from under my guards, and to cut the straw out of my header when I plugged it.  He taught me to pack more food than you'll need, just in case you work longer hours and need more to eat.  Not to mention, you eat when you're bored... which is a lot.  He showed me the basics of driving a seed truck.  He showed me how to combine the first row of a field with a lot of trees... how to slowly inch my header in there to suck up the swath and then back away and take a different angle to get back in there so that the tree branches didn't scratch the machine or break something important in the rear end where my straw chopper, fans, and engine were located.  He gave me enough confidence and enough independence to become good at these things.  When I did something wrong, or broke something because I had made a mistake, dad and the boss gave me just enough hollering to make me not want to let them down again, and enough constructive criticism to do better next time and be more careful.  I learned to have my coffee drank by the time I got to the shop in the morning so that I can use the restroom before we head out to the field.  I learned to top a truck, on the go with the New Zealand kiwi driving and hanging out the window throwing hand signals my way before the days of being in a machine that had a functioning CB radio.

When dad's vacation was over and I was out there by myself, he came out almost every night.  Bringing a cold brew to the boss, sitting around the bed of a pickup, chit-chatting about the day's production as the crew finished up and so anxiously awaited the dust to settle in and lay down, making it almost impossible to see your swath in front of you.  Round and round you'd go, looking towards the trucks where we'd park the machines for the night, waiting and waiting for those headlights to flash 2 or 3 times... signaling us to come in for the night and park them to cool down.

The first time I drove a large piece of equipment down the road, I was 14  years old.  Everyone believed I was responsible enough to do it.  I, myself was nervous.  Somebody always came and helped me.  If anything, boss would trade me... he would drive my combine and I would follow slowly in his pickup.  But the first time I had to... we were short handed.  My dad was out there (I think it was on a weekend) helping.  He had left the field to take a full seed truck to the warehouse.  He wasn't back in time to help us with the move.  So boss said I had to drive it on my own.  I'd be the middle combine, with somebody leading the way in front of me and someone behind me.  He had faith that I could do it by myself.  It was one of the longest "road-trips" we had on the farm.  2 fields that were pretty far away from each other.  I succeeded.  I made it to the field, I didn't hit anything.  Everybody was safe and sound.  Except for my dad.  He still wasn't back and it wasn't until later that evening when my mom came to pick me up that I'd been informed that while driving to the warehouse in the truck, he'd been t-boned by someone driving a hay squeeze (semi truck in the front, fork lift in the back).  Mom took me from the farm to the scene of the wreck.  All I can really remember was the cab of the truck was not where it was supposed to be, sitting crooked on the frame of the truck.  Dad had gone for quite a ride, having flipped over onto it's side after impact.  The person driving the hay squeeze had run the stop sign.  Besides a hurt knee and being slightly rattled, dad was okay.

Dad and I enjoying some R&R last summer.  WCMF '15.

As an adult, even up until just a few years ago, I was following in my father's footsteps.  Taking a 2 week vacation during the summer months to help on the farm when I was needed.  It is a relaxing change of pace, leaving a desk job and being outside, in the sunshine, getting dirty, and helping a farmer get their crop in.  It's a good feeling, a sense of accomplishment.  Each day you can see how much you've gotten done.  How many acres you've windrowed, how much you've gotten thrashed. Or if your turning dirt, how many more hours will it take? And should you just keep going until you're done, whether that puts you home at 9pm or 1am.  I quickly learned after high school was over and I was working full time, that I too, just like my father had diesel running through my veins.  Dust belonged in my ears, I enjoy the horsepower, I like wearing my jeans and boots to work each day, putting my hair in a pony tail and being left to drive.

Best 4th of July ever.  Sneaking selfies and
chatting dad's ear off in the combine.

Each spring, I hear from my dad that this is his last summer helping out on the farm.  I always bring to his attention that he has said that same thing for the past 5 years... but it's always the same old song and dance.  This year really is the last.  Most recently, even though I was not taking the time off to work during the summer, I did spend my 4th of July in the combine with my dad.   Just like the summer that we spent the 4th of July evening cutting a field late into the night.  Watching fireworks from the dark cab of the windrower. Like I said, this time of year is almost bitter sweet.  I miss farming with my dad.  I miss being involved.  Don't get me wrong, I have fun summer plans this year.  Lots of camping trips and plans to enjoy my summer and wonderful warm weather.

But I'll always miss my summers with dad.  It wasn't just my summer job.  It was my best childhood memories and I cherish them.