A Typical Farm Date: Spilling Coffee and Checking Water
Hi Friend,
It was an unusual January afternoon. The sun was bright, wispy clouds in the sky, warm for January if you don’t count the biting wind that was insistent on blowing. I pulled my wildrag tight around my neck to block the wind then quickly jammed my hands back into my coat pocket. I listened to the gentle crunch of straw under my winter boots. Following Kevin out of the wheat field, I took a deep breath of clean, sagebrush filled winter air.
If you follow along on Instagram or Facebook, you saw me getting this bull back in.
Marriage Advice: True but Tricky
When we got married over ten years ago, one of the best pieces of advice we received was “keep having fun together”. At first that was easy. No kids, no full-time jobs. We were full-time college students with part-time jobs. We knew how to have fun. Eventually we graduated and were working full-time. Responsibilities increased, but it was no problem to drop everything on the weekend go for an adventure. But life, as you well know, continues to evolve and responsibilities grow.
Now with two young farm boys, a farm, small businesses, and animals dependent on us for their breakfast and dinner, we’ve had to get more creative about our dates. Often our dates involve some kind of farm work, and today was no exception.
On our way to check waters we passed our “farm equipment museum”. These old harvesters, tractors, and pickups tell a story about how much sweat, blood, and tears has gone into our farm for the last 100 years.
Earlier In the Day
The farm boys were at their weekly sitter, grocery shopping was complete, dinner was started, and I was settling down after taking blog pictures to begin updating farm books. Kevin popped his head into the room and said, “I need to go check bull waters. Do you want to go?”
I looked at the opened computer in front of me. I knew I should really update books while I had uninterrupted quiet, but the sun was shining and it was a relatively warm January day. Besides, time alone with Kevin is rare. “Sure”, I replied, “I’m not doing anything important.”
Fifteen minutes later, I was bundled up in base layers and a ski jacket, and we were driving across a wheat field to check water. Now one thing that I have learned while living on the farm is don’t drive across a wheat field and try to drink hot coffee at the same time. Don’t ask how I know this, and I won’t tell you that I had to remind myself of this as I spilled my steaming hot coffee on my coat.
Our dates often consist of views like this, but honestly can you beat this? I’d take this view and quiet over a bustling restaurant any day.
Back to Where The Story Started
Kevin making sure pipes aren’t frozen. Can you believe he builds stock tanks like this? I’m not sure if he did this one, but many of our other ones he has built.
Once we got to the water, Kevin immediately went to work. The water was running just fine, which was a relief since the temperature had been below freezing the last couple of days. However, the trough was overflowing. Kevin hiked through the sagebrush with me close behind to find the drain field.
A few years ago when he put in the trough, he installed a drain that redirects overflow to water the range grass. Pretty nifty, huh? This natural spring supplies a generous amount of water during the year, so reeds had grown to plug the drain. We dug out (okay, he dug out… that frozen ground is harder than it looks) the drain, and water immediately emptied out into the range.
No sooner than we were finished, our bulls started trailing in a single file line for their afternoon drink.
One of the things I enjoy about farm life is being able to go to work with my husband. There is something about seeing your husband in his element, the take charge and get it done attitude, that reminds you of why you were attracted to him in the first place. After all, that is the whole point of a date, right?
Best,
The Sieverkropps