D.O.N.E.

I am so done with harvest.

Thankfully, as of 4:00 today, harvest is done with me too.

There are parts of harvest that I enjoy....really, there are.  There is something about the hype, the adrenaline, and the experience that everyone should get a chance to be a part of.  It is a time when family -- brothers, cousins, nephews, nieces, grandkids, in-laws...and outlaws... -- all come together to work toward a common goal.  Or just to hang out and have a combine ride.  Or to offer well-wishes and prayers via facebook.  No matter the role, everyone plays a part.

However, this year's harvest seemed especially tiring.  I am not sure why, but one particular theme song from my childhood kept playing over and over in my head...."You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both, and there you have..."

Harvest.

It's not as catchy as "...the facts of life, the facts of life...", but it definitely fits. 

For those of you dying to know, here's a snapshot of the week:

BAD: Breakdowns.  That word is a sentence all by itself. It's a subject, verb, adjective, and adverb all wrapped up into one. Ugh.  Breakdown #1 occurred about 2 hours after we started cutting a week ago Friday.  Breakdown #3 caused us to lose nearly all of Monday.  If you are not a harvest type of person, let me just inform you that a 12 hour breakdown makes everybody especially grumpy. 

Breakdown #ninety-gazillion occurred last night at midnight.  Imagine my delight.

GOOD: We thought the 12 hour breakdown was going to cost upwards of $10,000 and potentially force us to end harvest and hire someone else to finish.  Turned out it was a $5.00 o-ring.  Although time-consuming, every single breakdown ended up being relatively inexpensive. 

BAD:  Sickness. Spiking a 103 fever during harvest makes life miserable for any child, and for the families having to juggle plans, people, and schedules.

GOOD: Although all 8 cousins stayed the night at grandma's together and were thoroughly exposed, no one else got sick.  Amazing.

BAD: Breathing Treatments.  Calls in the middle of the night from your child who is staying at grandma's are scary.  The words, "Mom, I need a treatment" are not my favorite any time, let alone at 3:48 a.m.  And just when we thought harvest is over and all is well, the same words came out of his mouth about an hour ago.  Harvest is done, and we are still treating.

GOOD: I was negligent  in preparing for harvest in the meds department, but I scrounged up 4 vials of the needed solution.  We used the last one yesterday.  I almost didn't pick up the new script at the pharmacy yesterday afternoon because we were almost done with harvest and he was doing great.  Had I not decided to go ahead and get the medicine, I would be sitting in the ER at this very moment.

BAD: The relentless wind.  It was awful.  The wind made it hard to see, hard to breathe, and hard to enjoy being at the field.

GOOD: The relentless wind also made it possible to start cutting early every morning and stay in the fields late, late every night.

BAD: Kids. Not that the kids are "bad", but harvest basically ends up becoming a time of complete freedom, tons of fun, unlimited play time, staying up til all hours, and excessive video gaming. What is wrong with that? Nothing! Until you have to bring them home and re-introduce the realities of life.

GOOD: Harvest is also a time of  great cousin-bonding, trampoline jumping, sand-castle building, wheat truck riding, soccer playing, game playing, and sleeping like sardines in grandma's basement.  Many life-long memories are made.
 . 
BAD: Scary storms. One rolled through Thursday evening.  We had plenty of warning on radar that rain was heading our way.  What we didn't realize was coming was the mega huge wind.  Facebook posts like "90 mph wind in McPherson!" freaked me out a bit.  I am pretty sure my phone call to my husband went something like, "YOU HAVE GOT TO GET THAT COMBINE OUT OF THERE N.O.W.!"

GOOD: All our people and equipment made it back to the shed.  They were a minute or two later than what would have been considered safe....but....they made it.

I guess this all goes to show that every cloud really does have a silver lining.  There is good in every bad situation, and things really do happen for a reason.  Sometimes we may never know what that reason is, which, personally, drives me a wee bit crazy at times.

Like my 10 year old said earlier today, "The worst thing about harvest is that you never know what is going to happen, everything always changes, and we never can have a plan.  And I LIKE to have a plan."

I have no idea who he gets THAT from.

I'm sure he has never heard that from me...