Reflections in the Middle of the Night

August 2006-  
   As a teenager I always considered 2am as the middle of the night. No sane person would ever think of starting their day at such an atrocious hour.

  That was before I met and married my dairy farmer husband, who likes to be done milking before the sun peeks up over the horizon. Now almost 27 yrs later, I view 2am just a little differently.

  I step out of the house and the heavy darkness feels like a blanket as it wraps itself around me. The stillness of the night is only broken by the late summer sounds. There are no vehicles, or big semis roaring through the night. There are no clouds in the sky, I can see a million stars.  The birds start rustling in the trees, as my footsteps disturb their sleep and they change their positions. The barn owl, that lives in the old silo, is out on his perch watching me with distain. With a hoot, he takes flight and circles the barn, wondering what is wrong with these humans. They disturb him all day and half the night. I enter the barn as the first cows slowly make their way into the milking parlor. They too seem loathe to shatter the stillness, their feet keep time with their jaws as they find a stall. They are glad the heat and humidity are past, they are ready for cooler temperatures.

   As my daughter and I turn on the fans and start the milker pump, the spell is broken. The cows start to push and shove as they look for their favorite stall. The cow that was fresh the day before sounds like a fog horn as she searches for her calf. The quiet of the early morning helps to take the sting out of life's little grievances, like the mean spirited cow that kicks the milker into many little pieces and it takes 15 minutes to find all the parts and put it all back together.

   There is only one other thing that can compare to the peace and serenity I feel as I step out of the house at 2am.

  It happens on the mornings that I don't milk, I waken to the sounds of our little granddaughters' voice coming over the baby monitor. As I slowly make me way downstairs, she hears me coming and stretches her little arms out to be picked up. We snuggle down into the rocking chair, she burrows her head into the crook of my arm and gazes up at me. She doesn't want to play, she knows it is the middle of the night and she is supposed to be sleeping. She doesn't want a bottle, she just needs someone with skin on. I can feel her eyes looking into mine in the darkness. We exchange secret thoughts, thoughts she will never remember and I will never forget. I watch her as she slowly lets sleep overtake her. She sighs as she falls into a deep sleep. I continue to hold her, I don't want to put her back in her crib. I want to hold her forever.

2am is still the middle of the night, but it is also one of my favorite times of the day.

When We Are Old Ladies

I changed the words to the poem, "When I'm an Old Lady",  to fit our daughter Debbie and her fiancé Pete. Then his mother and I read this at their wedding in 2006.

When We Are Old Ladies

When we are old ladies, we'll live with Pete and Deb,
And bring so much happiness, just like they did.
We want to pay back all the joy they've provided,
Returning each deed, Oh they'll be so excited.

We'll take off our socks, lay them all over the house.
Then we'll try to tame a wee little mouse.
Oh how we'll cry when they feed it to the cat,
Then we'll play in the mud, and track it onto the mat.
When we are old ladies and live with Pete and Deb.

We'll take a nail, scratch our names on the table,
And when they get angry...we'll run...if we're able.
We'll get their little girl, cut off all her hair,
Then we'll hide out....behind the chair.
When we are old ladies and live with Pete and Deb.

We'll get in Pete's truck and never look back,
Until we backed into the green metal hay rack!
When they cook dinner and call us to eat,
We gag on the dried beef gravy, chicken and beets.
When we are old ladies and live with Pete and Deb.

We'll drink from the cartons, and then leave them out,
Then we'll stick pins in the outlets... just to hear them shout.
We'll cross both our eyes, to see if they stick,
Then we'll play in the candles and ruin the wicks.
When we are old ladies and live with Pete and Deb.

And later in bed we'll lay back with a sigh,
We'll thank God in prayer and then close our eyes.
Pete and Deb will look down with a smile slowly creeping,
And say with a groan, "They're so cute when they're sleeping!"

Why Farm Wives Age Fast

   The day was July 20, 1987. I had got up that morning not feeling well so I thought I would just take it easy since I had nothing pressing to do. After breakfast I went for groceries while Rob took the three children, (Leah 7, Jesse 5, and Debbie 2,) with him, he was taking a load of corn to Agway. He asked me to check on two cows that were out in the pasture when I got back. One was supposed to have a calf, and the other one was supposed to be in heat. He was also expecting the combine to come as soon as he got back, then he would be busy hauling oats to Agway the rest of the day.

    At 11 o'clock he came in and asked about the cows. I had forgotten all about them!! I told Leah and Jesse to watch Debbie real closely and went right out to check them. I walked all over the pasture, through thistles as high as my head, looking for the fresh cow. I did find the other cow in heat so I went back to the barn and called her in to the AI service. I had missed the deadline for morning service so I would have to make sure the cow was in the barn by 1 o'clock for the afternoon service. I went back out to the pasture and continued looking for the fresh cow. After about an hour, I did stumble onto her, amidst the thistles. She wasn't fresh yet. I walked back to the barn to get the truck so I could drive out to the field and tell Rob about the cows. Then I remembered the children!!

    Leah and Jesse were in Jesse's bedroom playing with the door shut, their version of watching Debbie closely! Debbie was in the bathroom brushing her teeth with my toothbrush. She was using baby lotion for toothpaste. She had baby lotion everywhere, and had also taken the wrappers off of four bars of soap. I grabbed Debbie, told the other two where I was going and drove back to the back fields. Rob had just left with a load of oats so we settled down to wait. We had eaten all the red huskberries off a berry bush and Debbie was halfway through the green ones when Rob came back. He thought the pregnant cow should have food and water, I told him I would go back to the pasture and bring her out to the water trough.

    As I was driving back to the farm, I saw calves running in every direction. It was 3 calves and 2 children. Jesse and Leah were trying to get them in but they were actually chasing them. Two of the calves went lickerty split out through the sudax field, I went lickerty split after them. I finally managed to get them turned around. With Jesse and Leah standing at designated spots we got them back in their little pasture lot. All the gate fences were open, apparently Rob forgot to close the gates when he took the tractor out of the barnyard that morning.

  Then I remembered the cow! At that moment I was wishing for a three wheeler! I left the children in the yard and trudged back out to the pasture, found the cow and started playing "merry-go round the thistle bush," She was in a rotten mood and wouldn't let me get behind her to drive her out to the water trough. I finally decided to get the truck and bring the feed and water to her. The children filled three five gallon buckets with water, while I got the ryelage and hay. I put everything on the truck then got a sheet of warped plywood and laid it over the buckets. I sat the children on top the plywood, hoping the water wouldn't slosh out too much. We bounced our way out to the pasture, the children and the plywood bounced off the buckets so some of the water did spill. We managed to have enough to give to the cow.

   When we got back to the house it was 1:30. I packed a lunch box full of sandwiches and cookies and sent Jesse and Leah back to the field for Rob and the combine man. Debbie and I were just finishing our sandwiches when the screen door opened and George the AI technician walked in. The cow wasn't in the barn! I asked him if he minded waiting till I went out to the pasture and got her. He said we were his last stop for the day, he wasn't in a hurry. Good thing!! I ran back out to the thistle field once more! There shouldn't be any jaggers left on the thistles, I think they are all embedded in my legs. The cow was about as far from the barn as she could get. I got her into the barnyard without any trouble. I shut the fence and tried to get her in the barn. She panicked, jumped the fence and broke the gate handle, we were back where we started. George came out to help me. We had her in the barn and tied before she knew what hit her.

  Rob never told me what bull he wanted her bred to so I called Agway hoping he would be there unloading oats. He wasn't! George said he would run back to the field and talk to Rob there. Right after he left, Rob called from Agway. I got all the information, and went to find George. When I got back to the field, Leah said George went to Agway, so I turned around and headed back to the farm. By the time I got back to the farm, George was pulling in from the other direction. As I came around the corner of the barn, George said, "I heard you were looking for me." I said, "Yes I was, I sure hope that cow gets bred, I don't want to go though all this again!"

   I went on into the house. It was 3 o'clock, one hour to "take it easy" till milking time. I had just laid down with Debbie when Rob walked in. He said when the children brought lunch back to the field he wasn't hungry...now he was!! and THAT is the reason farm wives age fast!!!