Humility
Sunny, 89/60, Change to Fair. All the hay and corn is in for the year and farm maintenance is heavy on the list as we get ready for winter. Right now is building maintenance with the barn straightening finishing up. We also got the loft cleaned out and have started to gather materials to start on the old farmhouse again. We still have fall planting to do to try to get some of the pastures back in shape after this bad drought this year. Probably disc the pastures this week and try to plant by this weekend.
One of the things I constantly have to work on in this life is my humility. Thankfully, between the good Lord and my wife of 23 years, they have for the most part kept me honest and straight when I start getting the big head. Well, they had to do it again last weekend.
It was a very busy weekend last weekend. We were trying to catch up on chores that we had got behind on due to our recent trip to Michigan and we were making good progress. One of the big jobs (straightening the barn) is almost completed. We jacked it into place and braced it so I can come along and do the finishing work. Finally, you can see how the end product is going to look. Seeing the progress and knowing another job was about to be checked off the list made me feel…. well…..superior….. That was until I went out to feed the animals….
Every now and again, Kathy will go out with me to do this. She especially wanted to go because we had two new goat kids that morning. Well while she was ooohing and ahhing over them I went and fixed the mineral feeder for the 80th time (durn goats keep climbing on the things and knocking them down….they just don’t make baling wire like they used to…). I finally might have gotten frustrated and told her it was time to feed the chickens. By the look on her face, I would say I might have told her in a not so tactful way.
Well we get up to the laying tractor which is 4x8x 4 foot high and the goats seeing me carrying the chicken feed decide to follow. Kathy gathered the eggs and went off to look at some plant the goats hadn’t devoured yet, while I filled the feeder.
I opened the door and bent over to fill the feeder, the goats decided they wanted the feed and started to push on my legs. Well I lost my balance and took a step forward into the coop. Now, I’m 6’3” and the coop is only 4 foot high so I’m all bent over and have no leverage to push back against the goats. They keep trying to get to the food and I’m kicking and yelling for them to get back, they weren’t moving. So I finally had to call my wife over to help me get out. This is where the story versions separate. My wife and I went home and the two teen boys asked what took so long. I told my version, and then Kathy told hers. See which one you believe….
Brads Version:
So I called your mother over by saying “Dear fair maiden, these goats seem to have me in a little bit of a fix. I would appreciate your help in getting me out of this predicament. Please take your time, if you would like to stop and smell the flowers, I will have no problem with that. The livestock and I seem to enjoy this confined space together.
Kathy’s version was a little different:
So I hear your daddy screaming like a little girl. “Help me….. Kathy….. Help me!! These goats are going to knock me over”. So I go over to see whats going on and these sweet goats have cornered your dad in the chicken coop. He looked like a jack-in-the-box just waiting for the handle to be cranked. I ended up moving the goats with a wave of my hand so he could get out.
After the laughter died down, I know which story the boys believed. I once again have been humbled. Sigh…..Now when I go through the house telling the boys to pick up their cloths or ask Kathy where something is, I’m beginning to think my families mocking me. They’re fine to my face, but when they turn away I can almost swear I hear a faint “baaaaahhh………”
One of the things I constantly have to work on in this life is my humility. Thankfully, between the good Lord and my wife of 23 years, they have for the most part kept me honest and straight when I start getting the big head. Well, they had to do it again last weekend.
It was a very busy weekend last weekend. We were trying to catch up on chores that we had got behind on due to our recent trip to Michigan and we were making good progress. One of the big jobs (straightening the barn) is almost completed. We jacked it into place and braced it so I can come along and do the finishing work. Finally, you can see how the end product is going to look. Seeing the progress and knowing another job was about to be checked off the list made me feel…. well…..superior….. That was until I went out to feed the animals….
Every now and again, Kathy will go out with me to do this. She especially wanted to go because we had two new goat kids that morning. Well while she was ooohing and ahhing over them I went and fixed the mineral feeder for the 80th time (durn goats keep climbing on the things and knocking them down….they just don’t make baling wire like they used to…). I finally might have gotten frustrated and told her it was time to feed the chickens. By the look on her face, I would say I might have told her in a not so tactful way.
Well we get up to the laying tractor which is 4x8x 4 foot high and the goats seeing me carrying the chicken feed decide to follow. Kathy gathered the eggs and went off to look at some plant the goats hadn’t devoured yet, while I filled the feeder.
I opened the door and bent over to fill the feeder, the goats decided they wanted the feed and started to push on my legs. Well I lost my balance and took a step forward into the coop. Now, I’m 6’3” and the coop is only 4 foot high so I’m all bent over and have no leverage to push back against the goats. They keep trying to get to the food and I’m kicking and yelling for them to get back, they weren’t moving. So I finally had to call my wife over to help me get out. This is where the story versions separate. My wife and I went home and the two teen boys asked what took so long. I told my version, and then Kathy told hers. See which one you believe….
Brads Version:
So I called your mother over by saying “Dear fair maiden, these goats seem to have me in a little bit of a fix. I would appreciate your help in getting me out of this predicament. Please take your time, if you would like to stop and smell the flowers, I will have no problem with that. The livestock and I seem to enjoy this confined space together.
Kathy’s version was a little different:
So I hear your daddy screaming like a little girl. “Help me….. Kathy….. Help me!! These goats are going to knock me over”. So I go over to see whats going on and these sweet goats have cornered your dad in the chicken coop. He looked like a jack-in-the-box just waiting for the handle to be cranked. I ended up moving the goats with a wave of my hand so he could get out.
After the laughter died down, I know which story the boys believed. I once again have been humbled. Sigh…..Now when I go through the house telling the boys to pick up their cloths or ask Kathy where something is, I’m beginning to think my families mocking me. They’re fine to my face, but when they turn away I can almost swear I hear a faint “baaaaahhh………”
posted by Brad Bachelor at 4:31 AM
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