Jul. 07, 2004 ~ Fretting a bit
Just a teensy bit, and not over anything major. Tonight Husband got home early from work, and we thought it would be a fine idea if he moved a couple of loads of hay. As in, transporting them from a pasture about twenty miles away. It seemed like it was taking longer than it should have, so of course I started worrying. If there's one thing I'm good at, it's worrying.
Husband recently arrived home, and he was outside tinkering with various tools and such, and this did not seem "right." Silly me, I walked outside to see what was up, and was informed that he'd had a blowout on the hay trailer, the trailer loaded with, oh, 4,500 pounds of hay. Said trailer was not attached to our truck. It didn't seem to be anywhere nearby. Seems this had happened on our narrow, curving highway, and he'd pulled off at the entrance of a little cemetery, where he'd unhitched the trailer. He came back to get jacks and tools, and said he was going back to our friend's house (the friend who owns the trailer, and is helping us move hay) to get a spare. He seemed chipper enough when he left. I smiled hopefully and said, "Okay." He hadn't even gotten out of the driveway when a dreadful attacks of the "What ifs!" hit. The "What ifs!" are nearly as bad as the "Uh-ohs," and there is no known treatment, save for the passage of time.
What if our friend doesn't have a spare? What if the stupid trailer falls on Husband when he is trying to change the tire? What if some baddie steals the crippled, borrowed trailer, the one containing the hay we haven't even paid for yet? See where this leads?
Uh-oh. This is not good. Definitely not good. So here I sit, quietly fretting, wishing I'd never said anything about moving hay tonight. Maybe it would have postponed the inevitable flat tire; maybe it would not have happened at all. Maybe it's for the best; maybe it's the beginning of a disaster. Or possibly Husband will obtain a spare tonight, put it on safely, get back out on the road and drive carefully and slowly home, dump the hay in the pasture, and call it quits.
I'll let you know.
How long has it been since my last update? A while? The troops (body parts -- arms, legs, nerves, muscles, etc.) have been acting up again. Or still. I'm used to having bad spells followed by getting better. Only "better" was slow to arrive this time. We're all still waiting, actually. At the moment we are experiencing "not quite as bad," which is not technically "better," but it as an improvement. Oy. I'm not big on prescription drug use, or even over-the-counter drug use, but I've been the merry little pill-taker these past few weeks. Chemically-induced sleep is far superior to no sleep at all. I've also found a pain medicine which doesn't make me throw up.
But I digress. (I think that's the point, if you are following along.) Husband isn't home yet. Hope he makes it soon. At least he hasn't called to say that the trailer was stolen.
Husband, our friend, College Boy and I worked the cattle a few days ago, and Husband got too hot. Our friend seemed fine at the time, and the next day, too, but yesterday he was working his own cattle and he passed out cold. Said he hadn't felt sick or hot or light-headed or anything like that, and in fact he had not known that he passed out, till his friend told him. Our buddy is the picture of health, stronger than most men half his age, but he is 73 years old. The doctor ran tests and found nothing wrong, said he didn't think it was anything to be alarmed about, but of course I am concerned. It's my job. In fact, what was I thinking, letting him help us with the hay this evening?
Did I say I was fretting just a little?
In my dreams...
Later...
There wasn't a flood. Or a tornado. But there was a fire. The guys did find a spare, get the tire changed, and arrived home with the hay, which they promptly dumped in the pasture. Our friend is fine. The hay baling machine burned up, though. Totally burned up, in the field. Don't ask me how or why. Well, they do tend to catch on fire, but it's usually in dry conditions. Maybe they hit a rock in the field, a spark is created, and that's all she wrote. But we've had lots and lots of rain, and there was finally a break in the weather, so we rushed to find someone to bale the hay, and they had been at it all day, till the baler went up in smoke. He's going to get a new one tomorrow, he said. But there is what looks like lighting in the sky, and yes, it might rain tonight. You've got to make hay while the sun shines, don't you know. It's true. You can't bale wet hay. If it gets very wet at all, it's ruined. Thousands of dollars gone.
I wonder how much a hay baler costs? It wasn't our baler, if you were wondering. It belonged to someone in the hay business, and this is an occupational hazard. Sometimes they'll lose two or three of them in a summer.
Well. .
Later still... .
The lightning in the sky was not lightning at all. Nobody knows what it was, but on the news they're saying maybe a comet? The newscasters appeared somewhat flustered, excited. They've settled down now. Officials say it wasn't a plane crash, but they can't say what it was. I remember not that long ago when the space shuttle fell to earth nearby, with a boom that shook me awake, bolt upright, watching the windows rattle, thinking we might be at war. This was nothing like that. Just a glow, a flash in the sky. "What was that?" I asked Husband. I thought I saw it twice. He saw it, too.
This day is just getting stranger and stranger. Maybe tomorrow will be... normal. Normal would be good.
Apparently this is going to be a never-ending journal entry. Making up for lost time, it would seem. Feeling restless, I went outside to visit with the dog (yes, it IS late at night... doesn't everyone do that?), and there was not a cloud in the sky, but there were lots and lots of stars. And the occasional orange glow, off in the distance. I'm sticking with my original story, it WAS lightning. But the reports are of a brilliant, huge fireball, with a tail, streaking across the night sky, visible over a large area of Texas and part of Arkansas. Probably a garden-variety comet or some sort of weather phenomenon, wouldn't you imagine? Or what... a satellite or something breaking up? And why is this not on the national news? Hellooooo? News people! Wake up! There's a story here!
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