I DID get stuck

I'm going to start my post with some pictures of my favorite animal friends, although I won't write about them until the end of the post. Call me, "Lazy," but it gets so old dragging a bunch of pictures down the page half a mile. :)

This is our dog, Millie, who has been with us almost 2 years. She tries to help herd the cattle, but ends up in front of them somehow. We're working on it, though, as she has learned to come for a doggie bone almost all the time now.

Cora's aquarium is so aluring as one enters the world of under the water.

Cora's sweet Basset Hound, Millie also, whom she renamed, Lady. We are all in love with her ears.

A few of our turkeys and a chicken greeting each other, "Good morning," as they pass.

My sweet old, Clara, and me in the milking parlor a few weeks ago.

Mama and baby in the calving pen. This one needed a little help getting her calf out. The yellow tag means that she is one of Andrew's animals.

A lovely robin I spied in the tree by the deck.

Our little chicks we're raising after their mom hatched them out for us. We don't seem to have much success with incubators.

My very best friends, the goats!

The Holstein calves that we bottle fed last year. These animals, being they were hand fed, are very tame.

And now for my post.

I REALLY DID GET THE TRACTOR STUCK--and I was NOT very popular around here for it!

It happened late Friday evening. It was so exasperating as I had gone around 3 lakes during the course of the day. At each one of those lakes in the field I was working, I was able to keep moving that 300 horse power tractor less than 20 feet away from standing water. That morning had gone GREAT and I was so happy that I was strong and healthy and able to help with the field work.

I finished that 30+ acre field by noon. I was just in time to see our friend from South Carolina leave with our 1486 which they were renting from us to plant their field plots on their farm 8 miles from here. I waved a, "Glad to see you back in ND, Gaylin," and felt on top of the world.

After lunch I took a nap as I knew the 50+ acre field that I had hoped to finish yet before Sabbath lay ahead of me. I try not to do so much field work as bouncing around out there tends to be hard on my neck. When I awoke, I jumped in my, "Carriage" as Robert calls our 4890 Case "Big" tractor and drove south to do the field around the Kintyre curve. He usually drives the tractor up in front of the house for me; pops his head in the door; and says, "Your carriage awaits." :)

Storm clouds threatened our progress, but I started the field with high hopes of finishing it before dark if I would push hard. Robert was working across the road from me planting corn and I waved at him when our tractors ended up facing each other at the end of our fields. HOW ROMANTIC!

Once I got a big rock stuck in between the disc blades, but Cora and Jacob got it out for me as they were out there picking rocks out of the places where the rock piles were. They had the pry bar so I just let them help me out while I cleaned out the mud between one of the places where the scraper had broken out.

At first I tried loosening up the places where the big excavator had driven, but Robert said that we needed the chisel plow for that. After I gave that up, I did some serious praying that the Lord would send the rain around our field so that I could finish it before the start of Sabbath at sunset. He seemed very obliging too, as the storm moved to the North and I was bathed in Spring sunshine which lifted my hopes that I'd be able to finish the field.

Robert and I REALLY both enjoy finishing big projects before the beginning of Sabbath. However, it wasn't to be this time. You see, I came to this low place that looked rather dampish but there was NOT one drop of visible water standing in the field. I thought, "No problem, there's not even any water standing in this field." I charged through, with little difficulty although I did have to lift the disc a tiny bit. Little did I know that different soil types have different affects on tractor sinkability, but I was about to find out.

I was pushing hard and trying to estimate if I'd be able to finish up before dark. The fact that the field is cut away for the curve in the road, gave me a little hope. I didn't think about it much when I came back to the low spot in the field. I guess I should have. All of a sudden the tires started spinning and, when I lifted up the disc to help me plow through, NOTHING HAPPENED.

I kept going for a little while, unable to accept that I had indeed gotten that big beastly tractor stuck in a place where there was no standing water. "How can this be?" I asked the Lord. Gradually it DAWNED on me that I was REALLY stuck. I gulped hard; put the tractor in neutral; pulled down the throttle; and prayed.

"Now Lord, you don't REALLY mean to leave me sitting here like this, do you?" No answer. So I prayed for wisdom to know how to drive out of there and I put the thing in first gear and was positive that I would be able to drive out of there. Nope.

It took a lot of courage for me to call Robert, knowing how STRONGLY he wanted to finish his field before dark too. I was almost relieved when I got his voice mail as I very weakly left a message, "I'm stuck." Then I called the house but Cora and Jacob were out at chores yet. I left the same message there and called Andrew who told me that he had just left Linton and was 45 minutes away.

To make a VERY long story short, the guys all came out to the field to help their damsel in distress. They ended up having to unhook the disk and pull it out backwards. Without all of that weight behind, Robert was able to drive the tractor out of the slop. Then they re-hooked the disc and Robert drove the tractor and disc home.

But what was I doing during all of that? Well, it had become apparent that I needed to surrender the driver's seat to Robert. When I stepped down off of the tractor, the mud instantly sucked off one of my shoes. The next step I took, the other shoe also was sucked off of my foot by the mud. How lovely. Here I was a foot and a half deep in mud with NO SHOES.

By this time, it was dark outside. I drug myself through the muck over to where Jacob was standing a safe distance from the tow chains. I told him that I'd lost my shoes but we had no time to look for them as Robert and Andrew were trying to get the equipment moved around and we needed to stay away from them as they couldn't see us in the dark. It's kind of terrifying to be standing barefoot in mud with big equipment moving around you in the dark.

All in all, I was standing in the dark with no shoes and my feet and legs covered in mud for about half an hour. There was nothing to do about it as the loader tractor was needed to help pull out the disk and Robert was in the Beast. My feet were so cold and I was so miserable that I couldn't help but sob on Jacob's shoulder.

Finally, the tractor and disc were re-hooked together, on solid ground, so that we could have the loader tractor. Jacob took me home then and I have never been so happy to take a nice, warm shower in my life!!!!!!! I thought about taking a picture of my muddy socks but you can't really see anything but a big glob of mud. Jacob said, "I'd throw those out if I were you, Mom." I haven't wanted to touch them yet, so they're still laying in the entryway where I left them that night. They blend in pretty well with the rest of the entry way, as everyone is dragging in so much mud these days!

We were all VERY thankful that they were able to get the tractor and disc out of the mud hole that night as it's been raining ever since. In fact, we've had 4 1/2 inches of rain since then. When I am tempted to feel sorry for myself for getting a cold out of the deal OR to be mad at myself for not getting the field done that night, I just picture the tractor floating out there with all of this rain, and then I am able to find SOMETHING to be glad about.

So, YES, I DID get the tractor stuck. Thanks to the most ingenious men in the world, though, it now sits in the yard waiting for things to dry out so that I can go finish the field. I wonder if I'll see my shoes floating on the top?

What else is new around here? Well, tomorrow is my last day in my office on South Washington in Bismarck. I am soooooooooo excited to pick up the keys to my new office. I ordered some things for that office but I'm going to save the details until later when I can show you pictures of it. My office will go from a suite of rooms to just one 10 X 12 foot room. However, it is the same price as a fifth of the suite and I CAN HAVE ACCESS TO IT ALL THE TIME!!!! No more sharing the room!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really do need to go finish my kombucha batch. Have I told you that I am in love with kombucha? I'm in the brain field you know. I mean it helps to have brains when I'm driving tractor but it REALLY helps when I'm doing BodyTalk sessions. Whenever my brain starts getting fuzzy, I drink some kombucha and it gets right back on track within minutes. It's wonderful stuff and I'd be happy to send anybody a free starter kit, but you'll need to pay the postage. Cora just sent 2 of them to her blogging friends and it cost over $9 to ship them.

Anyway, I am wondering if anyone has ever made kombucha with Apple cider tea from Bigelow? I'm going to give it a try as all of the ingrediants are warming and it smells heavenly. I'll let you know how I like it in about 10 days. :)

Other than that, my washing machine died yesterday; Cora's little buckling, Roger, has stolen my heart; everyone is out loading up scrap metal today as the guys are going to take up a load tomorrow and help me move into my new office; and we got an invitation today in the mail to Ben Dagley and Hannah Stover's wedding next month.

My truly BIG news, though, is that I took an animal communication class on Sunday with a bunch of BodyTalkers in Bismarck. It was an incredibly exciting experience to learn how to tune into the thoughts of Kris's 2 gorgeous cats. The Lord had a wonderful surprise in store for me, though, that has made me so happy ever since.

I'm sure all of you know how much I have been grieving the loss of my beautiful, Brown Swiss cow Clara! Well, I shared how I have been grieving Clara when Kris started to smile. You see, I had just assumed that Clara would be in someone's freezer by now so that is why I was totally stunned when she said, "Clara's still alive!"

"REALLY? How do you know?"

Kris smiled, "Because you can't tune into dead animals." DAAAAAAAAAA

She told me that she had tuned into Clara's frequency and found that she is still alive but going backwards with all of the rain and something else. "She's asking you to keep doing BodyTalk on her," Kris said.

I sat dumbfounded for a few moments. WHY HADN'T I EVER THOUGHT OF THAT????? If I can do distance sessions on people, why couldn't I do them on my dear, sweet Clara? Another DAAAAAAA.

That was when my tears of grief turned to tears of joy. Kris smiled at me and said, "You CAN keep in touch with your cow by doing BodyTalk sessions on her just like you did when she lived with you." OH FOR JOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She cautioned me, though with these words, "You will know that she is dead when you can no longer tune into her frequency." That makes sense.

I did a long session for my girl on the way home that night and short ones each day since. She's doing better now! You know how I know? I ask, "Are you feeling better, Clara?" I got a YES through our biofeedback technique that we use in BT.

Then I asked, "How much better? What percent?"

Yesterday she was 42% better than she had been on Sunday. Today I got that she was 92% better than she had been on Sunday. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!! GO, CLARA, GO!!!!!!

So you see, God wanted me to go to that animal communication class because he knew that the grief of thinking she was dead was too much for me to bear right now--especially since she ISN'T. I needed to be with Kris, who has the skills to tune in to all animals (she's been doing this for 6 years), to learn that I really CAN keep in touch with my girl through her daily BT sessions.

My heart is so much happier now as I see that the Lord opened my eyes to see the door that I had been using to care for my girl STILL EXISTS!!! I just have to do it from a distance, but what do I care. As long as I know that my Clara is well, I am happy. I'm not sure why I didn't think of doing that before, but I just assumed that she would be slaughtered immediately.

I do realize that only animal lovers would ever be able to grasp what I am trying to say here, but that's ok. I was with a room-full of animal lovers on Sunday, so I know that I'm not the only one who cares so intensely for our furry friends. Animals have always been the ones who loved me through the rough times in my life. Now I'm just thrilled to be able to return their love on a whole new plane.

Best get to the performance session that I'm doing for a fellow BodyTalker who is graduating tomorrow. It's my gift to her with the hopes that it will help her to be the very best that she can be on her special day.

Thanks for listening to my ramblings!

Dawn