Ol' Rem

 If you are lucky, you will have a once in a lifetime dog. One that is your best friend, loyal, a protector of the family and a good hunter. Remy is all those things to Chris and Holly.  Over the past 13 years, Remy has seen all for of Chris and Holly's children born and has dutifully taken on the responsibility of protecting each of them. You do not want to be a stranger driving into their place. Remy's size, of over 100lbs is matched by his bark, but to my knowledge has never bitten anyone, and if he did, they probably deserved it. If I were to be honest there was more than one time that I was hesitant to walk into their house having to walk by Rem. The FedEx man has it figured out, tossing out a treat upon his arrival. The UPS man, not so much. There must be some history there as Remy just does not like that big brown truck driving up. The school bus is another story altogether, over the years, he has greeted one, two, now three kids getting off the bus every day.

But Rem's main role in life is not that of protector, he is a hunter. That is his passion in life and is relentless in his pursuit of pheasant and fowl. Which unfortunately has included their chickens a time or two. No, Remy is not the perfect dog, you certainly do not want to leave a bag of garbage within his reach, but what he lacks in manners, he makes up in in his love of life. 

Why all the Remy talk? The old guy is getting near the end of his life here on earth. Most of his days are spent laying on the stoop of the garage protecting his pack inside. Nowadays he will just open one eye and give me a look as I step over him, but I suspect if I was a stranger, it would be a different story. With fading eyesight, most of his recognition comes through smell. Having been run over twice in his life, just the act of getting up is a struggle, but he manages to get up a couple times a day and you will see him walking the perimeter of the farmyard. What took 10 minutes now takes him over 30. While you can see he is in some pain, you can also still see his love of life and his will to live as he makes his rounds. 

It is hard seeing good dogs get old, any dog for that matter. He is a big part of the family, not only to Chris and Holly, but when he goes, it will be the first taste of death that will impact the three oldest children and that in itself is heartbreaking. So, it was with a heavy heart I patted Remy on the head Tuesday night knowing that it was more than likely the last time I would ever see him, but even without him physically there, I know his spirit will still be sitting on the porch stoop, walking the perimeter of the yard, greeting the school bus, terrorizing the big bad brown truck that pulls into the yard, and even though Chris will not see him, he will be sitting right next to Chris when he is out in the duck blind each fall. 

As you may have theorized from that paragraph, I have left the farm and am now back home. What you ask? How could I be home so quickly? This spring planting season was one for the books. Our earliest start on April 16th, favorable condition, minimal breakdowns, no rain (both a blessing and a curse) resulted in our earliest ending day of May 8th. Three weeks and 1 day, over 5500 acres planted.

Other years this process has taken over 5 weeks so to get everything in the ground so quickly will have its benefits. If they get rain. But that holds true no matter when they get the seed in the ground, but getting it in sooner means should rain come in the next few weeks, the seeds will take full advantage of it. It also means a longer growing season or an earlier harvest depending on the crop.

But before that last seed went into the ground, and before that last pat on Remy's head there was still work to be done. Two more evenings on the machine shed roof buttoned up that project.

And there was seed to get fertilizer to get out to the field. While one the way out to one field I saw the odometer in the truck I was driving turn over to 999,000, 0ne thousand more miles and it will be all 0's again!

Speaking of old trucks, they get a wide variety coming in from local farms to get seed. I am not sure of the year of this one, but it is a classic!

All in all it was a successful season. One broken window on the truck and a few broken hoses, if those are the worst of it, we'll take is as a win. After three weeks I was anxious to get home, but it is one of those places that you already miss the next day. Little Tessa learned to crawl while I was there, and she got her first tractor ride!

The farm is one of those places you look forward to going to, cannot wait to leave and miss the next day. The happy hours after a hard days work, sneaking away and watching a few minutes of golf with DeAnne in the house, the camaraderie with the boys, and a big thank you to Holly for keeping me fed and inviting me down for suppers. I did not get away without injury though, not sure how it happened, but I funked up my left thumb. I do not remember a specific incident, but it has lost all gripping strength and is super painful should I try grip something or bump it. Kind of like a severe sprain, but I didn't sprain it. Three days later, it is still tender but slowly getting better. But I have the next few months for it to heal before I am called to duty to get the crops off the fields. I am already looking forward to it!