SLEEPY AND THE OLD GENT
The wisdom with Wes can be summarized by a warm sunny day, a big noon meal, a computer illiterate operator, a GPS equipped tractor and a low-profile sprinkler. This whole episode was caused by the hay man’s arch enemy, the GOPHER! We built a large roller packer with leveler to smooth and pack our alfalfa fields. This machine works best at speeds under 4 MPH. At this speed, boredom and inattention and sleepiness occurs.
By the middle of the afternoon, I was able to sleep almost a full round and not hear the GPS alarm. I awoke when the sprinkler truss hit the muffler. I could have touched the main pipe, but the cab windows were all intact. My first reaction was to check to see in there were any eyewitnesses. The tower to the left was standing almost vertical on one wheel. The tower on the right was almost a mirror image. I whispered a prayer that I might back the tractor away without tipping over the sprinkler. My prayer was answered, so I called Todd to confess and he responded - - accidents and mistakes will happen. AGE HAS BENEFITS!!!
GOPHERS!!!
I mentioned gophers recently and think now is an appropriate time to think about the problem. History tells us that man would have dominion over the animals and birds of the world. God even put Adam & Eve in a perfect world. The problem was not the apple in the tree, but the pair on the ground. The gopher probably invaded the garden at that time and the hay man has been sweating ever since. Many of us thought that Noah missed the chance by not throwing the gophers overboard! Noah did right!!! We have tried to drown gophers, poison them, trap them, plow them and have had very limited success. Our latest, greatest, machine looks like a reckless teenager in an SUV that has run into an illegal moonshine operation on wheels. It does work very well, but we know the battle will continue.
PERSEVERANCE!!!