In reply to:

Farms are great for fidgety folk like yourself. Just steer clear of the farmer's daughter and all will be fine. Oh wait, would that be Lisa?



Amen to that... that's why I take my week off in the summer out there... Lis wants me to go to Cancun or Hawaii or whatever. Me, sitting still on a beach for a week? Ain't gonna happen. And no, the farmer's daughters are her cousins, one's the cute country singer I went to see last night, the other one's too young.

In reply to:

with his obsessive/compulsive self, would have TONS of stuff to do on a farm. something is always broke or needs fixing. barn door this, tractor that... he might have to change up his work hours a bit, but i bet he would do just fine.



Not a chance. I didn't grow up with this stuff... I'd still have a lot of catching up to do. I don't have a feel for how sick a calf is to guess how much antibiotic to give it, or whether it's better to bale just a bit wet to get it off the fields or to take the chance of it getting rained on. I have a lot of respect for those guys - takes a lot to do what they do... and some day I have to bring them into my world where I don't feel out of my element.

The mechanical side of things though - gotta love equipment built with the farmers themselves being able to fix it in mind. A full set of pliers, sockets (impact and regular), combo wrenches, flare-nut/line wrenches, screwdrivers, a stick welder and 4 sizes of hammers, and there's nothing you can't do yourself!

Though I believe I told the story before... last "vacation" I was helping out with a cold barn addition. No one believed me that I thought there was a problem with the seal on the acetylene tank until a spark from my grinder set it on fire.

Was worth it to point out the flame to her uncle, hear him yell "MA CHRISTE!" (you work out the French translation!) and run out of the barn in rubber boots. 'Course, it looked a lot worse than it was, one of his sons ran over and snuffed it with a work glove... and he was standing closer to it than I was, but that memory of him running (I mentally add the Flintstones "doogita doogita" running sound) puts me in my happy place, evil bugger that I am.

Bren R.