Burning of the Mortgage

This year marks the end of a long journey for my in-laws.  They paid off their mortgage on the farm!  This is something they really never thought would happen in their life time.  Hoped, but reality said it probably wouldn't happen.  They went through the era when so many farms were going broke and farmers were losing their land.  The FHA did write off a lot of farmers debt, but my in-laws debt was not one.  But they had the will power (or stubbornness not sure which....hehe) to fight and work hard to not lose their land.  So for the note to actually get paid off, is a wonderful feeling for them (for me and My Farmer too, since we are also involved and helped make the payment!).  And they always said "If we ever get this paid off, we are going to burn the mortgage and have a party!"  So that's what we did.  We had a mortgage burning party!  We held the "burning party" on one night of our family reunion.   A lot of sweat, blood, and tears (along with a lot of swear words, yelling, feet stomping, and ass chewings) went into this farm.  And not just my in-laws.  Over the years family and friends were always around (still are for that matter) to help out when needed.  Their unselfish (and sometimes free) labor is one reason this farm is still operating.   So it was very fitting to "burn the mortgage" and be surrounded by so many of these people.  Their long time best friends and old business partner, nephews and grand-kids that spent their summers here working, the family members who spent their weekends helping with harvests and brandings, to the kids and grand-kids raised here that had to work, all gathered around to watch.  Here is my mother-in-law ready to "toss" the "mortgage" into the fire....

We didn't burn the actual mortgage paper, we just made a pretend mortgage (a piece of paper that said MORTGAGE, PAID IN FULL).  (My mother-in-law decided that she wanted to keep the original one that is stamped "PAID".  She probably won't frame it though.)  Then the best part of the evening started: Everyone shared their stories of their adventures on the farm.  So AWESOME!!  I believe that is the best part of being involved on the farm, the adventures and memories that are made.  I would love it if you would leave a comment and share a memory of your farm life, whether it's from growing up on a farm or ranch, or working and helping out, I would love to hear about it.  Cuz nothings better than Livin' the life, the Farm life that is..................

Helping out the local hunters......

My job today was swathing hay.  I really enjoy this job, mostly because the unit has a cab, (unlike my tractor when I turn hay), it has air conditioning (that actually works), AND it has a radio (that actually picks up a station),  totally a plus.  So I just sat there all afternoon, going back and forth, rockin' out to the radio, enjoying the beautiful scenery in my comfy cab, cutting hay.   Besides making hay,  I decided today that I was also the animal food bank.  Explanation:  There are mice that live in the field.  With the hay so tall, the mice can easily run around,  hiding from their predators making the hunting a little more challenging.   Once the hay is cut into windrows, the mice have less area to hide.  This makes it a little more "easy pickings" for the "hunting".  There is always a hawk or two flying around ready to dive after that mouse that is scurrying around trying to find a new hiding spot after I swathed over him.  Then there's the fox that is sneaking around looking for his next meal.  And today I had a coyote following me.   I never seen him actually catching anything,  but he was definitely checking things out.  And he was totally not afraid of me.  Usually the foxes will hang around until you come close and then they will leave.  But this coyote was there the whole time I was cutting.  I would get close to him, then he would put a little more distance between us, (actually enough so I couldn't get a good picture) (which really is difficult to do when you are trying to drive straight) and then he would move back to where I just swathed.  It really was kind of odd but very entertaining to watch him.  If you look real hard, you can see him in the picture. 

And he didn't distract me too much.  My swathes weren't too crooked..........

Celebrating our Anniversary in farmers style..............

My Farmer and I are celebrating our 32 wedding anniversary today.  That seems like a long time.  My Farmers favorite new saying comes to mind, something to do with "it's not a life time, but it feels like holding your breath for 10 minutes under water."  (Nice huh?!  He did steal the saying from our wonderful friend, the inventor of Burgie.)   This is a busy time of year for us so we really never do a whole lot for our anniversary.  I think a couple of times we have gone camping.  If we do go camping, it's usually some place close so my Farmer can come back to the farm and irrigate in the mornings.  Which I am usually just grateful that we are getting away no matter how long.  Last week our friends were camping, we were suppose to join them, however things came up so we were only able to spend one night.  We left here at 5 o'clock in the evening and were back home by 6:30 the next morning to change pipe.  Just barely over 12 hours.  But oh well, we got away.  One year on our anniversary, actually it was our 10th anniversary,  we were putting in a buried pipeline, and I spent the day helping put pipe in the ditch.  He did take me out to a nice dinner at the end of the day, so that kind of made up for it.  But it was memorable, and I still remind him of it, quite often.  And since that year, he does try to make sure not to have a big project going on the exact day.  This year, today, we are running away, taking a trip to the big city.  We might even spend the night, as long as we are back tomorrow morning by 7:00.  Yep, you guessed it, we have supplies to pick up.  But that's ok.  After 32 years, I know the way it works when you are married to a farmer (read this).  Well, I better get going,  we've got a big day planned........breakfast out, stopping at the scrap metal place, lunch, picking up baler twine, buying some oil, Walmart shopping, parts chasing, dinner........should be fun!!