A Typical (Non) Average Day

My wildflowers have arrived!

I love it when cliches come true. To me, that means there is some small trace of order in the Universe, no matter how accidental it may be. The thing is, I do actually learn something new every day. For example, today I harvested an entire field of barley while operating this bad boy:

It actually growls.

It's terrifying at first, then meditative and then you start to think a combine cab might not make for such a bad office. Technically, it's still a cubicle but with a better view:

Brent had me do an entire field that is in a difficult culvert nearly overcome with weeds, so there really wasn't too much I could mess up. There are too many levers that do big, noisy things so it wasn't a perfect performance (Brent: "Stop. Stop! STOP!") but again, there's that learning curve.

I even had to square up the machine alongside the giant grain truck to unload the barley via the grain augur - the giant tube thing that sticks out the side:

I briefly considered the escape hatch...

And then I thought to myself, "What would John Deere say?"

But it was also a day of contemplation at my second favorite meditational spot, atop the grain bin:

Up there, I birthed thoughts such as, "What am I doing here? Where are the cabs? What do I do with all this food? How am I supposed to have a normal life? Why can't I be normal? What is normal anyway? Where, for the love of God, is my favorite yoga DVD?"

Alas, no answers - only questions today.

I also had to go check in on my neighborhood BFF, Evelyn, otherwise, she gets mad.

From the Hamilton Fair in July - in my cowboy hat.

Off I went so she could say, "Welcome home from New York!" and "Have a safe trip to Denver!" all in the same visit. She's tired of me photographing her so I just took a shot of the various barn cats that I love to cuddle:

KITTIES!

While visiting Evelyn, I decided to bring along my peas to shell. Brent says they are not real peas, only the random fruit of the flower, Sweet Peas, but hey, I grew 'em, so I'm eating 'em. They're my babies and they'll always be peas to me.

I had interrupted Evelyn while she was partaking in that great NoDak pastime - canning. Or, in this case, pickling. She says when I get back from Denver, she will begin lessons in her kitchen, since my kitchen is really an extended hot plate with a tiny sink. Makes me sad. I dream about kitchen counters these days, a lot.

Not many city people know this but cucumbers do in fact become...

....pickles!

And gorgeous sunrises become...

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... beautiful sunsets.