"HOW DID I WIND UP....OUT THERE?"

THE ACTUAL WINDMILL
AT OUR HOME PLACE


        Photo, MRM, 1969

There I was

              out there in nowhere...

alone, 

    amidst three hundred-twenty

 acres---a wheat-stubble 

     field, with whited, dried, crusty

              soil---parched  by 

    the sun...and filled with 

                   healthy green weeds

getting taller by the day...and

         sucking water up...

There I was, at ninety-five degree

      noonday, sun fading my 

blue $2.95 work shirt... I was

     breathing hot tractor fumes

         as all air seemed 

to hang and not move, except

        to follow the tractor 

The worst thing was the crowd

     of hangers-on, 

following the tractor dust cloud---

      Insects I never even knew

           existed plus gnats of 

all sizes...flies...bugs...horse flies...

     helicopter-like-big-flies...and

unnamed vicious flyers...

             and hoverers...

all seeking my eyes, ears, and nose!

      all buzzing different tunes, 

             tones and pitches---

one breed practicing crash dives

                 on my neck!

Yes, there I was, merely a tiny, hot

      insignificant and unimportant

speck...as seen from the cosmos...

on a big orange Case tractor, with

     wide front wheels, and a

mind of its own, almost like a 

     feisty horse

My trusty and loved companion 

     was the water bag bought 

          at Barry Hardware

for $3.75 and it was hanging there 

     on the Power-Take-Off,                   

             three-fourths

      empty, caked with mud

and the water remaining was hot---

          you could count on it---

       

       the windmill was a quarter

mile off and only vaguely seen thru

           the rising heat waves...

and it was not turning at all

      there being not a wisp of a

              breeze

Way on the other side of the 

        half section ---barely---

thru the heat waves could be seen

     Dad on his identical orange 

          Case Wheatland tractor...

At maybe 3 mph it took forever 

     to do a "round," and meet

and see---Who had the freshest

               water bag...?

He'd have a good John Ruskin

     all lit up, making his day 

          fun...but I was only 

       fifteen, and aging too slowly

for fun stuff

How did I wind up, out there---working...

     when many of my peers were

                    in town

catching rays at the pool...

               or watching

       a good "Tarzan" or "Lash La Rue"

movie at the Lyceum?

I think it was because people had to

      WORK in those simpler times

          and if you got something

              you had to earn it.

Good days in the grand old USA!

******************

Mil

1JULY 2017