Posted by Holly at June 24th, 2008

I did think I would have more time with less to do in it once I left the workforce. Now I think I want to go back to work simply because I probably used my time more efficiently with a job outside of the home; in this case, farm. It does seem as if I never just sit down to read something or write something without the looming, sinking feeling that there are a thousand little tasks that need to be completed that will, truly, run out of hand if I don’t do them. None of them tasks I wake up in the morning just dying to do, either. I mean, really, who WANTS to empty the dishwasher (again; didn’t I do that just yesterday?), do the laundry (again; didn’t I do that just yesterday?), iron (again; didn’t I do that just six months ago….)?

And my to do list is much shorter and less urgent than Jim’s. It almost seems like, for him, before he can actually DO anything, he has to fix the thing with which to do it. Today, he came into the kitchen clutching the tip of a grease gun and a little zerk through which he could no longer push the grease. He needed the greased zerk so he could run the mower to cut the hay, quick before it starts raining again, wets and rots the hay before it can spend five days strewn on the ground drying. Determining he needed a new tip, new grease ( a case), new zerks and a new hub for the gear box on the wheel of the 469 haybine – what am I talking about?? – I went off to the local John Deere store to acquire said items.

Usually, my initial trip with my list of things needed, meant to save Jim time by my going so he can fix something else he needs to do something else, uses up time because there is always some one thing or more wrong with what I get. Partly it’s because I don’t intuitively know what I’m looking for; partly it’s because Jim says “go get me a sawsall blade, it’s about this long. I need one for wood and one for metal” and it turns out there are 20 or 30 different sizes and shapes and some are for wood, some for metal but some are for both. We spend a lot of time on our cell phones when I go off to buy supplies and equipment. Today wasn’t too bad except I got the wrong size hub for the gear box.

Finally, though, Jim is out there on the mower and I am heading to do any of the following:

load the lunch dishes in the dishwasher; hand-wash the pot
set up a pea trellis using bamboo stakes and curly willow twines
water the wild flowers and sunflowers I planted
remove some of the garden debris from a couple of days ago before I start a new pile
cut the heads on the tons of parsley that has gone to seed
dead-head the iris down the driveway
pressure wash off the floor of the teahouse so I can treat it with oil and protect the wood

Probably shouldn’t be sitting here writing this but it is really the one thing no one else will do unless it’s I.