Once upon a time, there was a farm. It sat huddled between big scrubby mountains far from town, and enjoyed it’s view. It was surrounded by incredible beauty, and all kinds of creatures. There were fish in the river, and cows on the fields. Horses that wandered and coyotes that howled. It was a busy little farm, holding a space for growing things amidst the wild that lived next door.

Most interesting of all, were the humans that hurried here and there upon it.  

One day, a girl came up to visit. And from the moment she arrived, the farm watched in amusement as she followed her dad back and forth from one end of the farm to the other.

Apparently they were supposed to be fixing fence…

but that is not what happened at all.

First they had to make a stop out in the field. The cows would soon get antsy to taste that green grass on the other side of the sprinklers – they never could stay focused on the green grass where they were.

So a little deterrent was needed, a bit of a zap and a zinger to make them stop and think for a minute before they went wandering. It required checking the fence and untangling some wire, hooking it all up to a nice little electric ticking machine.

On the way a man showed up to chat, and they stood around visiting for a bit – people are important to the farm – and even strangers that come (to unload a large pivot sprinkler for next year) deserve a how do ya do.

As soon as they were done, they headed out to fix that fence.

But first they made a stop to fill up the fertilizer so one of the old tractors could make its rounds.

After much struggle in starting the old thing, scooping up fertilizer, and cleaning out some boards that managed to fall in the bucket, they headed out to the back to fix the fence.

But first they needed the yellow wire tightener that was in the other truck. So they headed back to grab it and maybe the wire clippers too. On the way it was remembered that a plank of plywood needed a corner cut for fixing up the bathroom downstairs, so they made a stop to do that last one little thing.

Then they piled into the jeep and bounced along the backroads out to the fence and chatted about whether the cows might be stupid enough to munch on pine needles in the back and how to stop them.

Just as they reached the back field, they turned around in surprise to hear the rumble of a truck headed their way – and here came mom with a whoosh and a bounce just behind them.

It turns out that tires are very unreliable on the farm. They go flat at the drop of a hat it seems. And so back they went to the road, where the fertilizer sat sadly lopsided, waiting for them to come help.

But there weren’t any fresh new tires available. So off they went to find the old broken wagon where one fat little tire remained pumped up and ready. (all the others were sadly deflated) They had brought all the tools, a jack and some stumps for the wagon to sit on afterwards. Only they brought the wrong sized wrench…

Off went the truck in a roar. The girl waited by the wagon and wished she had the muscles of a man to wrestle off those rusted bolts. In the meantime she listened to the quiet and the distant cry of a hawk.

Yes, these things happened at the same time on a farm. Peace and nature, and chaos.

So. After the truck returned with the right wrench, and the dad and girl crouched down at the wheel to work the bolts loose together, they successfully removed the tire and headed at a quick clip down the road the to fat and sad fertilizer to change its tire.

This seemed to all be going well, until cows appeared on the horizon coming down the road at a trot.

Off went the truck with a roar again to head them off at the driveway, and a little break in tire changing was needed to shoo them into the field, amidst logging trucks that came tumbling down the road.

After the cows were put away, and the wheel was changed, it was discovered that said wheel was just a tad bigger and fatter than the others…

But enough was enough and they left it on, limped down the road to fill up the rest of the tires that looked appalling close to popping and finally…

went in for lunch.

I guess the fence has to wait til tomorrow.