Phil started the day as a problem solver. He went to check the lower pasture and found a tree had fallen across the electric fence. All the cows were still enclosed, but he had to hike up slope to get the chainsaw, down slope to cut up the tree, and back up again.
Almost immediately, he went to prepare for unloading ten tons of minerals for the trees. The driver of the truck called right about then. Having driven through the night from New Mexico, they had attempted to take a short cut getting to our road, and ended up on a single track dirt road, stuck, about two miles away.
Problem solver Phil jumped in the truck and towed the 40' trailer out (basically, he gave it a nudge so the wheels had traction again—he wasn't actually towing a 40' truck with 10 tons of minerals inside. The dually is strong, but not quite THAT strong).
Once the truck arrived, though, we faced another, more serious problem. The truck had no pallet jack, the nifty tool used to moved pallets with ease. Which meant that all the pallets were stuck in the truck, with no way to move them to the back for unloading. (Did they think we had a pallet jack? Maybe sitting next to the vacuum cleaner? What residence has a pallet jack!)
A word to the wise: should we (or YOU) face a similar situation, the wise and prudent thing that we would recommend would be to send the drivers on their way until they had a safe and sane method of moving the pallets to the back of the truck.
What actually happened: Phil connected the bucket of the tractor to a climbing rope and a sling with a carabiner in the middle, and dragged the pallets to the end of the truck. Unfortunately, one of the men helping unload didn't lock the carabiner, and the weight of the ton of materials warped the carabiner just enough that it would never lock again.
On the ninth pallet, the carabiner snapped, sending the largest portion zinging on the elastic climbing rope straight for Phil.
He sat, stunned, without realizing what had happened, while one of the drivers ran to him, asking if he was okay. He was, but as he tried to turn the steering wheel, it came up in his hand.
He looked down and realized that the flying carabiner had hit the steering wheel, traveling incredibly fast..
It warped, broke, and bent different sections of the steering wheel.
Then it deflected up and struck Phil in the chest.
Phil's re-enactment photo, showing the strike, was taken hours later. When the unloading was finally done, after well over two hours (!), Phil had to come back and just sit for a time before he was emotionally ready to do work. (Something else difficult, challenging, and frustrating happened on the eleventh pallet, but neither active participant in the scene is currently awake to tell me about it.)
The realization that it could have been his eye; his face and brain; his life: the Lord's hand of protection was strong on him today.
My poor Dad, meanwhile, had been waiting since almost the truck's arrival to plant more trees. The tractor was in use unloading, and he needed another row cut with the subsoiler before he could keep planting.
And after ending at 9pm last night, he was determined not to do that again.
So he was finally able to start planting at noon, and ended about seven. I helped for a couple of hours. Dad would mainly do the digging, and I would haul the bucket of water and the trees and the soil amendments from place to place.
Dad managed to get twice as many trees planted as yesterday, bringing the total to 180.
I also planted the last eight apple trees in my order. I could, probably, have transplanted, but with a fairly severe cold front coming in during the next four days, I think the tomatoes would rather be on the heated grow mats, rather than on the unheated, uninsulated, drafty greenhouse floor. Maybe I'm wrong; we'll see.
Finally, to follow up with yesterday's disappointment: I noticed that all my onions are doing just fine, showing no sign of wilting or stress. I did water them, but I also looked more closely at the red cabbage. In the daylight, the leaves looked almost scorched. I wonder if the minerals I top-dressed the garden with (which I had intended to incorporate into the soil but forgot during the time of tilling): I wonder if the minerals were too much for the tender plants. Maybe it was a mixture of all of the above.
I am thankful, though, that the onions are thriving. I had no backup plan for onions, and onions tend to be a kitchen staple. It would have felt devastating to lose them. (Although, in retrospect, I suppose I could have then just purchased sets. Extra expense, but a second chance.)
The Lord was good to us today.
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