Driving in a Pumpkin

Despite cloudy weather, Phil and I headed down to the lower pasture with Joe and Isaiah. He drove the truck and I drove the tractor. I am not fond of driving the tractor. I don't have an innate appreciation for, nor understanding of, the mechanics of the thing.

But as I headed down the slope, I was amazed by the orangeness of my world. Orange leaves on the ground, in the trees that surrounded me. And because of the steep slope, there was orange, really, in every direction. Like driving in a pumpkin.

The surreal moment passed, and we proceeded to plant the 12 cherry trees that Phil and Isaiah had dug up yesterday afternoon. It took us about three hours, which, considering the size of the needed holes, was not much time. Phil dug a few of the more difficult holes (whether from location or large roots impeding progress), but Isaiah dug most of them, which left Phil free to shovel dirt back around the trees, and left me free to plant bulbs and get water from the creek to pour on the dirt when done.

I must say, it is much easier to plant bulbs (even in rocky soil) when the dirt has just been turned over.

When the trees were in the ground, it had been sprinkling for some time. I had begun to follow the truck up the slope when I needed to step on the brake. The seat of the tractor is permanently stuck a bit too far back for my comfort, so in order to get enough leverage to step on both brake and clutch while going uphill, I grabbed the steering wheel from the bottom.

And it came off in my hand!

The tractor immediately began rolling backwards down a slight incline, and I had no control at all. I shrieked to Phil for help, completely beside myself about what to do.

I don't know what I did, but I didn't do the most logical thing: turn the tractor off. It never even crossed my mind. Phil starts it up for me, so I don't even touch the ignition switch. It was like it didn't exist.

That's a pretty good story, though: small wife pulls steering wheel off tractor and rolls backwards down an incline out of control.

It's a more interesting story than the afternoon, when we went to dig up the rest of the cherry trees. About the fourth one, the hydraulic line suddenly sprung a leak, which ended our productivity for today. Phil will head to town tomorrow to buy another line, and hopefully the uprooted cherries will be happy enough overnight in their buckets.