Yes I am going to miss my old way of life, but age holds the key, and there are now a lot of things that I am not any longer able to do, like running, or riding a bike (the owd knees are no longer flexible enough). Some things I can still do but others tell me I am not safe doing it, the main one being, driving on the motorway, or sorting cattle at close quarters, or going off down the fields for a half day (on the tractor) without my phone. If I go down or fall down is more likely I have great difficulty getting back up, mainly because the new knee joints I had fitted twelve years ago, they will only bend to 45 degrees and the muscles in me legs and arms and hands are not as strong as they used to be.
Thank goodness I still have all me marbles, well I think I have, others may have a different opinion, but this last twelve months I had an almighty panic to get all my blogs into print. I felt that if others could see I was slipping a bit in the direction, (of loosing me marbles), of which I an not aware, I had better get a shift on.
So now this last few months my blogs are now nearly all in print in my book called "The Longest Furrow" in four volumes, a fifth is on the way and will contain the blogs written more. They can be purchased or just looked at here http://goo.gl/38ewkb
I think I have already mentioned in an earlier blog about the house we will be moving to, comparing the size of bathrooms as the present one as a fifteen seater bathroom, and where were moving to as a one seater bathroom I do exaggerate a tad, but you get the drift. It will have closer fitting doors and windows, no drafts, central heating with a fuel oil tank not much bigger than that on a decent sized combine. Of course that same fuel has got to keep my old Fordson E27N in fuel as well, it run on TVO (tractor vaporizing oil ) but now the nearest thing is the house heating oil. That tractor is only used at ploughing matches and the occasional tractor road run.
So yes things will have to change, I will not miss going out to feed cattle on a cold and wet wintry morning, but I will miss turning hay in the summer and other jobs done from the tractor seat, I have no doubt I have some neighbours who would want the odd hours help, but whether my advise would carry any weight is another matter. Yes in anticipation, I think I could get used to it eventually, and continue writing these blogs, marbles allowing.
A Good
There are the wise
and the old, and the young who want to learn,
There’s the hard
working not so olds, their fortunes try to earn,
Farming’s got a grip
on them, they know no other way,
Come hail or rain or
sunshine, it’s just another day,
From early in the
morning, till after dark at night,
For crops and stock
their caring, they are their delight.
Working hard day by
day, in a green and pleasant land,
Don’t have time to
stand and stare, have a good look around,
Take in the beauty of
where they work, the fields the trees and lanes,
All the years of care
and sweat, well out weighs the pains.
It’s just a good old
way of life, their families there to rear,
Health and hope and
happiness, the harvest brings good cheer.
Owd Fred
