This week's column...all about rocks

After a stressful week that included a big work project and a trip to urgent care, I was hoping to spend the weekend napping on a lounge chair under a shade tree. Nate, however, had other plans. So did Jacob.

My lazy weekend turned out to be rather productive, which was probably good for me. Saturday started off with a trip to the bank, then a stop at the barn to let Jacob explore. He loves all farm animals and knows all their sounds, but cows are the favorite by far. One game he can play for hours is walking in front of the cows in the tie stalls and smacking whoever dares to sniff him on the nose. I guess for a 30-pound boy, startling an unexpecting, 1,200-pound bovine is a thrill.

After lunch with Grandma Bubble, I finally got Jacob down for a nap, which I enjoyed as well. He was tired from tearing around the farm, but I was exhausted from trying to keep up with him and make sure he didn’t get hurt. Later that afternoon, we took a can of cold pop to the field where Nate was working. Watching him in the tractor made me realize how bad we need rain. He was just a cloud of dust as he worked the soil. Jacob got to play with Grandma that night so I could help Nate with chores. Since the guys were on the tractors all day, we got a late start on chores. An extra person makes all the difference then.

On Sunday, Nate had special plans for me, Jacob and Grandma Bubbles: rock picking. Where I grew up, rocks are a big deal in the fields. I can remember picking rocks one time as a kid, and that’s because we were making a new field from what had been an overgrown brush patch. When I moved up here, I couldn’t believe how full of stones the soil was. In the spring, rock picking is just as important as plowing or planting. Corn fields aren’t as important, but in hay fields rocks can be a big problem. Hitting a rock with a haybine can cause a lot of damage, and with a disc-bine like Nate uses, it can be deadly.

Nate’s dad Tony found this out a few years ago. They had only had their new tractor a few weeks when he hit a big rock with the discbine. A piece of it hit the back window, shattering it. But he was lucky. If the window hadn’t taken the brunt of the damage, it might have hit Tony instead.

So Sunday we scoured a hay field for rocks before the alfalfa gets too tall to see them. Jacob seemed to enjoy the experience for the most part. I was hoping since he showed he could pick up Easter eggs, he could pick up little rocks too. But no luck. He was content just to tag along and jabber to the rest of us. More than three hours and many trips across the field, we called it a day. We didn’t quite finish the field, but it should only take another two or three passes to clear the remainder.

I had planned to pick up some groceries Sunday on the way home, but decided neither Jacob or I were in any kind of shape to be seen in public. As the saying goes, “It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it.”