Pull Tight

At age 21, a couple of weeks before beginning Medical Technology school, a recriprocating blade, similar to this, went through my left thumb almost to the first joint. It was split through. Was helping install a new blade with another farm hand. Didn't know how many pieces of thmb I would see when I removed my now ruined gloves. Learned to perform phlebotomy without the use of this thumb. Healed pretty well, only a slight numbness on one side. I don't recommend this way of cutting your fingers.

"I had rather be on my farm than be emperor of the world" - George Washington Old farm tractors are fascinating to me, but this guy is obsessed.  Somewhere near Paris Texas is this collection of farm tractors mostly from the 40s and 50s.  I could have spent as much time walking around this collection in Paris, TX as an art lover might spend at the Louvre in Paris, France. Tractors from a time of mostly small family farms.  Just imagine the stories they could tell.  Look at just one of the tractors and think about it coming off a factory assembly line in Minnesota or Wisconsin.  Then shipped to a small town farm equipment dealer by truck or train. Purchased by a farmer on a small farm and maybe driven home from town down a dusty gravel road.   Think what one day might have been.  The farmer trying to get his land plowed and prepared for spring planting while the soil moisture is just right.  The farm wife bring...

Most mornings Nancy and I start our day with steel cut oatmeal.  If you haven't tried it, it is much tastier than the regular rolled oats usually eaten.  Takes about 30 minutes to cook, so its got to be started as you brew your morning coffee.  Last week I was at my favorite heath food store buying in bulk.  As I approached the bin, another man about my age was filling a large bag with the oats and mumbling to himself.  Only caught this part "...probably get hit by truck anyway..."   Definitely a  bacon and eggs guy.