Almost Disasters

I’ve been pushing to get some fall jobs done before the weather turns nasty.

I haven’t had to push quite as hard as in some past years.

One early October, my barn filled with sideways snow until I had to shovel out a 3-foot drift before I could get to the chickens.

That same year, I was herding cattle home from the summer pasture in a windstorm that was so cold and blustery that a coyote ran beside the cows down in a coulee instead of high tailing it over a ridge and out of rifle range.

Of course, I wouldn’t shoot at him – the bullet could have been blown right into a cow. That kind of wind will do that.

Still, my worms that had been living in my unheated shop needed to be moved inside before temperatures dropped below 40 degrees.

Cows needed to be moved a few pastures away from the newly-weaned calves.

Yearling steers needed to be hauled to the processor.

Each of these tasks is simple, but not necessarily easy.

I tackled corralling steers first.

Gathering them slowly and steadily became slower after my horse tried to trip, skin her nose on the rocky ground and dump me.

I stayed clamped into the saddle as I pulled her head up to regain her balance.

But a few minutes later, my hamstring screamed at me as I sorted steers on foot.

My leg quit me twice.

Fortunately, the steers peeled off quietly.

I’m not sure I could have run to cut them off if they hadn’t.

I could move worms, though.

Maybe.

The worms live in shallow pickup boxes full of heavy dirt.

I needed to load boxes of worms into the horse trailer, haul them to my building in town, unload them and carry them to the basement.

All without dumping them out on the ground.

I managed to load the boxes with the tractor without mashing the trailer door, but my plan to use a pallet as a ramp when I arrived at the building didn’t work.

The pallet jack wheels got stuck between the pallet boards.

Fortunately, my friend LeAnn, who thought we planned a quiet Sunday visit not a work party, had some ramps.

We jacked the heavy boxes and stuck roller pipes under them.

No problem.

The steers need to go to the processor the next day.

As I drove home from hauling worms, a belt on the truck started to squeal. When I stopped, I spotted antifreeze dripping.

I thanked the universe that I moved worms first so I didn’t have a water pump go out while I pulled a load of steers on the interstate.

At 8 am Monday morning, I begged my mechanic to make time to look at my pickup so I could haul steers that afternoon.

He had my truck fixed within three hours.

When I picked it up, I stopped at the co-op for fuel. A woman who was dodging a visually impaired driver backed her truck into mine.

Fortunately, our bumpers tapped each other.

We couldn’t even spot a dent.

When I got home, I checked on the steers.

They had rubbed a corral panel open, but none of them had slipped through the hole.

I loaded up my trailer and headed down the road in my purring pickup.

On my way back, I stopped at my building to water my worms.

A new hatch of baby worms wiggled warm and cozy, munching on food in their preferred darkness.

Not only had I dodged so many almost disasters, but I could see, touch and smell the rewards of my gambles.

Sometimes, it is better to be lucky than good.