An Ordinary Day

I hadn’t been to the farm since Labor Day Weekend. Melinda and I drove up on Friday night, stopping in Austin for dinner with Jenna and two of her friends at Kerby Lane. By 9:30 we were pulling into the long drive that leads up to the house. I could tell that Herb, the young man from across the road who leases the land to farm, had recently mowed most of the yard and raked it for hay. Earlier this summer he had taken 83 square bales out of our “front yard.” The fields, however, still contained the crop of sorghum sudan grass he had planted for a hay crop in the spring. He’d already taken two cuts off the fields, but the grass was back up to six feet or more and still covered most of the field. But around the house I could see that I would have tall grass to cut on Saturday morning.

I made a quick run to town for some groceries while Melinda unpacked. Lance and Andi were coming up the next day to spend the weekend with us. I performed their wedding seven years ago today. When I returned I put a pound of pinto beans in a pan to soak overnight and before long, we turned in for the night.

Saturday morning Melinda and I sat on the front porch in the 38 degree morning air, sipped coffee, and watched the lazy sun rise in front of us. He’s sleeping in until 7:30 most days now. In another week, however, he’ll be required to rise at a respectable hour. After a bowl of oatmeal and raspberries, we went to work. For Melinda that meant secluding herself in the back room with a stack of books and her iBook to crank out a paper on Gerard Manley Hopkins. For me, that meant cranking up the lawnmower and making the place presentable. I paused midmorning to add the ingredients to the pot of borracho beans I was conjuring up, and then went back to work.

By noon most of the mowing was done, and about the time we took a lunch break, Lance and Andi drove up. We shared a lunch at the wooden tables under the mesquite grove in front of the house in absolutely perfect fall weather. After some catching up, Melinda went back to the books, Andi put her walking shoes on and headed down County Road 401 for an explore, and Lance and I trimmed pecan trees, filling the back of Willie before driving to the county dump.

The pecans have been a disappointment this year. The first year we had the place we gathered bucket loads from our four trees. Then the drought hit and they produced nothing. This year we were ready. We’ve had a good, wet winter, spring, and summer and were anticipating a great crop of pecans. However, we were not anticipating the great crop of grasshoppers, which we also had. They devoured pecan leaves and blossoms and left us with enough nuts for perhaps one pie. Maybe next year.

At the end of the day the yard was clean, the beans and rice were ready for dinner, and Baylor was about to beat UT in Austin. We sat outside and drank coffee for a while, and then took a hike around the perimeter of the fields, exploring the wildlife and vegetation on the place until near dark. When we got back to the house, we settled in for dinner and the ball game (we had to listen on the radio, since we only have broadcast tv access). After the ball game was over, we went to bed.

What I have described is an absolutely, spectacularly ordinary day. It was comprised of a quiet sunrise, good coffee, the presence of someone I love, conversation with friends, hard work, simple food, being present in Creation, and laughter. I love ordinary days.