Hey Dads!
HEY DADS! Have you taken out the snowblower yet? The time for winter tools is here. I saw a farmer out discing his field the other day. I guess that’s got to be done before the snow flies. I mentioned in a previous article how I bought a few baby implements to pull behind my riding mower. I didn’t have a snow plow for the front but I had a plow, cultivator, and disc for the back.
We had used horsepower and kidpower to plow up our little garden. I didn’t really know what was next but I went with cultivator. Since the cultivator was so small it didn’t really have the guts to dig very deep in the dirt. Fortunately, I had a pile of kids helping me who wanted a ride! Killing two birds with one stone happens to be my specialty so I said, “Hop on kids!” Since safety is important, I only let one at a time ride. The others would have to wait their turn.
The added weight greatly improved the results. Soil was cultivated. The next toy to try was the disc. The previous owner obviously had the same problems I was having and obviously didn’t have nine kids waiting in line for a ride. The lightweight disc wasn’t heavy enough to cut through the soil. He had cleverly mounted a small plywood box on top of the disc. It was too small for a child to sit in. Maybe I could have convinced my patient wife to let me put the baby in there but I wasn’t going to push my luck. The gentle rocking of the disc, the soft hum of the mower’s motor and the baby would probably drift off to sleep. Never mind. Don’t worry, no babies or children were put in the disc’s weight box. We had a pile of old cinder blocks behind the shed. The boys are always looking for opportunities to show off their strength. Cinder blocks were just the thing!
We couldn’t just pull the disc over there and load it up with blocks. My beautifully landscaped lawn would get all torn up. Think of all our precious dandelions! So we disconnected the disc. Easily done by removing a single pin from a hole in the mower’s flimsy sheet metal. Drive to shed. Give kids rides. Load blocks on lawn mower. Give kids and blocks rides. Return to garden. Give kids rides. Don’t wreck lawn. Load blocks into box. Begin discing. Achieve poor to moderate results.
I faced a challenge when actual farmers drove by in their actual tractors or trucks. Do I hide my head in shame at my poor excuse of a farm operation or do I raise my head high, smiling and waving as if to say, “Boy, us farmers really are doing some things, aren’t we?”. I went with the latter. The kind neighbours usually offered a polite smile and wave. Thank-you all.
So dads, we do stuff and try things. We learn. We try not to injure ourselves. And if the good Lord blesses our efforts we even grow some vegetables. He gave us over 200 pounds of potatoes from that garden plus some fun memories. Go make some memories this weekend, dad. Time flies! Make every moment count!
Jason Weening tries to grow thousands of vegetables but only nine kids with the help of one patient wife. Hear more of his mistakes on his podcast at heydads.ca.
