School's Out

I recently attended my brother's college graduation when he received his master's degree. He is 4 years older than me and it has taken him a while to get his education but he finally made it and we were all very proud. He put his wife through 2 degrees before pursuing his own and working at the same time. That is our mother standing beside Mark and the little short stuff there is one of his 2 daughters. He lives about 2 hours away and my sister is an hour off so I do not get to see them very much. They both have 2 kids and busy families so they don't have time to come here and it's hard to catch them at home even. Sometimes I think that we all just get too busy these days.
I sort of wanted to post this photo to show that I can clean up and do not always wear a ball cap or hard hat! If I ever see any of the guys from work, away from the job, where I am cleaned up it usually takes them a few minutes to recognize me. I always thought they were kind of putting on about that but one day, when I was still at the railroad job, I stopped by work after a doctor's appointment. I was dressed about like you see me in this photo but still wearing jeans. Anyway, I just walked in the office trailer and went over to the assistant superintendent who was sitting at the desk. I noticed that he looked kinda funny at me and did not smile. Kinda like, " who are you and what makes you think you can come on this job site?" I then spoke to him and made some joke and a look of recognition came over his face and he started laughing. He then admitted to not realizing who I was at first, until I spoke. Now, during all this, one of the Norfolk Southern bigwigs was in the office, meeting with their on site rep and had been casually observing this. He always seemed like a nice guy but never spoke to any of us field personnel, which is not unusual. Anyway, I said, "Oh, come on, I don't look that different than I do when I'm dressed for work!" and this guy walks over quietly, leans towards me and simply says, "oh yes, you do" and walks off. I wasn't sure what to think. I mean, I don't try to look rough for work but I guess it just happens.
It was raining when I got up this morning so I spent a good part of the day doing some research and shopping around. I have decided that with 17 acres and Fred's place to maintain also I need some mechanical help. I am going to have to buy a tractor. I can get a 48 or 60" mower attachment for the 3 point hitch and several other tools for it such as an auger and front bucket. I have been looking at the smaller Kubota tractors. They are a considerable investment, one of the smaller ones was more than I paid for my truck! I bought my truck brand new and it's not a stripped down model either. I had a little bit of sticker shock but that faded somewhat when I drove the tractor. Hehe, I have to admit, I like nice machinery. Keep your old pearls and sparkly things boys, give me a backhoe! I don't intend to clear that much of my own land but there is a lot of maintenance to do regardless. One thing is that I must keep the area underneath the power lines clear or the power company will come in and spray that horrible poison on everything to kill the vegetation and I will be very upset if this happens. Some of my lines will later be run underground but there is quite a bit that crosses Fred's land before it gets to me. Anyway, I am looking at some used tractors also and different options. Something tells me that what type of tractor to buy is not a decision that normal women have to make but I guess I should be used to that feeling by now. I don't really have a desire to be "normal" but I guess I would just like to sometimes not feel so different. I don't understand why things are the way they are.


*Alice Cooper