Rice Field Attire and Gemini

This past weekend I spent in Garwood with my parents. Got to play golf Saturday with dad and some coaches. Sad to say but its was the last round I'll get to play with Dad for quite some time. Starting today across the state, my father and the rest of the high school football coaches started work. The famous "2-a-Days" have begun. So it was fun to get in a round, even with a 2pm Tee time in August! We got to play golf and then watch the Professional Football Hall of Fame inductee speeches as well as the first pre-season NFL game together. I'm already missing my best bud.

So as I was leaving G-Wood this morning to head back to the concrete jungle, I stopped by Larry's Super Service to grab a cup of Joe and one of their world class Fajita breakfast tacos. When I put the truck in park I noticed Kirk Engstrom and his son-in-law, Bill Ishee get out of their work truck. Damn it was good to see them! I knew right away that they had been cutting rice the past few days and had probably just leveled a few grain bins this morning and they were getting supplies for a long day in out in the field.

For five summers I worked the rice harvest for Kirk, his brother Truman and their cousin Brad. They are rice farmers and own, Engstrom Bros. Farms. Many 12 and 14 hour days were spent driving a bobtail truck or behind the wheel of a big green tractor and auger cart in the brutally hot July and August sun. Those times of my life are some of my fondest memories. Yes it was ridiculously hot and dusty and the work was far from easy, but I absolutely loved that work and the feeling of accomplishment it provided. At dusk, when you are dog tired, covered in rice, dust, dirt, and sweat, the best tasting beer in the whole world would be those that we would share that were iced down in the back of my pick-up truck back at the barn.

So when I stepped out of my pick-up this morning dressed in khaki pants and loafer shoes and yelled out to my old friends, Bill replied, "Besch! That ain't no rice field attire!". And to be honest, I was a little embarrassed and really jealous of those men right then.

Its not that I want to go through life performing a physically daunting, manual labor job but I found myself wishing I was in boots, jeans and a cowboy hat fixing to partake in the days events while harvesting rice. Too often I find myself yearning for that feeling of accomplishment. To feel satisfied about a honest days work.

So when I finished my job today behind my desk, fought traffic for an hour and fifteen minutes, and finally got home, I happen to notice my horoscope on Yahoo (which I find funny in that I seldom read my horoscope). After I read it, I read it again. Then again, thought about it and then.... laughed. It pretty much summed up my feelings from not only this morning but some of the things that have been running through my head for the past few months. It was perfect.

 

"Sometimes it's hard for you to figure out exactly what you're hoping for -- and right now, you're swept up in confusion. Try not to worry too much about it, as sometimes you just have to drift."