Saved

I tend to think of myself as fairly capable of most tasks around the farm. I do however avoid some of those things that make me uncomfortable or afraid. Like bees, bees and me do not get along. One sting and I blow up like a puffer fish. The sting itself burns for days before getting to the itchy stage and the swelling can last up to a week. Paper wasps love to build their hives on the wood beams that hold the barn roofs in place. I put Mike in charge of eradicating the nest along with the bees while I stay a good distance away until the area is clear.

Heights is another thing that I try to avoid whenever possible. I’m not necessarily afraid of heights, it’s just that I worry that my hyperventilation over my precarious highness could cause me to fall, and I don’t like to fall. I don’t bounce like I used to.

Then there are snakes. I really, really don’t care for snakes (you may have to read the story from 7/18 in order to understand this statement). And before anyone gets cranky over my irrational fear of snakes I wanted to state that I know that they are good to have around to control the mice, that Western Oregon does not have any poisonous/lethal vipers and that many people enjoy snakes. I do not.

One day I was going to walk out the driveway to post a letter. I stopped just before the end of the driveway and could not go to the mailbox because there was a snake in my way. I posted the letter the next day without an issue.

I have been surprised, shocked, overwhelmed and nearly wet myself over teeny-weeny garter snakes. I am not proud of my actions but they just get to me.

When Mike was filling the bale wagon, I am needed to walk alongside or ride on the Gator and jump off each time the wagon needs adjustment. The wagon is old and lopsided, things need to be adjusted a lot in order to get a full load. On this particular day we were working in the back of the big field and Mike had mentioned that he had seen several snakes as he was mowing, fluffing and raking the field so I was on alert. Sure enough, I saw a snake hanging out of one of the bales when I jumped off the Gator. I could not grab it even though I was wearing gloves. I started to shake and sweat and thought of a tool in the glove box that would work to rid the bale of the snake. I grabbed the old pliers and pulled the limp corpse out of the compressed hay and pitched it aside. I put the pliers back where I found them and went back to work, pleased in the notion that I did not let the snake bother me too much. Then there was another snake and I had to run back to the Gator to grab them. Mike yelled over the loud loader and  revving tractor to put the pliers in my pocket if I needed to have them. I yelled back that I could not do that because the pliers had touched a snake. Thank goodness I had the glove box or the darn snakes would have stayed in the bales and then we would have to deal with them when feeding at a later date.

The other day while Marilyn and I were in the bed of the truck stacking  hay bales as they dropped out of the Henry loader. Crawling out of one of the bales was a live snake. Marilyn and I both screamed, she has my same aversion to snakes. I was paralyzed, Marilyn grabbed the snake and gave it a good fling over the edge of the truck. It surprised even her, but she was confident because she was wearing heavy leather gloves. I mean, the sucker had to be AT LEAST 6 inches long! After she flung the asp, she looked up at me and said “I saved you Mama.” Yes Daughter, you did save me.

I really don’t care for snakes at all.

I wanted to make sure that I answered some important questions about the riddle and your many, many answers to the query… The biggest question is: when will I get around to telling who won? I promise, PROMISE, all will be revealed on Monday (that means most likely it will be Monday, but may be Sunday or Tuesday because that is how I roll). Second question is: was your guess counted in the group, pile, plethora of answers? I believe that I found all the answers throughout the different sites such as the original website, official website at SchmidlinAngusFarms.com, the LinkedIn account, the Instagram account, my email and text. If by any chance I missed your guess and you can provide a screenshot of your winning number that you sent to me, I will make sure to include you in the prize giving along with the winners I announce. Third question: does Susan know what she is doing? I’m not sure if I have a good answer for that one. It seems like I do know some of the time, other times not so much. I can tell you that seeing your guesses and some of the unique ways you came to your conclusions really brightened my days during this grueling hay season. And speaking of hay season, we are almost through with the season, finally, and that is why it is going to take me until Monday to get all the guesses out of the file I dumped them into, get them sorted into  some reasonable sense, and find the winners.