It’s Harvest Time!

It’s Harvest time here in Iowa and all around the Midwest, which also means that allergies are acting up as well. The first day of Fall for us here in North Central Iowa was not sweater weather either. Nope; in fact, this week is 80 degree weather for us. Our sweater weather was last week.

I had to make a quick trip to Walmart and right across the street is a bean field that was being harvested. If you know bean fields, you know that bean dust fills the air. I went in the store and came out about five minutes later. As I was driving home, I noticed that my throat was feeling scratchy and my head was feeling stuffy. When I woke up this morning, it was worse.

So, my husband stopped at Casey’s (you know, the pizza place that just happens to sell gas) to get his morning caffeine fix (his neon yellow “coffee” called Mountain Dew), cough drops and orange juice for me. While there, he found out that a lot of people are having trouble with allergies this year. Hopefully, it goes away just as quickly as it came on.

Happy Birthday!

Yesterday was my husband’s birthday. We are now the same age. For those who don’t know, Ryan is just over five months younger than me, so he likes to tease me about him marrying an older woman. When we got married, though, he had just had his birthday; so, we were the same age that year.

To Ryan, a birthday is just another day. To me, a birthday is a day that someone should be shown extra love, be spoiled and pampered more than normal. It’s another year with that loved one. This is our third year of spending birthdays together. The downfall is that mine takes place during planting season and his lands at the beginning of harvest.

Oh, the fun of being a farming family and celebrating anything…weddings, birthdays, anniversaries…they all have to be worked around time in the field. It’s taking me a bit to get used to. I’m not quite two years in, but I know amidst frustration from time to time (cows being out, a piece of machinery isn’t working properly or the weather isn’t cooperating), there are also good times, rewarding times and moments to be grateful for the lifestyle God has entrusted us to lead.