But I Never Said I'd Be A Farmer!
(I said, "YOU Could Be a Farmer, But I Never Said I'd Be A Farmer!")
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"Steven, Come Home and Help Me Sheetrock!"
Steven, now 12 year’s old, was only gone two day’s visiting at Grandma’s house when I got the idea to finish sheetrocking the basement. It had been started, but it needed to be finished.
But how would I get Steven home? He had waited a long time to go visit his Grandma. (She only lived sixteen miles away.) But I had promised that he could stay a whole week. Now a "week" to our kids meant seven days: from Sunday to Sunday, Monday to Monday, etc. – whatever day they started on. They would not tolerate a "short" week from Monday to Friday. No sir!
Grandma’s, to them, ranked first on their list right next to God. I was only their mother; and I knew where I ranked – somewhere after the two dogs we owned.
I knew I’d have to be nice to that kid – at least until I got him to come home! I’d have to resort to everything I knew how to do – begging, bribery, and promises, whatever worked.
I quickly dialed Mom’s number. The phone rang. Steven answered, "Hello." "Hello," I answered back. Quickly recognizing my voice he gruffly asked, "What do you want?"
Remembering to beg, I said in my nicest, sweetest voice, "Steven, I need you to come home and help me sheet rock!"
"But," he remembered, "I’ve only been here two days. You promised me a week!" he retorted.
Remembering to bribe him, I said, "Just come home today. I really need you to help me. You can visit Grandma another time," I promised, "after the sheetrocking is done." The sheetrock, I went on to explain, weighed 55 pounds per sheet. I was not capable of handling it by myself. I needed his help.
"Okay, but I get to come back for a week."
"Yes," I promised.
***
Now I knew I was no carpenter. Then again I quickly remembered I was no farmer either. But that didn’t seem to matter! Somehow I had gotten roped into that. I remembered I had watched my Dad drive a nail into a board ONCE – when I was a kid. Too bad I hadn’t watched him more closely. He was always in his workshop making something it seemed. The man was very talented, but I never realized it until it was too late – after I was married and no longer living there!
We had always wondered what Dad was doing out in his workshop all by himself until all hours of the night. I found out . . . years later. He had been making cupboards for his garage, lots of metal gates, bike stands, calf feeders, metal chairs, anything he could think of to weld together. He was equally good at carpentry too. He had even managed to build a corral for his barnyard. Yes, it seemed, my dad was very talented. I later found out he was also a perfectionist. I never realized it though until – one husband and three kids later – when I overheard my dad say to Clemens, "Now when you put these boards together, if it’s off a 1/8" or so, just file it down until everything lines up."
Yep, that was my dad – the perfectionist. When I heard him say that, I decided that maybe it was as good of a time as any to look at the corral he had made years prior to that. I walked over to the barnyard, looked at the corralling. Sure enough, it too, was perfect craftsmanship – just as the steps he had just built for us were. He had made large holding pens, some smaller ones, a cattle chute for loading, a walkway, and a side headgate. Dad had thought of everything. Where, I asked myself, had this man been hiding all my life?
****
Well, Grandma brought Steven home that day.
No, I knew I was no carpenter; but with a hammer, a utility knife, and a lot of determination, I would finish the sheetrocking – perfect or not. I measured, cut, and nailed the sheetrock into place, while Steven helped carry and hold it in place. I worked on it a little every day. Inch by inch, wall by wall, slowly it got done. It somehow got done. It wasn’t perfect, but it was done! Now it was time to tape the entire basement . . . which I did. Later Clemens sprayed the walls with mud so I could paint them.
***
A few years later, I decided to re-model an 8’ by 10’ wall. We were still living in our double-wide trailer where all the walls were paneled with Spanish paneling. I decided to give one of my sewing room walls some color. But I would wait until Clemens left on his five-day trip for his doctor appointment. That way, I decided, I would have little or no protesting regarding that wall.
I patiently waited. The minute Clemens drove out of the yard, I started removing the trim and the paneling. I had spotted some pieces of sheet rock in a vacant building and decided to use that on my wall. Next I had the laborious task of taping the sheetrock seams which took me about three days, waiting for each layer of drywall mud to dry. Next I would wall-size the wall and finally wallpaper my wall with beautiful golden yellow tones of flowered wallpaper. Five days of work had paid off! The wall was gorgeous! I was just putting up the trim when a surprised Clemens drove into the yard!
. . . Years later, as I was eyeing another wall in another house, I suggested, "Perhaps I could do something to that wall." A now-grown, very mature, Troy, now in his teens, said to me, "Ma, you leave that wall alone and wait for us to help!" (He WAS "paying attention," I guess.)
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About the Book
But I Never Said I’d Be a Farmer!
It contains such stories as "You Are Going to Drive the Tractor Today," "Steven, Come Home and Help Me Sheetrock," The Day I Lost the Kids, The Pickup, and The Steer, and many others. All are "real-life" stories of the humorous things that happened as we farmed.
The book starts off with the day my husband decided that I, should drive my dad’s "Old M" tractor to a field five miles away on a road with ditches on both sides, our "life in town," and last, to driving to my job as a manager in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota.
The book has a forward look and is an encouragement to those who have "lost" their farms, anyone facing adversity, or wanting to make a change in their life!
All – men, women, and children – can enjoy this book.
About the Author
Bonnie Geier and her husband have four children. In addition to farming, she has also earned an Associate degree in Office Administration and a BS degree in Business Administration in Marketing. She has also written several gospel songs.