City mouse, country mouse

This is my daughter on her first combine ride with her buddy Makenna. 

Riding combines is old hat to her big brother.

Somebody upstairs has a crazy sense of humor. I grew up in the city and I'm allergic to hay. I tried to have a sleepover at a friend's barn when I was 7 and ended up sleeping in her room because I couldn't breathe. (Yes, I was that cool even back then.) I am the exact opposite of a country girl. But I moved into a house with a cornfield on one side and a pasture of angry cows on the other.

And my boy wants to be a farmer when he grows up. 

I am grateful I found an amazing friend who puts up with me and my craziness, supports my coffee habit and drags me out when I need a girls' night. I am almost as grateful that her hubby is a bonafide-honest-to-goodness-truck-driving-John-Deere-loving farmer. A farmer who doesn't mind giving a city girl's sometimes mutely shy children rides in his combine. I'm sure it doesn't exactly speed up his productivity. Or help his sanity when one child asks what each and every button, knob and screen do over, and over, and over, and over... 

Last year, Nathaniel desperately wanted a ride in the combine but was too shy to even look at Matt. So I got to ride too. Yesterday once Matt stopped, he ran straight to the ladder, climbed up and never looked back. No hesitation, no fear. Leah about peed herself (or was that me?!) when the combine came roaring through the corn, but reached for Matt as soon as he offered a ride. 

Oh yeah, I found my new afternoon babysitter. But don't worry, Nathaniel should know how it all works after another ride or two. And Matt'll be wishing he was mute again. 

The most chilling, touching lyrics I've heard in a long time. It's not a Dave original - originally performed by Lefty Frizzell in 1959 and covered by Johnny Cash and The Band, to name a few. 

"Long Black Veil" 

Ten years ago on a cold dark night

Someone was killed beneath the town hall light

There were few at the scene, but they all agreed

That the slayer who ran looked a lot like me

She walks these hills in a long black veil

She visits my grave when the night winds wail

Nobody knows, nobody sees, nobody knows but me

The judge said "Son, what is your alibi?

If you were somewhere else then you won't have to die."

I said not a word though it meant my life,

For I'd been in the arms of my best friend's wife.

Oh, she walks these hills in a long black veil.

She visits my grave when the night winds wail

Nobody knows, nobody sees, nobody knows but me.