Tales of a Harvest Widow: Her Critters & Her Washer

It's been a long harvest this year, but the end is in sight.  

In fact, I think I just made my last sandwiches for the boys' lunches last night.  I think I may only have to make cookies and muffins every so often from here until the spring.  

But what is not ever going to end are the critters and the laundry in our house.  

Let's be clear, I like certain critters.  

Especially when they serve two purposes and parts of them go in our freezer and other parts go on our wall to fancy things up.

But I do not enjoy little geckos that cross my feet at the table while I work.  But lucky for me the candy dish was close and I dropped the top of it on the gecko and kept a close eye on him until the farmer arrived.  Then he, being the smart man he is, concocted a way of capturing the gecko to get him out of the house!

Then there is Henrietta who stares at me while I do laundry.  Somehow she helps my husband with some of his hunting excursions, but yet somehow she got into my house....

.....and onto my vacuum!  Every time I turn, I see her and jump a little.  She always surprises me even though I know she is there, watching me do the loads of laundry.

When I married my farmer, I knew there would be lots of surprises.  

However, I didn't know there would be so many in the washer.

Like this baler twine that I found this summer.

And I always find lots of coins and random things like a paperclip.  And he ALWAYS forgets to take out his headphones.  I have found anything from a pocket knife to batteries to a memory card for his hunting cameras.

Looking back I should have known better.  I should have known that when I married a farmer, I knew I would experience lots of surprises.  I knew I would at least find some corn and soybeans in the washer.  My mom found lots of them in her washer from my dad--from her farmer husband.  

And I think she would say, "Tim, look what I found!"  

Just like I say, "Brett, look what I found!"

Even though it secretly ticks me off because he can't check his pockets or shake off outside before he enters the house, I always end up smiling and shaking my head.  Surprises are sometimes just funny.

The surprises in the washer and the critters watching on are something I have always known and will always love.  Just like the surprises life brings to me every day.