Coffee Tea or NH3

An estimated 12 hours a day every spring I fill Anhydrous Ammonia (NH3)nurse tanks for our local Farmers Union Co-op. It’s one of my junky part time jobs that I’ve had since I retired from the Phone Company.

So every spring I catch up on my reading. So far this year I’ve read the last two books from the Left Behind series, The Red Tent, and the Divinci Code. All are really good books.

There is a lot of waiting time here. Waiting for farmers to hurry and use their last tank so I can fill it and send them off again. I visit with the farmers while their NH3 is filling. I catch up with their ever-changing families. One lost his brother in a car accident last year and he’s helping his sisters-in-law’s calf out the new calf crop. Another lost his last living brother. He seems very lonely. He says hauling NH3 tanks for his son keeps him busy. Another says his two sons have come back to farm the family farm with him. A pretty farm lady tells me she thinks her apple trees got frost, as she looks downward I sense that this means there’s no apple pie for the Thanksgiving table this year.

Even when the days can be long waiting for customers I just love this job, one big extended family. And my favorite customer, the elderly farmer with his bib coveralls, who brought me a rock last year for my rock garden that sparkled in the sun light. This year we are comparing legs. Mine hurt in the car accident, his hurt by an angry cow. I’ve thought I wouldn’t be doing this next year, but I guess I’ll have to rethink that, I would surely miss the farmers who have become my friends.