MARRIED... Winter woes (Part 49i)

Living with Joanne and the T’s...
It didn’t take long for me to figure out that being a dairy farmer was NOT high on my “wanna-be” list. Even though I’d spent time at the farm and had spent almost a week living there a couple of years back I’d never participated in any of the work that had to be done. I’d agreed to do “chores” to pay for my room and after a few days knew it wasn’t “my thing”. The smell of the milking barn was overpowering. My main chore was the cleaning of the milking equipment. It was fairly easy but it still was the kind of work that I didn’t like. Even though both Mr T and Joanne showed me how to do it without getting wet I somehow managed to be wet when I was finished. I’d learned from Joanne that leaving my good pants in the kitchen and just working in the coveralls that the T’s provided saved my clothes. It meant that I was in only my underpants for the few seconds it took to get my pants off and then out into the wind break on the porch where we hung the coveralls. They were god awful cold when you put them on. I was thankful that Mrs T didn’t embarrass me by looking my way when I did my “strip”. Since I did that chore after supper Joanne was usually upstairs doing her homework for the educable program and I didn’t have to worry about her seeing me.

With all the snow we had the cows ended up staying in the barn on many nights. Unlike horses, they didn’t have their own stalls with hay in them that helped with keeping the smell and mess down. With cows, they stood on a cement pad with their heads through a hoop. There were two rows with the animals angled in and sort of facing each other. There was a trench like thing in the middle between the two lines of cows and to clean up their mess you had to use a water hose with more than normal pressure. Joanne was sometimes recruited to help out with that chore and when she was her mother would have her do her “strip” with me standing in the living room. Out in the barn, with her on one side and me on the other, we would point the hoses towards that trench. It would channel the water and cow slop to a pit just outside the building. It seemed there was no way we could do this job without getting splattered with the slop. Thankfully, it wasn’t something we had to do each and every night but when we did it meant taking a shower as soon as we came inside.

One of the things that I was privy to while staying there was the plight of the dairy farmer when it came to the price of milk. Being an economics major I was able to grasp the situation that independent farmers were in when it came time to negotiate with the milk processors. Mr T had been working on creating a co-operative with other local dairy farmers in order to strengthen their position in price negotiation. Their big meeting came during a mid week and because Mrs T was an integral part of the development of it she asked Joanne, the hired hand and me to pretty much take over the whole milking process for the day. They didn’t expect to be home until well past dark. I was NOT happy about it but there really wasn’t much I could say or do what with all the nice things they had done for me. I had to cut my classes for the day, something I really didn’t want to do. With only three unexcused cuts per course I was counting on them for emergency purposes. But I did what I knew I had to do.

I was truly a fish out of water. Initially, I was more of a hinderance than a help. Both Mr and Mrs T were there for the start of the morning milking and they left while it was in process. I just knew it was going to be a very long day. By the time the second milking was over that afternoon Joanne and I were both exhausted. We both knew we still had to clean the equipment and barn floor but decided to get something to eat. When we finished feeding the cows Joanne suddenly bolted out the door. I didn’t know why and followed close behind her. I remember yelling for her to wait up for me but she was running by that time. When I got to the porch and wind break I saw her going through the door and into the kitchen. When I got to the door it was closed but I could see Joanne putting her jeans on through the window. I got to see just a peek of the white of her panties as she pulled them up to her waist. As I saw her walk away I stripped out of my coveralls and opened the door only to find her standing right next to the door there and laughing at me as I tried to cover myself with my hands. I was a bit upset but as soon as I got my pants on I laughed as well. I told her that she didn’t play fair and we both laughed.

After eating neither of us wanted to go back outside. My arms and back were aching and I was, at last, warm. When we finally got up from the table Joanne wanted me to go first. I told her there was no way... that she’d gotten her “thrill” for the day and it was now my turn. She didn’t think that was a good idea and with a smile on her face went upstairs. I told her that if she wasn’t out in the barn in ten minutes I would come back in and would carry her out get. I remember her laughing and, more or less, daring me to try. (At that time she probably weighed close to what I did) It was the “loosest” I’d ever seen her.

To be continued...