Picking rocks is not the most glamorous job, but a necessary job.
When we prepare a field for sowing alfalfa, we walk the fields and pick up rocks the size of softballs and larger. We want the field as rock free as possible for harvesting the hay. We planted 100 acres of alfalfa this year so we did a lot of rock picking.
There are two jobs with rock picking – picking up rocks and driving the bucket tractor. The person driving the tractor obviously wins. The tractor is driven slowly as the losers; er the others pick up rocks and throw them into the bucket.
I was requisitioned to help on the hottest day of the year. I figured I was the winner so it wouldn’t be so bad. Well, Wigglie #2 wanted to come along. So Farmer, one of my boys (not sons, but boy – another time, another story) myself and the wigglie took off to the field. To begin with, Wigglie wanted to pick rocks. So I meandered back and forth driving the tractor in the field why they filled the bucket. It wasn’t too long when Wigglie wanted to drive.
So Wigglie jumps into the seat and I sit side saddle on the fender. It wasn’t long before I felt guilty for not helping so I jumped down and started picking up rocks. Man, am I out of shape. How hard could it be to pick up a tractor bucket full of softballs? Picking them up wasn’t so bad it was the bending down to get them and all the dirt and dust I ate.
One time I threw a decent sized rock towards the bucket just as my boy was watching. Right then and there a miracle happened. The large rock that hit the front of the tractor instead of going into the bucket turned into a clod of dirt and “poof” dissolved with nary a dent. My boy got a good laugh out of that one and then recommended I help schlep the tractor around the field.
Farmer found a few larger rocks this year. They are like icebergs in the dirt. What you see on top is nothing compared to what is underground. We had a larger rock that we had to have the bucket tractor dig out. It was one of the largest we have found in a while. It’s funny when you think of it. How many times have the tractors driven over these rocks and just now they are surfacing?
The next day Farmer got quite a surprise. He saw a rock sticking up from the ground and when he went to pick it up realized the bulk of the rock was hidden in the dirt. He recognized it was a bit on the large size. He kept digging with a shovel and finally realized he had to bring in reinforcements.
A guy working on the farm had his Caterpillar front end loader at the farm. Just the tool for the job. He tried to scoop up the rock and had to keep backing up to get under the rock that kept getting larger and larger and deeper and deeper. By the time the rock was unearthed Farmer and he decided the rock weighed about 2 tons or approximately 4,000 pounds.
Kind of like life. Things aren’t always as they appear.
