One Thing I Never Thought I Would do on my Birthday

This year's birthday was special for a reason other than turning 40. There was one thing I never thought I would do on my birthday, and that was ride around in a combine harvesting corn.

You don't have to be from a farm to know that crops are normally harvested in the fall. But back in the fall it was too wet to take the corn off one of the fields and so the corn was left all winter. Since this corn was destined for pig chop, the quality does not have to be as pristine as it would had the corn been destined for human consumption, so it was still good enough to harvest. Also, in early to mid-March the snow is normally still melting. This year the snow melted early, thereby setting the stage for a harvest to occur on my birthday weekend.

Now let's get one thing straight - I was not driving the combine or harvesting corn. I am far too urban to do that. Well, it's not that I am too urban, it's just that I have no idea how to drive a combine or use it to harvest. If there is one thing I have learned in life, it is that you don't mess around with a half a million dollar piece of farm equipment! Disclaimers aside, it was my brother Anson who was driving the combine, I just went along for the dusty ride.

It was as close to the crack of dawn as I get on a weekend, and my nephew Gerry woke me up to see if I wanted to go out in the field on the tractor with him. Part of me wanted to stay asleep, but then I realised this is probably the only time in my life that I will get an opportunity to go out in March and watch my family members work the field. So I put on my grubbies and off I went.

The morning was gorgeous! The sky was clear, not a cloud to be seen. The frost was still in the ground. It was chilly outside, but the cab is heated. The mood was laid back; all in all I had absolutely nothing to complain about.

Gerry mentioned that the only thing that would make the morning better would be a tea from Tim Horton's, and that I should go.
me: I don't have my license on me.
Gerry: You're in the middle of nowhere. It doesn't matter.
me: If anyone would get caught driving without a license, it would be me.
Gerry: then don't get caught.
Anson (on the two way radio): Gerry, do something (note: he actually said to do something more specific, but I can't remember what it was).
Gerry: Hold on, I am trying to convince Aunt Lori to go to Tim Horton's.
Anson: I'll have a milk and two sugars in my tea. Get me one of them fritters, too.
me: I don't have my license on me.
Anson: It's okay, just don't get caught.
me: Jeppers! Like father, like son!

So off I trundled into town to experience my own Tim Horton's moment. Luckily it is a small town where they are used to people walking in in their grubbies. Tea, coffee, and fritters in hand I made it back to the combine without getting caught. As the morning wore on, the frost came out of the ground and we had to stop or face the prospect of digging a combine out of the mud.

I was a bit sad to leave the field, but I did snap a bunch of photos along the way to capture the moment. I still keep one of them on my blackberry at work to remind myself that no matter how crazy the downtown Toronto rat race gets, there is always a place I can go where the sun shines, the mood is laid back, and everything feels better with a coffee and fritter in my hand.