Chapter 29

Starting my day by awakening with Mai-Lin in bed with me was something of a shock, but it was really nothing compared to what happened later. Having Mai-Lin and Fran take me into the new bathroom and give me a sponge bath after breakfast topped that. That was especially true when Fran said that Mai-Lin might like to take care of the 'lower forty', which seemed to mean anything lower than the bandages around my belly.

Of course they stripped me naked and having the two of them chattering away in Chinese while they giggled like school girls didn't help my embarrassment a bit. Then they totally blew my mind when Fran suggested that she could instruct Mai-Lin on what she considered to be the proper way to give a blow job. Mai-Lin was on her knees instntly, but I stopped her as her hand reached out to guide my cock toward her mouth, explaining that I simply wasn't healed enough to take it. Fran tried to argue with me, but I was stubborn, and to my surprise she gave in.

After the sponge bath was completed to Fran's satisfaction, I felt chilled and wiped out from standing around naked. So once they had changed my bandages, and had helped me back into bed, I dozed off for a while.

I awoke to the smell of fresh coffee and the feel of warm fur against one arm. When I opened my eyes, I found that Princess, the cat was snuggled on top of the blankets at my side. Fran was smiling at me as she held a cup of coffee near my face.

"I thought the smell of fresh coffee might wake you." She said quietly, still smiling. "The boys would like to talk to you, and so would Mai-Lin and I. We could all come in here if you don't feel like getting up."

"I'd better get up, but I don't know about getting dressed." I sighed.

"Just pull on your bathrobe and some slippers." Fran suggested quietly. "After all, we've been keeping the house quite warm and no one is going to be offended if you aren't dressed to go outside. We don't want you to do any physical work. We just want to pick your brain about what you have planned to do in the way of planting this year and anything else you were planning to get done right away."

"Oh, okay. Then I think I'd like to try to get up. Why don't you take the coffee back to the kitchen and we can all sit at the table?"

"Do you need a hand with anything?" She asked quietly as she handed me the robe and slippers.

"If I do, I'll call, okay?" I managed a smile, even though I was planning on doing everything I could by myself rather than depending on others.

"Well, don't strain yourself." She said quite sharply, but she did leave.

Even though the cat protested about being moved, I managed to squirm out of bed and into my robe and slippers without feeling any major discomfort. In fact I didn't feel any major pain as I got up, went to the bathroom, then out to the kitchen.

I was surprised that not only were David and Sampson waiting for me there, but so were Willy and Triple Dub. After greeting everyone and sitting down at the table, I asked what they wanted to know. That's when I found that they'd been rebuilding darn near every piece of farm equipment in the equipment shed and a few that had been sitting outside. At least that's what it seemed to me as they explained all the things they'd worked on. What they really wanted that day was an idea of what I wanted to plant in the spring and where I wanted to plant it. They felt that if they knew that, then they could be sure to have the right equipment ready to use when it was needed.

Planning what to plant called for a map of the fields, I asked for a paper and pencil so I could sketch out the various areas and estimate their size. Instead, Triple Dub just grinned and handed me several sheets of paper. He and Willy had gone out with their snowmobiles and a long rope, and had measured all the various fields, then had plotted them all on a map of the farm. Since Willy and his dad could remember what Uncle Silas had planted in each field last year and since Triple Dub had worked out all the acreages; all I needed to do was work out what I wanted to plant in the spring. Since I already had the seed on order, I told them I'd have to find the order to work out the details, but Fran and Mai-Lin were already ahead of me there as well. They'd helped Lisa-Marie set up my new filing cabinet and that morning they'd pulled the proper file folder so Mai-Lin could hand it to me when I needed it.

I said I still needed a pencil and paper, but Mai-Lin had that in front of me in a second. Then as I started to work out what I was going to be able to plant in which field, she checked all my figures on an abacus, often doing sums faster than I could multiply the totals myself.

She did question why I was planting oats as well as either clover or alfalfa in some of the same fields, so I explained that I was planting oats as a cover crop for the two legume crops. The oats would either be cut as greenfeed for my cattle and horses, or harvested as a regular crop. If I didn't till those fields in the fall, then next year I could plan on cutting and baling clover and alfalfa hay as a cash crop or as additional feed for my own stock.

Of course I also had to explain that if clover or alfalfa had been inoculated with the right bacteria before it was planted, it then fixed nitrogen from the air and transferred it into the soil. Since that lessened the need for chemical fertilizers, I wanted to eventually treat all of my fields that way as I worked out a complete rotation system. Once I'd established a rotation throughout all of the fields, I planned on reducing the use of chemicals in every way I could.

Of course that's also when I threw them a curve, mentioning that I planned to buy a manure spreader at an auction during the summer. That way, next winter I could spread the fresh manure from the animals onto the fields while the ground was frozen, explaining that I'd use it only on the fields that weren't being used for growing legumes.

"Hey, there's an old manure spreader sitting in a shed over at Gran's place." Triple Dub said as he jumped to his feet. "Uncle Fred has a new one, so I'll bet you could buy the old one from him darn cheap. It might need some repairs though. Could I use your phone and find out if he'd sell it?"

"Hey, if you bought that, we could fix it and get a head start on spreading the manure this year. We can clean up that big manure pile out behind your barn." Willy smiled as Triple Dub was dialling the phone.

"Well, part of that pile maybe, but some of that pile is two or three years old." I frowned. "I want to save some of that oldest stuff for our garden and few more loads for Mai-Lin's garden patch. Which reminds me, I need to find someone with a plow and a tractor-mounted rototiller."

"And what do you need that for?" Fran asked.

"Well, Mai-Lin's acreage is covered in grass and weeds because Uncle Silas didn't bother farming it the last couple of years. Instead he threw some grass seed on it, then just left it to grow in. He was planning to cut it for hay when it grew in heavily enough. The sod needs to be turned under, then the soil needs to be rototilled to loosen it up before Mai-Lin can plant it. If we can get a manure spreader we can turn the manure into the soil at the same time as we plow it."

"You can't use your tractor for either a three-point hitch plow or a rototiller. It doesn't have a place to attach a three-point hitch." David said flatly. "We've got a little old Ford tractor that does and we've got a two-bottom plow to go with it."

"I have rototiller, a big one." Mai-Lin said quietly. "Papa bought it for use at our home, but he uses it little."

"A big one?"

"Oh, yes, not a little one, not like you rent. It is one of the big ones that has the chewing teeth at the back. It has tires, so tall, like little tractor tires." She gestured, dropping one hand to the height of her knee. "Papa paid many dollars for it, but it does our whole garden very fast, then it sits unused for months. It is not hard to use; I have used it many times, so I can use it again."

"Are you sure?"

"Oh yes. If you plow the manure into the ground with a tractor, then I and my family can do the rest." She nodded enthusiastically. "Even the supply of the manure is a wonderful surprise."

Just then Triple Dub came back and sighed loudly, interrupting Mai-Lin.

"What's up?" I asked him, breaking the sudden silence.

"Oh, Uncle Fred is being an ass again." He sighed once more. "He said he'd sell you the manure spreader, but you've got to take all the other old machinery on the place too. He wants five grand for the lot and says it's all or nothing."

"I think you can buy a darn good used manure spreader for that much." Willy laughed. "I guess he doesn't want to sell it that badly."

"That's just it, he said he wants to sell everything he can and then bulldoze the barn and the sheds and the house, so he can farm the whole lot." Triple Dub sounded frustrated. "That P's me off because Granny Nettie's house is still in darn good shape."

"Say! I just had a wild idea." I chuckled. "How big is that house?"

"It's about eighteen or twenty feet wide and about thirty-five or forty feet long. Why do you ask?" Triple Dub frowned at me.

"Is it a single storey house?"

"Yeah, it's really a two-bedroom cottage."

"So it's small enough to be moved easily?"

"Yeah, but you don't need another house."

"Mai-Lin does." I grinned.

"Oh, but how much would it cost to move a house?" Mai-Lin said, looking at me wide eyed.

"Probably a lot less than buying a decent sized trailer and moving it all the way out here." I grinned at her.

"That house isn't that old either, I know it was built after the Grangers had a fire in the kitchen of their old house." Willy frowned. "Fred is nuts to even think of knocking it down."

"It was built in 1966; the same year I was born." Triple Dub said flatly. "It was built well too, because Dad built it, and he was a good carpenter. It's fully insulated and everything. Heck, at one time I was thinking of moving into it and living there, but I need to be in town because of my business."

"So who owns the property?" Fran asked quietly.

"Oh, since Gran died, I guess Mom does. Well actually, from what the will said, Mom and I do, but Mom gets the profit from renting it for now."

"And that would mean that Fred would need your mother's and your permission to knock down the buildings doesn't it?"

"Well, yeah, I guess it does. Hey, I guess Uncle Fred doesn't own that dang manure spreader. I guess maybe I own the darn thing." He laughed and slapped his leg, then he jumped to his feet again. "Just a minute, I've gotta phone Mom before Uncle Fred does."

As he ran back to the phone, Mai-Lin looked at me strangely.

"If you were me, you would buy a house, not a trailer?" She said quietly.

"If I were you and had the chance to buy a small house that was as easy to move as that one would be, I'd buy it in a minute." David answered her before I could. "Have you ever been in a house trailer in the winter? If not, I can tell you, they're cold, draughty and hard to heat."

"Well, I may have jumped the gun on the idea. After all, Triple Dub and his mom may decide not to sell the house." I shrugged my shoulders. "But before we get carried away, are there any more questions about machinery?"

"Yeah, we do." Samson grinned. "We thought you'd need the cultivator, the seed drill and the harrows, but we weren't sure what else."

"Okay, that's a good start." I nodded. "The front end loader needs to come off the tractor, but I think that can stay on for now, because of the manure spreading. Even with the loader off, we'll still need the cab though. You said that you've gone over the tractor from top to bottom?"

"Yep, it's in prime shape." He nodded.

"Okay, we'll need the Chevy two ton in good running order and we'll need to make sure all the augers and things of that sort are readied for handling seed grain. The cultivator needs the spike points taken off and wide shovels put on. The old seed drill is in really rough shape, I'm hoping it can be fixed. I wanted to plow under that field of broom grass and plant that to oats and alfalfa, but that would mean fixing both the old four bottom plow and the disks. Maybe I'll turn that field under later this summer, because I'm going to be short of time."

"How about the one way disk? Do you want it fixed up and readied?"

"No, not actually, I may get rid of that thing. I'd much rather have some Noble Blades."

"Noble Blades, just what are they?" Willy asked.

"Oh, each one is a cultivator of sorts, but instead of many blades, it only has one, but that blade is as much as eight feet wide. They're almost always pulled in tandem from a central hitch. I think the John Deere could manage two or perhaps even three of those in this sandy soil."

"So they don't turn the stubble under?" He asked again.

"No, that's the whole thing. The idea is to loosen the soil in the field, but leave the stubble from the last crop on the surface to catch the drifting snow. That lessens wind erosion and still opens up the soil to admit what moisture we do get."

"That sounds like a darn good idea." He nodded. "I've seen winter winds and Chinooks blow a lot of soil from some of our fields. Having the stubble left to protect it and yet having the soil loose enough that moisture doesn't puddle and run off easily makes sense."

"Unh huh." I just nodded, still thinking about machinery. "The only other thing I can think that I might need this spring would be a rod weeder and that's a huge maybe."

"That gives the boys lots to go on for now and you're looking tired, Tom." Fran said at that point. "Why don't you go lie down and if you need to, you can talk to them at coffee time this afternoon?"

Strangely I was tired, even though I'd only been talking, but I didn't argue with her. Instead I went back to bed and read a bit, then dozed for a few hours. Fran bought me lunch, but I went back to sleep afterward. Mai-Lin came in to wake me at just before three in the afternoon.

"I am sorry to waken you, Big Tom, but Triple Dub and my family are here and would like to speak with you." She apologized.

"Triple Dub and your family?"

"Yes, William and his mother are willing to sell us the house from their farm and as well he has some other things he wishes to speak with you about; as do Mama and Papa."

"Okay, could you put on the coffee pot, please and make tea for your parents too, if they'd prefer that." I sat up. "I'll be there as soon as I've made it to the bathroom and washed my face."

She just smiled, then almost seemed to bow before she left. I rolled out of bed and as I was putting on the robe, I realized that I felt better than I had in days. I was actually walking quite freely when I went to sit down at the kitchen table, joining Mama Tang and her husband, Han Tang, who were already sitting with Triple Dub and Fran. Mai-Lin stood at her mother's side, but as soon as I sat down, she moved to get me a mug of coffee.

"Okay, what's up?" I asked as soon as greetings were done.

"Mai-Lin phone us earlier and we talk to Mr. William and to house movers. Is okay to move house to Mai-Lin's little farm place, even if she just renting?" Mama Tang asked instantly.

"Sure. Why not?" I shrugged my shoulders.

"You own land and maybe so Mai-Lin's garden farm not work out." Papa Tang spoke quietly. "Then we have house on your farm that you not want and not want to pay for. We lose money."

"Oh no." I laughed. "I wouldn't do that to you. Would you rather that I bought the house and charged Mai-Lin rent for it as well as for the land?"

"Oh no, please. We like to buy house, move to little farm, then if Mai-Lin not successful at business, maybe so, you buy?" He continued. "If so, we sell to you at our cost if you say okay to move it there now."

"Sure. We could do that." I nodded. "I guess we'll need to have a lawyer draw up a lease agreement anyway, and we can cover that in the document, so that's no problem."

"Then Mr. William, we buy house." Mama Tang grinned at Triple Dub and held out her right hand. "And Mr. Big Tom, we just need hand shake, not need lawyer, too much cost for him put in his pocket. We trust you big time already."

"Hey, how come I'm suddenly Mr. Big Tom?" I grinned.

"Well, now you are my landlord." Mai-Lin giggled. "Now I must treat you much nicer and be careful not to offend you in any way."

Papa Tang said something in Chinese that made Mai-Lin blush while both Fran and Mama Tang laughed openly. I looked at him and frowned slightly.

"I don't understand Chinese." I said quietly, looking him in the eye.

"Sorry, I tell oldest daughter old Chinese saying; makes sense in Chinese, but not translate so good: 'Young landlord like good food, woman enjoy cooking and helping make young landlord happy too much, get fat.' got lotsa different meaning." He laughed and Mai-Lin actually hid her face in embarrassment.