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Why I don’t like the fourth

So this post is written by a person who is both angry and frustrated. I’m neither sane, nor rational. That said, excuse my rash comments in the following post:

I hate the 4th of July in Nebraska.

I really don’t enjoy it. I don’t enjoy the 8 hour trip to come down here. I don’t enjoy the 8 hour trip back. I don’t enjoy the 4 hour wait to watch 10 minutes of fireworks. About the only things I do enjoy are the high speed internet, the hard work on the farm (more on that later), and on occassion, the time spent with family. Of course, the family is often the downfall of the rest of my trip as well.

In fact, the last time I remember enjoying the fourth was when I didn’t spend it with my family. In fact, I was at a cabin with Richard… Wakeboarding and playing with the dog. If you don’t remember, it would appear I posted here: http://www.rinsefirst.com/index.php?section=archive&sectiontitle=The%20Day&ref_id=101

Like last year, it would appear I enjoyed the work again this year: http://www.rinsefirst.com/index.php?section=archive&sectiontitle=The%20Day&ref_id=606

Let’s take a moment to describe today, maybe even give a few pictures with it, if I feel like taking the time to edit them. I woke up this morning tired. I didn’t get to bed till late last night because Amber and I weren’t on the best of terms, and she had TM’ed me 30 minute’s after I had fallen asleep. That didn’t help. They wanted me moving so I could get out to the farm and start working. I of course at this point don’t want to work. I want to stay in the hotel and maybe use my laptop, but… A man’s got to do, what a man’s got to do.

So I got out of bed, got dressed, only to find Amy was still in bed and not moving. Because she is a girl, this is accepted, and my mom drives me up to the farm while she stays in bed. I wait for about 15 minutes till the rest of the men arrive, and then we all go down to the field and conquer the first set of pipe. Now in case you don’t know what we mean by irigation pipe, let me help you out.

Irigation pipe is used to move large amounts of water throughout a corn field. Corn fields are not small. They are generally in the area of 100 to 200 acres. Therefore, to get pipe across these fields, the pipes themselves must be fairly large, and in fact they are. They are about a foot in diameter and about 50 feet long. They are made of a metal, probably aluminum based on how easy they dent, and have gates on the side that need to line up with the rows of corn. On each end they have rubber gaskets, similiar to that of a garden hose, to help prevent the pipe from leaking.

The trick to laying these pipe then is to: lift them off the trailer, carry them into the corn field, line them up with the previous pipe, and push. If the pipe doesn’t slide right in, you pull it out, and try again. If it still doesn’t, you yell for something like oil, and then push harder. You do this about 100-200 times before all the pipe are laid.

As you can imagine, this is a long and hard process. It was also 80 degrees out today with no wind. Dead air as we like to call it… And do to the way the rows are cultivated in our field, you have to carry the pipe in about 12 rows of corn before you can set it down. This means raising the pipe above 7 foot high corn for about 20-25 feet. Over and over and over again.

This is where the picture would come in handy. By the time we were done, 6 grown men were about ready to pass out. Dirty, sweaty, smelly, and soaked with our own sweat. But we finished. Out of all the things we did today, this one I enjoyed. I love hard physical labor. In the same way I love working out from time to time.

 Now, in my lifetime, I’ve laid pipe about 5 times. I’ve learned to wear a long sleeve shirt to protect you from the corn. It’s the same reason you wear pants, not shorts. What I failed to remember this time was the sunscreen. So my neck (no other part of me, just my neck), is entirely burned. Again, perhaps I’ll put this picture at the end.

From the hard work in the field, we came back to the hotel to clean up. This is where my day started turning. I was tired. I could have just stayed in the hotel and watched Nascar. In fact, that’s what I should have done. Instead, I decided I needed to spend time with the family and go see the fireworks show. That’s what I did. Besides, Daytona was under a rain delay, so I should be able to catch the end.

We get out there and I’m bored as hell for 3 hours. What a waste of friggen time. I played a little with my cousin’s kid. I played a little while with my other cousin’s new dog. I worked on my juggling. I was bored. We took the wrong car, so I didn’t have any of my stuff. Most of the stories ran out this morning after breakfast (after all we have only been gone for a month), and to top it off, I couldn’t find the race on the radio.

I call Amber and that doesn’t do much for me other than tell me the race has started. Yesterday I missed her a few times, today I missed her when I wanted someone to hold during the fireworks show.. But for the most part, I was still a tad bit upset with the conversation we had last night. That however, is water over the bridge, and nothing we can’t overcome. So no one (including you sweety) start to panic or take any of this too seriously.

The fireworks show was nuts. The finished off with yet another dazzeling display. In fact, it was so nutz at the very end, that instead of hearing the boom boom boom boom that you normally hear at the end of fireworks shows, it was just one long continous thunder. There were so many going off that most people had to look away because it got so bright. My Camera even shows it as basically a white sky. It was cool, despite the fact I couldn’t hear the radio anymore.

Then came the part that made me both upset and frustrated. Leaving is always a nightmare. They have one road out of this park, and about 1000 cars to get out. No traffic cops. No lights. Just stupidity at it’s best. To add to it, the Nascar race had to be getting close to the end, so I just wanted to see the big finish. Last night’s I heard was pretty big, and I missed that too because I had to be somewhere else. That said, it was looking good.

I could see the highway that we needed to get to. I could see where we needed to go. 30 more cars and we were out. Of course, my dad saw what he thought might be a shortcut, so he tried to take it. That of course failed. It ended up setting us back about 45 minutes. 15 were spent in sheets of thunder and lightning. 15 Were spent just driving around. And yet another 15 were spent in the line we were in to begin with.

I then race up to my room to see if I can catch the final laps of the race. Of course the moment I turn on the TV, I hear it say "Welcome to the Fox post race report". Oh yay I thought, I missed all the action yet again. I watched a little to see had one. Of course, the one great piece of news I got all night: Jeff had won again, with Johnson right behind him. That’s back to back win’s for my Jeff and yet another great finish for both of my drivers. That’s how I like to end the night.

Of course, I’m leaving out some of the scuffles I had in the car with my family on way home. As well as some of the conversations elsewhere. I didn’t complain at all about working (go figure) but I should had plenty of other things to chew people out for. (not so much until after 5:00pm).

Needless to say, that was my day, and now I just feel angry. That’s how I feel. Yay for me. Time for bed I think, maybe tomorrow will save this trip from the depths of cow dung it has sunk into.