My son said he had to pick up a bag of parts and head home. His companion chuckled at the notion of a bag of parts being “a thing.” As any rancher or farmer knows, it is a thing, in fact a pretty big thing, especially in haying season.
“Make hay when the sun shines” is a priority this time of year and a breakdown in the field costs time and money. One of the biggest dreads for a ranch wife is being sent on a parts run. For some reason her time seems less costly to the spouse, never mind that there is supper to make for the crew, canning in progress, or garden to tend. Maybe she’s the raker and is far enough ahead to allow the baler to keep rolling while she goes after repairs, but there’s still that thing about supper and all the other stuff. Still, she’s handed a list of what to pick up in town and told to hurry. Of course she’ll hurry, there’s all that other stuff, plus being behind with the raking when she returns.
She pushes the speed limit, hits the door of the implement dealer, and lines up behind six other people who have also been told to hurry. When her turn comes, she’ll be asked questions she can’t answer. “Fine thread? Male or female end? What year is the tractor?” Safe answers, in the order of asking: “He didn’t say, so give me some of both.” “Give me one of each and he can raise his own.” “Old.”
After a few of these exchanges I refused to make the trip unless he called the parts man with details. Even so, when I returned, I’d be told to get back to raking while repairs were made. And supper would be late because they had to wait on me.
Our ranch is on Mountain time and Valentine is on Central. It’s fifty miles to town so a late day breakdown is problematic. If it happens close to closing time, a call to the parts department still gets the order filled and a bag of parts will be placed outside the door if the errand person doesn’t arrive soon enough. If the breakdown happens late, and the rancher has a good relationship with the parts man, he might call the guy at home and persuade him to go down and fill a bag to put outside. Alternately, someone leaves before breakfast in order to be at the door when the dealership opens. I always preferred this option; the world is pretty and fresh at sunrise, and they could darn well get their own breakfast. Of course, nobody knows how to wash the dishes but there’ll be time for that while the repairs are accomplished.
There’s cooperation in ranch country. Often, you’ll see several bags of parts sitting outside a dealership or quick stop, with the names of ranches on them. Maybe one will be marked for delivery to Sandhill Oil in Thedford. One of my grandsons works out of Ainsworth and comes to Valentine daily, so parts from Ainsworth or Bassett get passed along that way. There’s a problem with this system though. When my son sees a bag with the name of a neighbor he says, “I can take that, I go right by his place.” But then, who knows if someone from that ranch is already on the way to pick up their bag of parts? No matter how you plan there’s nothing easy about a parts run.
Meet me here next week and meanwhile, do your best. Somebody might like it.