There’s a group of retired ag guys who get together every morning for breakfast. I join them occasionally. It’s a good group with good conversation. Once a month, they meet in the afternoon and spouses are invited. When I got the notification about the April afternoon get-together, I replied to the text saying we wouldn’t be able to join them, because I was going to fix fence. My reply drew several responses. One said the only thing worse than fixing fence was picking rocks.
I’ve commented before that I don’t mind fixing fence, especially since we have good fences after all these years. It should be noted, however, that not all springs are created equal. This year, after an open winter with little snow, fencing was comparatively easy. There were few broken wires. Even the creek fence was nearly intact.
The thing about fixing fence, at least for me, is there’s no pressure. You work at your own pace and can’t mess up too badly. And so it was that day in April, just me and my thoughts, the crocuses and meadowlarks. My thoughts that day were mostly about my high school classmates, the 1965 graduating class of Mandan High School.
I’d been part of a team working on our 60th class reunion, finding addresses for the 150 or so classmates who are still around and obituaries for the approximately 60 who aren’t. Some of the classmates’ current street addresses are for assisted living or nursing homes. Quite a few of the addresses had Arizona, California or Florida ZIP codes. On this day, I felt no jealousy toward those who thought they had moved to a better place.
One classmate lives in Washington state. He retired there after a long career with BNSF Railway. When his wife posted on Facebook stating they wouldn’t be coming to the reunion, I called just to visit. In high school, we had little in common. But now, there was much to talk about – careers, family, health. My classmate said he has severe COPD. In fact, he suggested he probably wouldn’t last much longer. I think he would trade places with me, fixing fence, if he could.
And so it was that day, missing coffee with friends, but feeling blessed, fixing fence.
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Al Gustin is a retired farm broadcaster, active rancher and a member of Mor-Gran-Sou Electric Cooperative.
