Ernie's Last Fence

I had a good laugh with Dan recently about all of the equipment his dad had been buying the past few years. Farming was getting so fun for Ernie.  He had upgraded tractors, bought a little bull dozer, and purchased an excavator this past summer.  Nothing extravagant (remember, the Hiestermans are good conservative Lutherans!) but just some reasonably priced used equipment to get the job done.  That excavator had been a such a joy for Dan and Ernie this past winter. The weather had been unseasonably warm and the guys had been working on dirt work and fence projects the entire winter.

It was sunny and 75 yesterday and I missed Ernie.  I wished he was here helping Dan, Phil, John, Luke, and Jason with more projects.  I know he's in a better place but I just wish he was still here with us.  Dan tells me that Ernie made farming fun and that things are different now.  I know that someday the guys will have fun farming again but for now we all still grieve.

I shed some tears yesterday on my walk down the dirt road that heads west of our house.  Ernie's excavator sits parked like a statue in the pasture next to the new fence the guys built this winter.  I'm sure the guys will start another project at some point but for now they are busying themselves with mundane chores. 

I enjoy seeing Ernie everywhere on the farm.  He is still with us in spirit. From the new baby calves born everyday, to hearing him in Dan's voice and seeing him in his brothers' mannerisms, and finally in treasuring his handiwork in the last fence he built.

Ernie's last fence project west of our house