Life around home during harvest

Brad being gone in the field a lot takes it toll on everyone.  I am usually more tired and get less done around the house.  We go to what I call "survival mode" where the necessities get done and anything beyond that is a plus.  I can rationalize it all and understand that it is temporary, but the boys can't do that.  Joel doesn't really know what is going on, but he does hold a grudge against Brad when he gets home and doesn't want very much to do with him at first.  Vince used to do the same thing, but now he gets really excited when Brad gets home.  Vince will mention from time to time (especially when he is mad at me) how much he misses Brad or how he wants his daddy.  Vince likes to talk on the phone so calling Brad usually does the trick.

Last spring when Brad was gone a lot Vince would talk about his "other daddy."  His "other daddy" sounded pretty cool and could do a lot of things and would take Vince to do a lot of fun stuff.  I believe his "other daddy" took him golfing, even in the snow, played baseball and several other things that I can't remember.  My favorite was when I told Vince he couldn't do something and he would say "My other daddy say I can!"  The best part was that the person he decided was his "other daddy" was Brad's best friend that Vince probably sees 2-3 times a year.  After several conversations with Vince about how he really only had 1 daddy we stopped hearing about his "other daddy."  This fall Vince has his "old daddy" and his "old grandpa" who say Vince can do things I tell him he can't, they drive green tractors and combines (since his Grandpa and Daddy like yellow tractors and combines) and let Vince use real tools and a real chainsaw (I won't let him use really tools or a chainsaw...I am so mean!).  He won't tell me who his old daddy and grandpa are, but it is probably better they don't have names.  It really drives Brad crazy when he gets home and Vince won't stop talking about his old daddy.  Brad does a good job at not making a big deal out of it.  It is kind of embarrassing when the boys and I are out in public and Vince starts talking about his "old daddy" and "old grandpa".  It is rather confusing for people who are listening.  Hopefully once Brad is home more often this talk of his old daddy will stop!

Brad is busy all day but will call me several times a day or I will call him.  The conversations are generally short between me wrangling kids and Brad getting a nonstop string of calls all day.  Here is an example of how a conversation goes:
B: Hi
K: Hi, How are you?
B: Ok, not the best yields right now.
K: What is the yield?
B: I don't know but the combine is taking awhile to get full.  Lee's calling, got to go.

Several min later we get farther in the conversation and the someone else calls.  Then we get a little farther and someone else calls.  I am not exaggerating when I say the conversation this morning was 4 phone calls that ranged from 28 seconds to 10 min long (most are under 2 minutes).  We will repeat this several times a day.  It used to be really frustrating and I have learned over time to quickly get anything that is important in the conversation as soon as possible.  I am sure some people would decide it was too frustrating to bother with, but I really like knowing what is going on in the farming operation and Brad likes to know what we are up to (at least I assume he does...although depending on what is going on here is is probably glad he is away :) )

Being the wife of a farmer is not something I ever imagined I would be and I honestly had no idea what I was getting into.  That being said, I wouldn't have it any other way!