DH and his dad have always farmed together. A lot of what we farm is my FIL's ground which is farmed on shares. Technically that means dh is supposed to do all the work and provide all of the equipment, while FIL sits back and collects 50% of the yield. However, FIL has always been a control freak. To the point where he always had to do ALL of the planting and ALL of the combining. DH just let him and kept his mouth shut, partly because he has to deal with working with his dad every day and also because if anyone makes FIL mad, he takes it out on MIL, who is a nervous nellie and very very dependent on FIL (she doesn't drive). DH was always crabby during spring and fall work-it was just a fact of life that I had attributed to the stress of farming.
So anyway about 1.5 yrs ago FIL had a stroke. So that spring, he wasn't able to help with planting. DH's brothers helped him and they all got everything done very smoothly. That fall FIL didn't help and dh did all the combining and hauling himself. Everything went perfectly (as much as it can during harvest) and he came home in a good mood every single night. Yay! It was so wonderful. I figured out that the crabby moods were due to working with FIL and not so much the stress of farming.
So the following spring, FIL tried helping for a day or two but was too tired so again, dh did it all, with some help from his brother. No problems-all the crops got in the ground despite the horrid weather.
Now, FIL thinks he is well enough to do it all again and has once again, taken over combining. So far he has overfilled the trailer multiple times, plugged up the combine multiple times (which requires a lot of down time unplugging it) and ran it until it was just short of overheating. Plus he is so worn out from working that he is SLOOOOOOOOW. DH has, so far, been keeping his trap shut because he knows that if he says anything, his mom suffers. And he would rather bear the brunt than have that happen. So he's been coming home in a crabby mood. Every. single. night. He said when they move from FIL's place to our cash-rented ground he's going to tell him that he (dh) is going to do the work. He can't take it anymore. I hate to say it but I have a feeling he won't say anything after all.
I wish FIL would just quit already. He's about 80-something yrs old and seriously needs to relax.
So anyway about 1.5 yrs ago FIL had a stroke. So that spring, he wasn't able to help with planting. DH's brothers helped him and they all got everything done very smoothly. That fall FIL didn't help and dh did all the combining and hauling himself. Everything went perfectly (as much as it can during harvest) and he came home in a good mood every single night. Yay! It was so wonderful. I figured out that the crabby moods were due to working with FIL and not so much the stress of farming.
So the following spring, FIL tried helping for a day or two but was too tired so again, dh did it all, with some help from his brother. No problems-all the crops got in the ground despite the horrid weather.
Now, FIL thinks he is well enough to do it all again and has once again, taken over combining. So far he has overfilled the trailer multiple times, plugged up the combine multiple times (which requires a lot of down time unplugging it) and ran it until it was just short of overheating. Plus he is so worn out from working that he is SLOOOOOOOOW. DH has, so far, been keeping his trap shut because he knows that if he says anything, his mom suffers. And he would rather bear the brunt than have that happen. So he's been coming home in a crabby mood. Every. single. night. He said when they move from FIL's place to our cash-rented ground he's going to tell him that he (dh) is going to do the work. He can't take it anymore. I hate to say it but I have a feeling he won't say anything after all.
I wish FIL would just quit already. He's about 80-something yrs old and seriously needs to relax.
