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Potbelly Stove Stories: See if you can top this series of unfortunate events.

November 27, 2019

3 Min Read
Farmstead during lightning storm at night
ROUGH DAY: If you think you’re having a rough day, read about the day Gayle Stout had a few years ago. photosbykatie/Getty Images

Our dairy operation had been in the family for many years. Why would a family choose dairy farming over any other life? Some days, we’ve even wondered.     

My husband, Gayle, was preparing hay for baling. Our daughter worked hard at raking, pulling the rake with the pickup truck. The truck suddenly stopped moving. Hay was lodged up around the drive shaft. 

A severe storm with dangerous lightning was approaching off in the distance. Gayle worked quickly to unhook the truck from the rake and hook it to the utility tractor. While our daughter finished raking, Gayle backed the truck toward home, trying to loosen the hay. He worked on it but couldn’t budge the hay. 

He went to the silo to get a pry bar. While there, he hooked up a wagon to unload on slow gear. Then he went back, crawled underneath the truck and continued loosening hay. After a few minutes, he went back to check the silo. The spinner on the silo blower had stopped, burnt the belt up and made a 6-foot-tall-by-10-foot-wide pile of silage on the ground covering the blower.

He backed up the utility tractor and wagon. The three-point hitch bent the PTO shaft of his new wagon. Gayle drug the blower away from the silo and hooked up an older blower. He scooped up the silage and put it back into the wagon. He hooked up the bent PTO shaft and ran silage into the blower until he heard a bang! He found a blower pipe brace that was in the feed. He changed shear bolts, took out the pipe brace and emptied the wagon.

Never quit!

Determined to make the most of the day, Gayle drove the utility tractor to the field to pick up baled hay. On the second round, he felt calcium thrust upon him from the tractor tire. It went flat. He blocked it up and called for repairs.

After milking, he went back to work on the truck. He decided to make the drive shaft loose. After getting the bolts out, the truck rolled off the ramps and plunged into a silage wagon, busting the grill on the truck. He pushed the truck back into the shed, pulled out the hay, reconnected the drive shaft, pushed the grill back in place and secured it with duct tape. 

The next morning after milking, Gayle was off to finish raking. He found the metal rod that caused the flat tire and kicked it, poking a hole through the sole of his work boot and cutting his left foot! 

When you think you’ve had a bad day, and there seems to be no end to the trials and thorns in your path, remember God is in control.

Stout writes from Frankfort, Ind.

Send us your funny stories

This is your column! Send us your funniest, most awkward experience you’re willing to share. Diane Stout did, and we sent her a $25 gift card.

Write between 250 and 500 words and include a picture. If you mention someone else, you must have their permission. If published, we will send you a $25 gift card. Stories become property of Farm Progress.

Email [email protected] or send submissions to P.O. Box 247, Franklin, IN 46131. Include name, phone number, email and physical address.

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