Halloween, Harvest Style

This is the harvest from, well I am not sure I am supposed to say where it is from, I don’t want to get censored. But let’s just say that as the weather gets colder and colder the place I am thinking of is warm. In fact, people talk about the fires of, yeah right, I can’t use the word. Let’s just say this is the harvest that seems to have no end in sight and I am relatively sure we will be still going during Halloween and that gave me some ideas of fun things I can do to lighten up the mood.

First, I am going to go in costume. I thought about dressing up as a farmer. After all it is the same costume I have used for a lot of years now. But that is too boring. A scarecrow might be fun. I could stand by the edge of the field and look mad. While that might be kind of fun, it is the best costume idea I had. I decided to dress up like a skeleton. Just imagine the look on the faces of the people passing the slow-moving grain truck and they see a skeleton driving it. My second choice was the Grim Reaper, I thought that would be fitting and maybe effective for all the people who pass me in no passing zones and going over the top of the hills to see. Imagine passing a slow-moving grain truck on the top of a hill and as you draw even with it you see the Grim Reaper smiling and waving. It might work.

I am going to give haunted truck rides too. My trucks are old and kind of creepy looking. One of them used to be a truck for the rendering works. I bet there are a few ghosts of past passengers. The trucks make weird unexplained noises, they creak and groan and make you wonder if they will make it up the hill. Then on the way down you are never quite sure if the brakes will work and that makes for a scary ride. If you are lucky one of the mice that make the truck their home will run out and make an appearance. No haunted house can hold a candle to a mouse running up your leg as you free wheel down a hill in a truck making odd sounds.

I can even decorate the old trucks up with cobwebs and dust. Come to think of it, they are decorated for Halloween year-round. To top it all off, we have plenty of corn stalks still around to add to the ambiance. Between loads I could make hot apple cider on the engine block, if you don’t mind the hot oil smell and we could roast marshmallows on the fire under the dash (that is another good story for later).

Then I think I will take my little pumpkin shaped pail and trick or treat the usual stops. You know the elevator, parts store and implement dealership. I can’t wait to see the faces of everyone when I burst through the door in my skeleton or Grim Reaper costume and yell “trick or treat”. I probably ought to skip going to the bank though, they seem to be a little jumpy when grown men dress up and wear masks.

All of this should lighten up the mood and make the long drudgery of harvest a little more fun. Although that fun will be tempered just a little bit since most of the fun of Halloween is the unknown of the night and the old grain trucks just can’t be out at night. I am pretty sure, even on Halloween, local law enforcement will insist that I have lights even though at this point in harvest I am sure I can navigate the roads in the dark.

Maybe this harvesting during the holidays isn’t so bad after all, this all sounds kind of fun. Though with the markets I am pretty sure we are getting the trick instead of the treat. But life is what you make it and why not make it a little more fun. In a year when I pick which truck to drive by which one has the best heater, sometimes you just must laugh. My only fear is that I will have to start planning for other holidays and they are a little trickier. I am afraid of falling asleep after eating Thanksgiving dinner and I can’t watch football in the truck. However, Christmas might work, the Santa suit is warm, and we can put reindeer antlers on the hood. All of this is well and good, and I am sure harvest will wrap up soon. Let’s just hope and pray we are wrapped up before February, the cupid outfit might be a little chilly.