I feel ya but it’s one I learned a while ago, so you come to IBB and read some stuff well
Speaking of today…
Check the stats on the not a meme.
Oh man does that bring back memories. We put up square bales until us kids moved off to college, then suddenly dad and grandpa decided we didn't really need square bales for anything anymore.
We had a family friend, his name was Bill. Bill lived across the road in a ~16' bumper pull camper parked on the slab of the house that no longer existed (I think it burned but I have no recollection of its existence). Bill was my mom's age, so a few years younger than dad, he lived on his family's land, his parents had passed long ago, Bill and his 3 brothers all inherited their own chunk of the family farm.
Bill and all of his brothers were characters, there were always stories about what they were doing, who they were feuding with, how long they were in county jail for, what they were wanted for, who's ass they'd beat, or who'd beat their ass. Rarely the latter, usually the former when it came to ass beatings. While the whole family had a reputation, Bill was the stand-out. He was a the character of the characters. Bill was infamous for hot wiring his camper to the transformer for free electricity, about every 4-6 months the power company would come disconnect him, as soon as they were gone, Bill was up the pole hooking himself back up.
Since he was a neighbor, and grew up with my folks, Bill was a friend. Bill had some demons though, and some extracurricular habits he did to self medicate. Bill didn't need much, but everyone needs some form of income. Dad worked out a deal with Bill, if he was sober he could work on the farm. Bill was a great hand, and I tell you, every 13-15 year old boy needs a Bill to work with. The things I learned from Bill that dad still doesn't know about.
The thing about Bill though, he'd be around for a while, then after a couple pay checks, poof, gone again.
That's the background for the story, I'll get to the point now. We mowed hay on Bill's brother's place, mostly Joe's sometimes Charlie's place too. We usually did it to help Joe out. Kind of west to east was Charlie, John, Bill, and Joe. Charlie and Joe inherited the hay fields. Bill's place was next to Joe's, separated by a low slough with a creek running through it.
We hadn't seen Bill in a few days, and had been bailing square bales over at Joe's place. Dad had an '89, long bed, extended cab, F-250 (351, 5-speed). I learned to drive stick in that truck, damn did I hate it. We regularly stacked bales 4-5 bales above the cab, and bales over the cab too, a lot like that truck above. No kind of railing or support on the roof, but we didn't have far to travel.
We'd been at it for most of the day, had already hauled a few loads to the barn. Then Bill just kind of appeared.
Bill was acting strange, slurring, stammering, and limping. Bill stunk like booze, no telling what else he'd taken. When asked if he was okay, he said something like he would be. Then pulled his pants leg up to reveal the swollen leg with a baseball sized knot on his shin with a pair of oozing holes on top of the knot. Bill had been in the creek between him and Joe and got bit by a cotton mouth.
![eek :eek: :eek:](https://data.irate4x4.com/assets/smilies/eek.gif)
No wonder he was missing, he was self medicating, but for a whole different reason than normal.
We told him to take it easy, go home, rest up, etc. but he wouldn't hear it. Bill hopped on the truck and started stacking bales. We just shook our heads and carried on.
Mom was driving the truck. We about had a full load, Bill was on top catching and stacking, drunk/high and snake bit. Mom went to pull forward and her foot slipped off the clutch. The truck lurched forward, and down came Bill. It's been 30+ years and I can still hear the sound when I think about it. I would have sworn something in Bill broke, like a lot of somethings. It was a 10' swan dive onto his shoulder/back. No clue how he didn't break his neck.
We all stared in shock, as Bill got up dusted himself off, and went back to tossing bales.
Whatever cocktail of booze, drugs, and snake venom Bill was on, basically made him invincible.
And because meme thread: