Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good

Farming is definitely a different mindset than lawyering. Both are mentally challenging, but with growing things there is a much greater emphasis on improvisation and risk assessment. Will it rain/frost/tornado tonight? If we are expecting 4 days of rain, what needs to happen while it is still dry? What can wait until it is dry again? If the supplies/tool/part/implement I need won't be here until next week, how am I going to water the plants/fix the tractor/transplant the seedlings? If I plant two millions fancy French melons, will I be able to sell them? Etc., etc.

Lawyering is very demanding in its own way, but it is also very methodical and procedural. Schedules don't change very often. A court date, a brief due date, or a transaction closing date may change occasionally, but you usually have plenty of notice of the change. Lawyers (and I suppose anyone who relies on the rule of law) do not like surprises, so our system is structured to minimize them.

We have now had four days of rain, and while I have been able to get a lot of planting done, I am quickly running out of properly tilled soil to plant stuff. And we still have a lot of seedlings that really really need to get planted soon (they are getting too big and root bound for their present pots).

But it needs to be dry to till things, and I have a big labor crunch -- my tractor implements are good for our long term tillage strategy, but they are not as good for turning sod to plantable soil right now. Between the rain and my labor limitations, I really was getting to the point where I didn't know what we were going to do, and I had begun to resign myself to re-scaling some of my planting plans for the year.

Last week, when I saw this problem coming, I had put a call into our neighbor because I knew he had a massive rototiller on his bigger tractor, and that he could just whisk through ground that it would take me a lot longer to turn over. But I hadn't heard back from him, which isn't surprising given that everyone up here is wicked busy this time of year.

Then last night he called. Sure, he can come over Wednesday night and help me turn some ground, and we agreed on some compensation for the work. Then I checked the weather. It is supposed to clear up today, stay clear tomorrow, and then go back to rain Wednesday night. If we are lucky, that should be just enough drying to let us get our tilling done on Wednesday evening.

What was I so worried about?