Oh man, oh man...

....it doesn't get better than this! As I went about my Sunday on the farm, that line kept popping into my head. "Oh man, oh man, it doesn't get better than this." My father was full of one liners and quotes and the like; it was his verbal arena. He was a dairy farmer all his adult life. Not a gentleman type farmer but full fledged, full time, milking 80-100 cows 24/7. We grew up on a farm in Amherst, NH on the Souhegan River that will always remain in my mind's eye, one of the prettiest farms in New England. We had lots of land, all along the river, bottom land; in fact I remember many years the river flooded all the fields right up to the knoll the house and barns set on. They named the place "Knockfierna"~knoll of truth. The radio was always on in the barn, set on a shelf down the center isle between the aisles of stanchions and gutter cleaners. In summer baseball was the big draw, Curt Gowdy the radio voice. Dad loved baseball, he said it paralled life (yup, one of those!). I remember walking through the barn mid-afternoon, it was empty as the cows were still out in the loafing lot before milking time and always the ball game was on in the barn. Perhaps Dad was haying, there were sheets on the line, crisp and fresh, cows laying in the glen under the maples, it was perfect, for that one blessed moment. And so today, here at Long Ridge it is sunny, a light breeze, no humidity, the livestock comfortable and healthy, crickets chirping as loud as the fans at Fenway...and I pause, look around and just have to say..."oh man, oh man it doesn't get better than this".