Wheat Harvest and In-law Frustrations

I’m so sorry I haven’t posted in forever!  This post is a bit of a “life on the farm post” and a bit of a “rant about my in-laws post”.  Hope you don’t mind

It is wheat harvest time at our house.  That means D is in the wheat field usually until at least 10pm if not later.  Since “the farm” is a 35 minute drive from our house (not by my choice, maybe I will post those details tomorrow) that means he isn’t home until 11 by the time he gets out of the tractor, things put away and gets home.  In past years it hasn’t been THAT big of a deal.  Before R arrived I drove an hour one way to my job so by the time I got home it was usually 6:30 or so.  Not too much of a biggie that we didn’t really see each other for 10 days or so.  And I didn’t mind waiting up to see him for a bit.  But this year there are 2 things that are making it more of a challenge.  R is here of course.  And he REALLY likes to see his Daddy before bed.  And, wheat harvest is WAY early.  That means we are also in the middle of when we artificially inseminate the 300+ cows and heifers.  So D can’t stay later in the mornings either because he has cow stuff to do. 

So a couple of night R and I have taken supper to the field.  Like I said, it is a 35 minute drive but it is worth it to see D for a bit and so R can see him a bit too.  The first night went great.  We took Pizza Cups (I will try to post a recipe/tutorial next time I make them) and ate with D and then we went with him in the combine while my father-in-law and mother-in-law ate.  My FIL normally drives the combine, D drives the tractor with the grain cart which the combine unloads wheat into out in the field and MIL drives the semi and hauls the wheat to “the farm” to put in a bin or to the grain elevator a few miles away.   Here are some pics from the first night. 

(eating supper with Daddy)

(fascinated by the combine header)

(view from the combine)

The next night MIL said she didn’t want me to bring supper.  O....K.....  Kind of annoyed because that is really the only way I can feel like I’m involved and helping with harvest, but whatever.  It also meant I didn’t think I could justify driving 70 miles round trip with the price of gas.  So we stayed home.  And R was a BEAR to get to bed.  He wanted his Daddy.

So the next day I made it clear I was bringing supper.   We made slow-cooker sausage and jambalaya, corn bread, watermelon and bar cookies.  We got there and it was all great.  D was happy to see us, R was happy to see D.  We ate. 

(FIL cutting wheat)

(Little fawn that was hiding in the wheat, his Mama came and found him later)

(D was happy to see R, wouldn't even let me take him while he ate)

Then we went to get in the combine.  FIL had been smoking a cigar in there.   GRRRRRR!  He knew I was coming with supper, he knows we would be going in the combine with D while FIL/MIL ate.  And yet, he doesn’t care.  So frustrating. 

So now, I have to make a decision.   Do I keep R home and have him literally not see his dad except for maybe 5 minutes in the morning and avoid the cigar retch?  Or do I try to tell myself it’s not a big deal and every kid survives a little smoke here and there (not to mention smoke gives me a migraine in a heartbeat, so therefore I would have to do R’s bath and bedtime with that “accessory”)?   You might ask why D doesn’t just ask FIL to not smoke until AFTER we had been there.  Which seems logical.  Except my FIL has absolutely no desire to see R or me and if it interferes with anything in his life he doesn’t care if D sees us either.

So…give me your opinions.  What would you do?  I’m not sure how to handle the situation.  I’m tired, I’m lonely (I would like to see D at some point in the day besides waking me up to say bye in the morning too) and I’m grouchy because R and I both have head colds.  So fuel my anger or tamp it down, I’m ready!