Ranch life ain't the easiest life around.
It's not often that you get to go to town.
You don't know what the house really looks like.
Because you usually leave and come at night.
One day while driving along a dusty two-rut road.
We could tell that the windmill was down, this we knowed.
If that wheel ain't a-turning...
Then something's wrong.. this being a part of our learning.
Dad-Burn-it, said the boss. That's the only water in thie section.
We might as well get ready to make a correction.
I sure do wish we had another hand,
Because it looks like it's stuck tighter than Dick's-hat-band.
It ain't fun skinning up a tower, and pulling on the sucker rod.
The boss yelled, She's stuck in the cylinder.. this is gonna be a job.
We'll have to pull it all, sawing sucker rods as we go.
No whole sucker rod can be saved, this we already know.
Well it was up and down that tower ten times to pull the mill.
Finally the cylinder was out of the hole.. whatta thrill.
It seems that some friendly person must'va come by on his round.
And put nuts and washers in the casing to hear the rumbling sound.
We raced to town to get new sucker rods and leathers.
Cause, we gotta get this mill put back together.
Well, the last joint was made-up by pickup light.
We got her pumping before the dark of night.
The rumble of the wheel, sucking sound, and the flow of water.. whatta sight.
You know, it seems to me that things generally turn out all right.
On the way home, I took a good long deep breath as the stars begin to appear.
And said, Lord please let this old mill keep pumping for at least one more year.
John Hill