It's been a while since I've written---sorry. My laptop has decided it doesn't want to connect to the internet. But you didn't miss much...mostly I've just been in the routine of working all day. A pretty calm and uneventful routine. Today, however, was a slightly different and rather scary interruption.

At the our nursery we're in full swing getting ready for our Fall Sale which starts next week--an event we've been prepping for since last September. It's quite an amazing sight to behold, the solid acres of blooming plants staged before the sale, the thousands and thousands of customers that come piling in, and then the empty acres after just a few days.

Today most of the farm was working to move the final crops and put up signage. As my mom (who is the perennial grower and manager) and I were driving along the main greenhouse in our kubota, I caught sight of a tailgate of a company truck fly off the edge of the hill (it's more like a cliff...) leading to our huge irrigation lake. We jumped out and ran, joining the workers who had been working closeby. As we reached the lake, all I could see was the very top of the cab and the bed of the truck disappearing beneath the surface and one worker we call Smiley trying to fight his way out of the passenger-side window.

Smiley got free as the truck sank completely in the middle of the lake, but started flailing; he can't swim. My mom then jumped into the lake and swam out to him. As soon as she reached him, however, he panicked and grabbed her arms, pulling her down with him.

By this point I had reached them, and was able to grab his arm and get him to calm down enough to let my mom grab his other arm and let us start to tow him to shore.

Now I'm not the best swimmer--I don't think I've really been actually swimming since I was like 15. Our steel-toed boots didn't help, either. But we managed to slowly drag him to shore, though. Smiley sat staring in shock for a while, and I'm pretty sure he hit his head as he went over the cliff, but he's otherwise unharmed.

I realized after the fact how bad everything could have turned out. What if the window hadn't been open? What if he had been knocked out in the crash? There were five other men standing watching, none of which know how to swim. What could they have done if my mom and I hadn't driven by? What if he had taken us under with him? I'm just thankful that the window was open, Smiley was able to get out, my mom and I were able to help him, and we were all able to go home safely.