Misadventures of B & T

On this fine day B & T set out on one of their adventures.  The pursuit today was gin trash from a cotton gin about 45 minutes away. We loaded up in my truck with pitch forks, shovels, and a tarp for the bed of the truck.  T mentioned that he needed to get some for a flower bed at his church that we would need to drop off on our way home.

When cotton is run through its initial processing, the cotton fiber is separated from the seeds, hulls, sticks etc... that come along with the cotton at picking time.  The cotton is pressed into bales and sent off to mills for further processing.  The cotton seed is sold to the seed mill and the proceeds pay the ginning charges owed by the cotton farmer, and he usually gets a rebate of the excess funds from the seeds over the cost of ginning.  The "trash" is piled up in the gin yard.  Years ago, the gin would burn this material. 

The gin trash will sit in pile for months, creating a rich mix that can work wonders in garden beds or flower beds.  Most of the weed seeds will rot from the heat that builds up in the gin trash pile.  When the weather heats up, this pile creates a smell of its own.  If you use it, it needs to be tilled into the garden bed so that it can break down further to avoid the odor.

B & T arrived at the gin yard, where two pickups were parked.  We asked for permission to dig in.  Turns out the two guys had just pulled over to talk some business unrelated to the gin.  We moved on to the pile.  I pulled up close so that we could just toss the mix into the back of the truck.  Whoops!  Stuck!

We were on a damp spot and my street tires began to spin.  I was able to work the truck out of the slick, whew!  We walked around the pile, looking for a spot with firmer ground.  A quick conclusion was that damn, shoulda brought a wheel barrel.  I began to back up, not realizing where I was, and I'll be dang,  another soft spot.  Rut row!

B & T spent about 20 minutes trying to work our way out of the second hole.  The trash pile is surrounded by a concrete circle the the trash spreader rotates on.  The front tire was butted up against it and could not get over the hump, as hard as we tried.  The more we tried, the deeper it got!  I ain't believing I have done it a second time.  If that wasn't bad enough, I walked around the back of the truck, and T, in the drivers seat, gunned the engine and I was covered in mud and gin trash!

The gin yard had two tractors, and of course neither were driveable.  I walked back to the main road and was able to flag down a young guy in a pickup.  He agreed to try and pull me out in his truck.  Luckily I had a tow rope in my tool box.  We hooked my truck up to his, and away we go!  Wrong!
We weren't going anywhere.  We even hooked a chain to the tow rope so the other truck could get better traction. We both hit the gas. The guy only had one tire spinning and my truck only had one tire spinning.  Our helper looked like he was in a drag race with his tire just a spinning.  T looked at mine and noticed the wood that we had put under the tire was now on fire from all of the friction!  It just ain't my day!

We unhooked and said our thank you's and good bye to our friendly helper.  Guess it was time for a tow truck.  I used my handy dandy smart phone and looked for a number.  The closest one was in Yazoo City.  Dialed it, and wouldn't know it, the number was disconnected.  Other tow services were located in Clinton, Canton, Ridgeland and Jackson.  I picked on from Ridgeland and made the call.  The truck would be there in about 40 minutes.  To pass the time, we went ahead and loaded up some gin trash using our pitchforks and walking it to the truck stuck in the mud.

We had about a half a load when the tow truck arrived.  I mentioned to the drive that I tried a number in Yazoo City, but the number had been disconnected.  He reminded me that that guy was the tow truck driver that was murdered a few months back for the cash that he had on him.  The driver said all the news outlets did the industry a dis-service for telling the public that they carried a considerable amount of cash on the truck.

We were out of the hole in no time.  The tow truck driver then offered to back his truck up to the gin trash pile and scoop up a load that we could shovel into the back of my truck.  It was a great offer, but I told him, nobody else was gonna get stuck in this gin yard today!  He offered several times, and considering the amount of money I paid him, I was so tempted to do it.  But with the luck I've been having, no deal.

B & T got back on the road home, and stopped by T's church to drop off some of the gin trash for their flower bed.  Turns out it was two beds.  Yep,  it took all the gin trash we had in the truck.  We finally got home, with no gin trash, a truck covered in mud, and a big ole towing bill for our trouble.!

We will be making a return trip to this Gardner's gold mine again soon, but with wheel barrel's in tow!  Hopefully the next trip won't be as eventful.  stay tuned to more B & T misadventures!