Dropping In

All of the hay is now in the loft, the loft is full and the hay elevator has been put away until next summer. We still have hay to put up but not in this barn/house.

Our main loft is located in the center of the barn with a lower tier on each side. One side is open, it doesn't have a floor in it and the other side is actually the roof of our little house inside the barn.

My young cousin was helping with the hay on Monday morning, along with a friend of his and our oldest son. After the second wagon had been unloaded and my DH was pulling it away to get ready for the next wagon. My cousin was following my son down out of the loft on a small ladder onto the roof of the house, my cousin skipped the last two rungs of the ladder, jumping onto the roof. At which point my son said later that he just disappeared.

I was washing dishes in the kitchen when I heard a loud crash and I thought to myself that they were being too rough and knocking stuff off of my walls. Then I heard my son very clearly say that my cousin had fallen into the house and someone had better go inside to check on him. I turned around and there he was in the doorway of the bedroom on his hands and knees, just looking at the rug. I am sure that he was wondering if he had landed yet.

He slowly pulled himself up to his full height and brushed himself off, I helped him out the door, where he declared that all was well. After he sat down outside in a lawn chair, we all questioned him about his well-being, then the jokes began.

My son is a quick-wit as opposed to a smart-aleck and there was just too much good material here for him. I know that I won't be able to remember every snide remark that he made throughout the rest of the day. But here are a few; He told him that when we said that he could drop in anytime, we didn't mean literally. He told us that my cousin enjoyed this job so much that it sent him through the roof. He also told him that he should apply for a job with the City because now he had experience dropping down through man-holes. He accused him of hitting rock bottom (our floor is concrete) and told him that the next time he needed a fall guy, he knew who to get. He also advised him that he would probably not make a good roofer. I am probably missing the best ones, but I'm sure that my cousin will remember them all.

He did end up unloading another hay wagon after his great fall because he didn't really want to get back in the loft, but when I called his mother the next day she said he was pretty sore and pretty bruised up. The hole was too tiny for him to fit through and when I finally got around to cleaning up the mess, I found his half opened pocket knife in the debris. It was one of those knives that clip in your pocket, so the squeeze was tight enough to scrape his knife out of his pocket and even open it. Which reminds me of another comment that my cruel son made, he told him that he might be able to get a job with a circus as a contortionist.

Thanks, Cuz, we really appreciate all of your help, even though sometimes you do fall down on the job, you are always willing to work and falling all over yourself to be a help.

Good Help

The rest of the hay wagons are being unloaded and put in the loft while I am typing this. Thankfully I am not having to participate because we have three able bodied, strong, young men here to take my place. They don't have as much experience as I have but my DH will manage somehow without me.

Way back when we were young, we put together a hay crew and put up hay for our neighbors in a large farming community. This was before the large round balers were invented, everyone square baled. I cringe to think about how much hay we put up each summer. We went through several high school age boys back then, they had to be tough to keep up the pace that my Husband set.

We were running several head of cattle and horses back then also, we had a large old barn that we would fill full of hay every year and had hay to sell all winter. The hay that we put up yearly now couldn't hold a candle to the amount of hay that we put up then.

Our loft will be full after today, then we will have to fill our friend's barn, she has room for about 300 bales. After that we will have to buy round bales because we will be out of storage space. My DH says that we will be paying about $4200 for hay this year.

I am going to attempt to go riding soon, I have finally talked my Husband into letting me try. I really want to ride again. I know I will have to brace up my back and I will have to break myself into it slowly but my dream is to be able to trail ride again. My Doctor says, no, but what does he know, he is only practicing anyway.

Muggy

August has returned with a vengeance. It is still overcast here today but it is just plain hot and humid. When you go out the door you walk into a sauna. The air is too thick to breathe.

Our Grandson is coming to spend the night after school. I suspect that we will spend this evening and tomorrow in the pool.

We got around 70 bales of hay in the loft last night and still have three wagon loads in the neighbor's barn that has to be put up there on Monday or Tuesday when my DH has his next days off. I think that I have decided to go ahead and buy 50 bales of the pure alfalfa for my goats. That will have to be picked up and put in the loft this evening, if it doesn't rain.

My Husband is all for selling two of the does. He isn't putting any pressure on me to sell them all. He was also real understanding last night when he got home and discovered that I had bought a gun without his permission.

Our oldest Son called this morning to find out if Dad was mad about the gun. I told him that he was mad because I bought it out from under him. The person that I bought it from was needing money and I was suppose to tell my Husband about it but I went ahead and just bought it myself. It was just what I had been wanting. I told my DH that he never asks my permission when buying a gun, so turnabout is fair play. Besides that, you can always use a new gun, right?

99 Bales

We got 99 bales of hay in the loft this evening. We will pick up what's left in the field tomorrow after the dew is off of it. I have a blister from dragging the bales all the way to the back of the loft with my hay hook. It gets easier the more hay that you get in there. The dragging distance shortens with each load.

I also got two rope halters done and ready to be shipped out in the morning. My hands are sore and swollen but hopefully they will recover tonight in time for more hay and more halters tomorrow. I will be so happy when our loft is full, about 800 bales, and our friend's barn is full, about 300 bales. It would be nice if we could also fill the neighbor's barn but if not, we should have plenty of big round bales to see us through.

There doesn't seem to be a hay shortage this year and the prices are coming down. I don't think that the farmers around here are happy about it, but we sure are.

Gripping

Here we are, August 10th and still no hay in the barn. We were suppose to have around 300 bales ready to bale this afternoon but yesterday proved not to be a good day for curing hay. So it isn't even raked yet. Hopefully it will be ready to rake in a few hours and we can get it in the loft this evening.

All I have to do is drive the truck and trailer around in the field, then get in the loft and use a long hay hook to pull the bales out of the elevator's way. The loft floor is nice and slick, so that part is easy. I used to be able to heft, throw and stack bales but not anymore. The hardest part for me now is getting into the loft, I hate ladders.

I am close to finishing a barrel racing website and will be able to start on a local community website soon. When that is done, I plan on completely redoing our website, it gets totally neglected.

I also have 39 horse rope halters to make and ship out as soon as possible. I can only do so many halters per day or my hands and fingers start cramping up on me.
Tying and tightening around fourteen knots per halter tends to make your hands complain a bit.

Between knot tying and goat milking, I have quite a grip. I never have to ask my DH to open a jar for me anymore. When my back Doctor tests my grip by having me squeeze his hands, I can bring tears to his eyes. He doesn't ask me to do that much anymore.