500th Post

So what can I write about for post number 500? Probably the thing that is most on my mind right now is the heat. Our neighbors just got home from California where is was over 100 degrees. They said that it is nothing to compare to a hot day in Indiana.

Those people who live in dry, hot climates who argue with you about hot being hot where ever you are, either have never experienced high humidity or have forgotten what it feels like.

We went out west a few years ago and it was around 110 degrees one day in Arizona. People were amazed that my son and my friend's son were outside playing basketball. The kids were amazed that people there thought that it was hot.

Hot is when you walk out the door and your glasses steam up so bad that you can't see. Hot is when you can't breathe because the air is so thick. Hot is when your clothes are soaked with perspiration after sitting outside in a lawn chair for less than 5 minutes. Hot is when your air-conditioner never shuts off unless you shut it off. Hot is when thunderstorms appear out of nowhere to surprise and delight you.

There is a breeze today and they have canceled our heat advisory. This is a nice change from the high temperatures and humidity that we have been suffering this Summer. But we are expecting some severe thunderstorms this evening and tonight with high winds and heavy rainfall.

94 Degrees

I hope everyone had a nice Labor Day weekend. We spent Labor Day doing just that, laboring. We were in the hay fields on both Monday and Tuesday. Yesterday we got the full experience of hefting hay bales at 94º with no one to help us.

I drove and my Husband loaded and stacked the hay. He complains a lot more than he did when he was young but he still does an awesome job. I don't think there would be many young men who could have kept up with him over the last two days.

I did help him unload the trailers when we got back to the barn but he did all of the stacking in a tin barn with no shade over it and no air circulation, the dust was unbearable and the sunny 94º temperature outside felt cool compared to the temperature inside. He stacked all the way to the roof and does it so tightly that it is hard to get out to feed during the winter.

He has put up hay all of his life, when we were first married, we had our own hay crew and put up hay for all of the neighboring farms before the big round balers were invented. He has little patience with sloppy stacked hay. We who have helped him in the barn, have always said that when he gets done stacking hay, you can roller skate on top of it.

The hay is finished for the year and boy am I happy about that. We may pick up a few more bales throughout the fall and winter but there will be no more hot fields and hot barns to deal with. Maybe life will return to a more normal pace and I can get some things done and blog more.