Hey, Hey, Hay!

I have spent three delightful days being entertained by the neighbor farmer as he harvests hay on the acreage next to us. I sit with a beer in hand, and my trusty camera to record the progress as he works in the July heat and humidity. Harvesting hay seems to be a multi stage process that requires dusty work, patience and big boy toys. I am short on all three, so the best thing I can do is stay out of the way and document his progress.

Day 1: The farmer shows up with a new cutting tool attached to his big red tractor. I was fascinated to watch as this cutter could be swung out to the side, making it easy to get around obstacles. It was easy to track his progress because a big cloud of dust followed as he cut the hay – which looks like a big field of weeds if you ask me. Near the end of the day, the farmer left and I pondered how he was going to collect this mess into bales.

Day 2: I’m finishing my morning coffee when I see a tractor followed by a cloud of dust out in the field. Time to gear up and hit the lawn chair with my camera. It is too early for a beer, so I sit with my coffee and trust Dolly Dog at my side as we watch an odd machine gather the hay and flip it into rows that are called windrows (I know this because I looked it up on the internet!) It is a funny little machine, and I have no idea how it works, but having the hay in rows offers an excellent photo opportunity.

Day 3: As I drive up the driveway, I see a suspicious cloud of dust out in the field again. Sure enough, the farmer is collecting the hay into bales. Now we are talking! This is an amusing process of driving up and down the windrows in some pattern that only the farmer understands. At some point, the baler is full and the tractor pauses and gives birth to a round bale of hay. I kid you not, there is a pause, a grunt and then the back end opens up and spits out a bale of hay.

The bales are round and since we live on a hill I found myself wondering what prevents the bales from rolling downhill. I soon got my answer . . . absolutely nothing! No sooner had the thought crossed my mind when one of the bales started rolling downhill and out of sight. I had visions of a bale of hay going over the edge of the quarry and into the water. Does hay float?

My husband drove up a few minutes later and asked what I was doing. “Supervising,” I reply. “Grab a beer and come watch.”

Dolly supervises hay baling.

Singing While Mowing

Have you ever noticed that men and women approach chores differently? Take mowing for example. My husband gears up for mowing as if he is going into battle. He wears boots, pants and long sleeves along with goggles, a face mask and a big straw hat. He is so safety conscious that I suspect he would wear armor if he felt he needed it.

I, on the other hand, wear shorts, tennis shoes and a t-shirt. I dab a bit of eau de bug spray strategically behind my ears, knees, and on my neck, then I accessorize with a fine pair of sunglasses, MP3 player and headphones. I start the mower and then I start singing. I’m not talking about the polite hum along with a song type of singing. I’m singing in full performance mode. My arms are waving, I’m holding long, loud notes and bobbing my head in time with whatever is playing. And I’m having a great time.

Today, when I looked up, I saw my husband sitting in a lawn chair with his arms crossed and that quirked eyebrow that I love so much as he watched me mow. When I asked what his problem was, he said, “You are going to scare the new neighbors. They have small children you know.” Now let’s be real. You would need a pair of binoculars to correctly identify one of our neighbors from our yard, and I can’t possibly be singing that loud. I think he is jealous because I know the words (or at least some of the words, I’m happy to make up the ones I don’t know) to so many songs.

So I have decided to create a play list for my MP3 player of appropriate mowing songs. Here are some of the titles that I have come up with. Be sure to email me if you can think of any others.

Under My Wheels
Don’t Cross the River
Barren Ground
Spare Parts
Dirty Little Girl
All Shook Up
I got Stung
5th Gear
Jesus Take the Wheel
Go Your Own Way
Doctor My Eyes
Running On Empty
Slow Down Sister
Knee Deep in the Water Somewhere
Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?
One Way or Another
Against the Wind
Colder Weather
Whiskey’s Gone
No Hurry
Drive Like Lightning (Crash Like Thunder)
Slip Sliding Away