We made it.

Photo copyright Aji, 2015; all rights reserved.

This is what slightly fewer than 300 bales of hay looks like.

Photo copyright Aji, 2015; all rights reserved.

We beat the weather . . . mostly. The clouds and thunder and lightning and wind began whipping up while our guy was still cutting, but we'd already gotten half of it loaded, stacked, taken to the barn, and unloaded at that point. The heaviest half. we got caught in a few sprinkles and one brief actual shower (with the sun shining insolently throughout), but none of it was enough to soak the bales still on the ground.

Photo copyright Aji, 2015; all rights reserved.

We had just begun pre-stacking the first round of bales in the fields when the flatbed was returned, along with what would be our (paid, natch) helper for the day. For the most part, Joe drove; Wings loaded; and I stood in the flatbed and stacked. Then we did it all in reverse at the barn. 

Photo copyright Aji, 2015; all rights reserved.

It all went like clockwork. Two things made it possible: 1) The weather, which has been in the 90s for days, barely passed the threshold of 80, and we had a lovely cool breeze all day long; and 2) my body complied the entire day. It appears that both my stamina my upper body strength have actually increased, pretty substantially in fact, over the last year . . . despite constantly feeling as though I'm about to faint from the anemia and hypoglycemia. Yesterday, though, there was very little of the faint feeling, and my body didn't even rebel against the iron supplements for the first time ever. Ask for strength, sometimes you get it. Especially useful since the alfalfa bales were huge and tightly packed, and the guys ell me that some of what we were lifting (yes, me included) were easily 100 pounds apiece.

Photo copyright Aji, 2015; all rights reserved.

We have a lot to catch up on now. Two days of muck duty; more mowing and weeding; Wings has several pieces in various stages on his workbench that will get his attention; maybe, just maybe, I'll get to some of my writing. But the season's first round of the hay is done, and done successfully. Now, it's time to let my muscles and joints and nerves heal, because as cooperative as they were yesterday, today, they're screaming at me. And this afternoon will begin a forecast ten days+ worth of rain.

And just for the record, this is daily life here. It's tough. It's hard, dirty, labor-intensive WORK. It's rewarding as hell, but we get cut no slack; we do it all ourselves. ALL OF IT.



All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2015; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.