Hay is Baled~~But the Rains Arrived Too Soon

So after the wind storm, Hay Man Rudy and his wife Marsha came on Wednesday morning. Rudy raked everything back up and Marsha ran the big baler. Then Rudy ran the small baler until he had about 200 bales...4 ton for us and 5 ton for customers.

They finished up about noon...there wasn't a lot of moisture but we didn't dare stop because NOAA forecasted 60% chance of rain for the afternoon. Rudy brought over his semi truck for us to use. Then he had to go to town to get a flat tire fixed on his small bale wagon (stacker).

He asked who was going to stack the big bales in two's...I told him My Man would do that when he got home from work. Rudy asked if I could...of course I could if I knew how to run the backhoe (My Man just hadn't gotten around to showing me)...so Rudy gave me a crash course, and I was stacking bales in 5 minutes...piece of cake! All the big bales were stacked in about 2 1/2 hours...just as the rain started in :(

Yesterday we had only a couple of sprinkles...but NOAA predicted 80% heavy rain that evening...and dang if they weren't right...again! Everything was just about dried out enough to stack and the rain started again. So, needless to say, the bales are waiting patiently in the field.

I kept busy with cleaning up the yard from the wind storm,

mowed the lawn, and picked up pine round ends at the

almost finished arena.

But today I went to Bob's for a cutting lesson on Colt. It had rained all night and Colt rolled of course and looked like a mud ball. It rained the whole hour it took to get to Bob's and for another 45 minutes while we warmed up our horses. Then it finally slacked off enough to head to the outside round pen for some cattle work. We had a good practice.

Bob and I had a long conversation about how breed pedigree really is important for performance horses. He paid me a high compliment on Colt. He said that he'd much rather have a barn full of Colt's than some of the brainless colt's he's gotten in over the years. We agreed that Colt's not the most athletic, but he has brains and looks with a good amount of ability which makes him highly saleable, especially after I get him dragging calves to the fire for branding.

On my drive home, it started raining again and it saddened me to see all of the hay laying in the fields...

This field was half baled and half still on the ground.

Everywhere I looked...tractors and balers...waiting in the rain.

This pivot on the left is probably 140 acres...all on the ground.

So, I count our blessings that our hay is in the bale.

Waiting patiently for us...

The bright side is that the fields are getting watered...gotta be positive!!! But, I think I'll stay in the house this afternoon to clean the mud and cow muck off my saddle...timing is everything...just in time for Sunday's cow horse show!