Making Hay While the Sun Shines

There is nothing like the smell of new-mown clover and alfalfa. It is heavenly. There's an old saying that goes, "Make hay while the sun shines." Well, that's what I've been doing--making hay. I got the opportunity to replace some of the truckload of hay ruined by the late spring rain as I help a neighbor put up his hay.
I've been running his swing tongue swather, which is a very large, complex machine that cuts the forage, rolls it through a crimper, and then throws it into a pile behind called a windrow. I absolutely love running the thing. I used to own one of my own, so I am an old hand at it, although I hadn‘t done it for so long, it took a short time to get back in the “swing“ of things. I thought I may never get to do it again, but by the grace of God, here I am.
When I get rolling with that machine, I just lose all track of time and I don't even care if I eat, which is unusual for me. I sit up there watching the hay pile up behind the swather as I listen for unusual noises, which tell me there is a problem either occurring, or about to occur. I spend time praying and just thinking. Sometimes I get to daydreaming and that's usually when I veer off my path or pick up a rock, which sometimes wreaks havoc with the cutter mechanism.
The breakdowns are as onerous as the operation is sweet. Everything on these machines is huge, except the little sickle sections and bolts that are usually damaged by the rocks. I have to get off the tractor, block the hydraulic cylinders that raise and lower the header, then crawl under the machine to replace the section and sometimes a rock guard, which is the second half of the cutting equation. It is hot, dirty and hard work.
When I took the job, I didn't know how my body would react to the long hours in the heat and dust. I really don't think I could have done it a year ago, just after my retirement from my "town job." Although I was active on my job, it was still a cushy job, usually in an air-conditioned office or company pickup truck. I was tired after the first twelve-hour day, but it was a good kind of tired, not the brain boggling stressful tired I used to be when I came home from a long day on the pipeline.
ConocoPhillips and all other DOT regulated pipeline operators insisted on so much emphasis on safety, that we hardly had time to get our work done. Right before I retired, we did a half-hour job and it took me three hours to round up and fill out all the required paperwork beforehand, then do a little bit more when the job was done! Today as I roaded the swather down the highway to a new location, I was thinking how we do need to be very aware of our own and other's safety, but not so much that we don't get our work done. The sun is shining and it's time to make hay!

Dog Days

My daughter was home for a few days last week and this for her tenth class reunion. I can hardly believe she has been out of school that long. She brought her dog and I served as the dog sitter as she ran back and forth to town. I didn't know how my dog, Nacho, and hers, Cinch, would get along because they are both males. They never had a problem and even shared food with one another, which is quite remarkable. Nacho has a very easy-going nature, but Cinch can be rather territorial. He lived here as a puppy, but I guess he knows this is no longer his home. He's been in Texas for more than six years. Here's a shot of Cinch relaxing on Nacho's couch. He is very camera shy, though, because he's been shot at with guns before and he can't seem to differentiate the two.

Both boys are red-heeler crosses, but Cinch is quite a bit larger than Nacho. They were hoodlums when they got outside together. Cinch thinks he can chase anything that will run from him, and Nacho would take off behind Cinch when he was chasing something, although Nacho normally never chases anything. The cats were thoroughly terrified of Cinch.
One day as my daughter was leaving to go to town, she encountered a very mad rattlesnake in the driveway. She came back to the house wanting to know where a shovel was so she could kill the snake. We had to scramble the dogs back in the house so they wouldn't be bitten. This was the first rattler I have ever seen in my yard in the twelve years I have owned the place. I saw a bull snake puttering around the yard a couple days before that, and I left it alone because they are harmless and they catch mice, and I heard an old wives' tale once that says bull snakes will chase the rattlers away. I had an old aunt who once said, "You kind of quit believing in those old wives' tales, if you live long enough."
I surely didn't want my baby horses to get snake bitten. They are so curious about everything. The first thing they do is stick their noses down there to investigate a snake or porcupine, another creature I hate, and wind up getting bitten or a nose full of porcupine quills. I pray that doesn't happen.
Summer has arrived in full-force. We’ve had some ninety degree days. Last night we had a thunder-shower that bestowed six tenths of an inch of rain on us. The thunder and lightening was rocking the house again and Cinch was scared out of his wits. My daughter and her dog are gone again, and Nacho is moping around, missing his buddy. I'm moping around missing my daughter. Here she is with both dogs.