Monday, November 18, 2013

The end of hay clean up

There are no pictures this week. The weather over the weekend was right nasty and not conducive to photography. Saturday began with a spitting rain. Shortly after I was done with the chicken chores and breakfast, Terry decided it was dry enough to take the tractor out. I hastily spread straw on the garlic that Hilda had planted on Friday while I was at work. We went back to the low spot to finish removing the hay that hadn’t burned. It seemed a little easier than before the burn. At least the longer clumps had burned through in spots to make the shorter and easier to heave into the bucket of the tractor. It was damp enough that the ash didn’t fly around too much. It was obvious that the 30% burn was much more accurate than the 80% estimate. Some places the hay was still thick, and we advanced maybe four feet with each load. Other places we were able to go 6 or 8 feet. We worked as fast as we could without killing ourselves, knowing that heavy weather was on the way. I’d left the house in a rush, forgetting my watch. The rain was due at 2:00. We were loading the last bit of hay when it hit in big drops of water driven by a brisk wind. Terry took the last load back to dump it while I carried the pitchforks back to the ag shed. I was surprised when I got back to the house that it was only 11:30. The rain was early. All in all, it only added up to 1/10th of an inch.
Sunday was terrible. The high winds continued, and we got 2” of rain. The restoration site is still underwater. I am glad I didn’t spread the seeds. It would have been a total loss.

Jackie’s time with us is drawing to a close. He flew at me with his talons out in front Saturday morning. We can’t have that. We are working on finding him another home. I hope Giada does not pine for him.

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