It Was A Hay-venture This Holiday Weekend

Here in good ol' Upstate NY, it's been hot, 90+ degrees hot.  Hotter than it's been in many summers and it's going to remain hot until the end of the week when we will cool down to the mere mid-80's. Woo hoo.

So during this holiday weekend, most of my plans were put on hold because we put in hay - 350 bales. The hot weather is just fine for hay. Hay loves hot weather. Farmers who are mowing, raking and baling, love hot weather. The DH who LOVES to hay is ok with hot weather. However, the person who is unloading the truck on to the hay elevator (that'd be me) doesn't love hot weather mixed with putting in hay. You could say she is allergic to hot weather and hay when they are mixed together.  But like a good country girl, I put on my jeans, leather gloves and hat and got down to business. My job involved straddling the truck's tailgate and the sawhorse the hay elevator was resting on, slinging bales (average weight 50 pound and over half my size in length) onto the elevator.  Yes, I fell off the sawhorse once because it gets slippery with hay chaff and took down the elevator. Fortunately, no one was hurt in the making of this hay-venture.  The only injury was a bruised ego and very sore muscles the next day (I have muscles that I didn't know I had and they are very unhappy!).

So, to amuse you, here are some pics of our Hay-venture:

36 bales make a truckload:

Setting up the elevator and getting ready to unload:

There they go, up to the hayloft:

The King of Hay:

Almost done! See the technique of loading the elevator (the King of Hay didn't fall off the sawhorse):

Sweeping up after the last load:

Hay-venture 2010 is history!!

Hay!  YUM!!!

And just so you don't think this was an all work weekend, we grilled, gardened, hung out and went to the fireworks.  I stitched on Alphabets this weekend but didn't get my July 4th pieces finished (always next year, I guess).  And the King of Hay went and helped his buddy put in hay at his place, another 800 bales.

I hope all of you had a terrific July 4th and a great weekend!

PS.  I've not forgotten the give-away.  I am trying to decide if I want to make something or give away some charts and accoutraments to go with them...what do you think you'd like me to give away??  Let me know!