It's been another exciting day at Grandpa's Farm. We've been sitting here watching the sun rise and welcoming in another ninety-five degree day. Makes a person just want to run out and sit in the shade or not.
We've just spent three evenings at the rodeo. There were horses, trick riding, rodeo Queens from all over the state and, of course, the clown.
The clown happens to be a local boy who went to college to become a teacher and somehow became a clown. (I did the same thing but kept my clowning in the classroom. I should have thought about being a rodeo clown?) It was fun to watch him run all over the arena, harass the pretty rodeo queens and just generally disrupt all the proceedings. (I would have been good at it. That last part was exactly how my classroom seemed to work.) There just isn't anything like a good rodeo, but we ain't going back tonight. I've had my fill for this year.
I'm trying to get my courage up to do my third cutting of hay. I need to start working on the old John Deere mower-conditioner (JDMC) so I can cut that alfalfa and grass that just keeps growing out there in my field. Due to a few ignominious turns and twists I managed to bang up the sheet metal that covers the belts and chains that drive the crazy thing so the covers have to be straightened and welded. Some person (female) insists that it is due to my lousy driving that this happened but who is going to listen to a person that spends two evenings stamping people's wrists at the rodeo and missing all the action - like the clown throwing a football completely out of the arena? Wrist stamping people are crazy. She says that she knows she is - that's why she married me. She needed someone to completely disorder her world.
Anyway - we are looking forward to the third cutting of hay just like the mechanic looks forward to me bringing in my old Ford pickup to work on. There is just no activity that has so many unknown exciting variables in it as cutting hay (except, possibly, doing mechanicing on old Ford pickups). The possibilities for something weird to happen are endless. I have come completely unhooked from the JDMC and broken all sorts of connectors, pipes and hoses on it. I have been known to blow hydraulic hoses and spew hydraulic fluid up and down my back and all around the hay field. I have broken irrigation valves and pipes and had geysers wetting down my new mown hay. I have torn up fences and hit trees and sprinkler risers not to mention running over wildlife and chopping up snakes. These are all normal minor incidents connected to cutting hay.
The abnormal activities connected to cutting hay are having hawks, crows, pheasants or gophers interfere with the process. Hawks and crows fly overhead looking for the critters that get mowed down. Sometimes I notice they are not there and look up to spot them sitting on a fence post eating. Pheasant chicks will allow themselves to be herded from one end of the field to the other until there is very little grass left standing. Then I have to stop mowing and hop off the tractor to chase them out of the grass so I can cut it. But the best part is when I jump off the tractor and try to stomp gophers. Ever try to stomp a gopher? They can really move when you get after them. So can I! My neighbors want to arrest me for obscene dancing on a hayfield.
So as you can see it is just another boring summer out here in the country. If you happen to see someone dancing around in a hay field just realize it is just another boring activity that old farmers do and keep on going. Pretend you didn't see it and that everything is just too unexciting to bother with.
(And I like it that way!)
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