Hay successes and failures, lots of little things

I left work a little early on Friday to get the equipment prepped for putting up hay on Saturday. A friend at church volunteered to help and he was a God-send for us. I had never run the equipment to rake and bale the hay. I had always arrived when the task was almost done. This time it was me and Mama all the way and it was a great learning experience. His help was more than appreciated; it was invaluable.

As we were baling the field Mama and Victoria decided to take the trailer to the barn from the field and so Mama started backing up the truck – never thinking that the trailer was attached. It was only when she could not back up any more that she realized what she had done.

The trailer jackknifed into the truck and crumpled the truck bed on that side along with putting a sizable gash in the metal above the rear tire. The bumper was slightly bent but not as bad as it could have been. It was pretty discouraging to see the thing happen in slow motion. The truck is still drivable but it definitely caused cosmetic damage we will not be able to hide. It could be a costly repair. Mama did not realize how bad it was but she was cringing as she pulled the truck forward to get the trailer pulled away from the bed and bumper.

All in all, we got one hundred and one bales off of the field. I was praying for one hundred and twenty five. I am convinced that if we had gotten the hay done before we went on vacation, we would have had the additional bales in the barn but that was not to be. Now, however, we are ready to cut when the hay is ready since all the equipment is in service.

Yesterday we were up pretty early and got a lot of little things done around the farm. Mama and I cleaned out the shed near the apartment and set it up for the little pigs. They needed a better home than our laundry room was providing. I changed the oil in her mower since it was strongly to do that after ten hours of operation. I hung the ceiling fan in our bedroom – having brought it back from Florida – and we cleaned the barn. Late that evening we worked in the garden. It was a full day.

This morning I drove to Borger where I will meet with the building owner to look at an even smaller portion of the building to house the staff we have here. It is one of the ongoing assignments that I have not pleasure in doing since it affects the lives of so many. It may be a small thing to have to move offices but it is usually the small things that cause us the most angst.

Late Saturday we got a call from the mechanic working on the Uplander. We delivered the car to him because of a worsening noise that seemed to be the power steering pump. We weren’t even close. But to our credit he had his wife drive the car while he stuck his head out of the window to analyze the noise.

He supposed it was a brake noise when he got a good chance to hear it and when he pulled off one front tires the problem was obvious. Someone had put ten inch rotors on a wheel that required twelve inch rotors. Only half the brake pad was gripping the rotor when we were braking. It had quickly worn down the pads. It is a wonder that we drove safely from home to Florida and back on that jerry-rigged system.

I will be in the panhandle for a couple days handling several more people issues but should be home Thursday evening.