Making hay while the sun shines

I recently made the trek to my old neighborhood to check out a horse trailer that was for sale. The owner had emailed me pictures, and it looked like it might work for us. I asked him to measure it before I made the trip, and he reported back that it was 7’ tall and 7’ wide. Perhaps he used a defective tape measure, or perhaps he just lied. In either case, I would be using it to haul horses and burros, not sardines, and the trip to look at it was a waste of time and fuel.

But seeing as how I was in the neighborhood, I went over to my friend’s feed store and arrived just as a semi-load of hay got there. Whoohoo! Y’all know how much I love to unload hay. I must admit though that this time, it was actually fun because I was amongst friends.

The guy tossing bales from the stack is Mike, owner of the feed store. The guy waiting to receive the bale is the truck driver, Alan. The three hired hands are Nicole, Kit, and Janice. The fourth hired hand was on the ground taking pictures. It was getting a little crowded up there.


With this much help, the hard part of off-loading hay to the customers’ trucks and trailers is deciding how best to stack it, and then counting it. There were as many ideas and tallies as there were hired hands. Janice is a good pointer and a good counter, so we deferred to her.


Mike’s specialty is tossing. It’s all in the wrists.


But sometimes his aim is not so good. See Nicole cover her head. See Janice and Kit duck.


See what happens when he misses completely and hits the photographer.


For you hay connoisseurs, these are 65-pound bales of Colorado-grown Timothy. Retail price, $11.95. Ouch.