Today, my brother, brother-in-law, and I baled straw. It was 68 degrees outside and cloudy. I have never baled straw in 60 degree weather. It was wonderful. It was actually more pleasant stacking the bales than riding in the cab tractor (where the a/c is broken). I'll take this climate change!
Dad called my brother today to ask him if he needed a driver on the baler. My brother told him that he had it handled. My father is in no physical or mental condition to be driving the baler. He is really feeling left out.
Dad drove the baler last year with mixed results. I remember on the last day, Dad kept jamming up the baler by driving into huge piles of straw. It takes about 10 minutes to pull all of the straw out of the hopper each time. By the third time of stopping to unplug the baler, my brother returned to the field looking for a load of straw. We only had a few bales loaded. I was hot and pissed off. I told my brother either me or Dad was going to the house. My brother sent us both home and then he and a neighbor finished up baling last year.
We had to quit early because the baler stopped threading the twine for some reason. They are predicting rain for Saturday. We are hoping to finish baling tomorrow if we can fix the baler.
Hot and pissed off - a classic bad combination! I'm with you, I'd much rather do hard work in cooler weather. Hopefully you get the baler fixed before the rain. Your poor dad though, there must be something he can be given to keep him busy!
Posted by: Annette | July 03, 2009 at 10:00 AM
Get that baler fixed and enjoy the cool spell you're having.
Posted by: JihadGene | July 03, 2009 at 03:46 PM
That's nice weather to be baling hay, and I hear you about those tractors w/cabs and no a/c. I didn't know you could bale hay in 60 degree weather. We may get down into the 80s on Sunday down here in OK.
Posted by: Tina | July 03, 2009 at 06:41 PM