Working Hard

I need to go back to work so I can get some rest. Today was my day off..yeah right... there was hauling, laundry, mowing, teasing, bathing, stacking and moving bales. Emily and I took off right after the walk to haul Zalena, Zoey, Sheena and Sheena's colt to Middle Grove. Sheena will get a 2 week vacation there then must be hauled back for an ultrasound. We dropped off 4 but picked up 3 to bring home. Emily is going camping for the weekend and is taking Hadassah for her to ride and Bunni for a guest. We also brought back Marika. She is due in 3 weeks.

She was put in the mare pasture but when we arrived all of the foals were sound asleep.

Indy's filly and Sangria's colt were laying on the left side of the round bale while Emma's colt and Ribbon's filly were laying on the right side of the bale.

Marika had to go right over and tease Valiant. He is the sire of her expected foal. 

The farmer arrived to rake the hay field. We knew that meant they would be baling in a few hours.

Emily got to work cleaning out the barn to make room for the new bales. David arrived with Israel so he got to come on the golf cart with grandma to help. The first job was to move the parts cart (this one is only used for parts) out of the barn.

 Israel was fascinated watching that and then when we hooked up the manure spreader to the skid steer he watched in amazement.

 Emily dragged it out the arena then backed that skid steer up all the way around the yard before bringing it back inside and parking it in exactly the same spot.

 It was Mark's idea to have the manure spreader facing the back door so we could just hook it up from there and pull it out instead of needing to pull it out the front door. Emily backed that thing all the way into the barn and dropped it at the doorway. Below her dog Bernie was watching everything and just happened to look back as I snapped the picture.

 Israel wanted to go see the tractor raking so we took a quick golf cart ride into the field. He's a boy, he likes tractors.

 Do you know what is better than watching a tractor? Riding in a tractor. Emily was mowing with the Kubota and gave Israel a quick ride.

 He didn't really want to get off but when I offered to let him sit on the motorcycle he was more than happy to get off the tractor.

 Of course we needed to try out the 4 wheeler too.

We drove the golf cart back to the house where his daddy was waiting to take him home. 

 And below is his reaction to that news. 

 To be honest though it was past his nap time. I'm sure he fell asleep on that long drive home.

 Our mower is in the shop and the yard really needed mowing. We were going to borrow Mike and Diane's but they had it loaded ready to take out to Middle Grove. Joan showed up with this huge heavy walk behind mower and mowed the entire yard. Yep we owe her big time!
We ended up with 38 bales off this first cutting. It was put up at the perfect time, enough sunshine to dry the hay, it is not too stemy for first cutting as we got it up early and no rain fell on it.

 Emily moved some of the bales off the field then had to quit, tonight is Sarah's personal shower. Mark brought the big truck and flat bed trailer home so we spent the evening moving the bales off the field, stacking it in the barn. Hadassah was taken out for a few pictures for the website. This mare is a lovely mover. She is the only gray Raven daughter we kept just because her last foal had the best movement of all of the foals.  She was bred to Evan again and is due August 11th, 2015.

This evening one of the people that asked to buy our last year's hay came with his trailer but was only able to get 3 bales on. He wants 15 bales and lives an hour away. I'm not sure it is worth his time to come back 4 more times. He said he would be back in the morning for the next load.