Bringing in the hay

It's hay time here in North Idaho.

To that end, we've been keeping an eye on the hay market for a good price. We were interested in about five tons to tide us over the winter. We ended up buying hay from the same farmer who sold us our first batch a couple years ago. There was a hitch, however; we would be required to load the bales from the field onto the farmer's truck.

Rather than killing ourselves by loading and stacking 125 80-lb. bales – common sense prevailed and we don't feel equal to the task at our ages – we capitulated and went for larger round bales. Hey, at least round bales can be moved with the tractor.

Last Friday, the farmer (whose name is Byron) brought in a big semi-truck loaded with round bales. He was delivering both to us and to another customer. His truck was far too big to maneuver up our narrow lower driveway to the front of the barn, however, which meant the bales had to be unloaded in our regular driveway in front of the house. We'll move them later at our leisure.

Ironically, Don and Byron talked about the weather shortly before Byron left his place to drive here (he lives about half an hour away). Don expressed concern because rain was expected, and wondered if we should put off delivery for a few days. Byron assured him it wasn't raining at his place, and since he had to make the delivery to his other customer anyway, it would certainly be easier to tackle both deliveries at once. We agreed, and set about moving the cars out of the driveway and making room for a semi-truck and a bunch of 600+ lb bales.

Byron arrived and then, literally – literally – the moment he got his truck backed into our driveway, the heavens opened and it poured.

It started with a good brisk hailstorm...

...then settled into a steady downpour. Byron was incredibly apologetic about the timing (as if he had anything to do with it!).

Don was able to offload the bales using the tractor, though he got soaked in the process.

Meanwhile a thunder cell was approaching, with lightning dancing no more than a half-mile away. We heard some of the LOUDEST thunder I've ever heard as an adult. Seriously, when I was a kid in New York State, we use to get incredible thunderstorms, the kind where children burrow under the covers and the whole house shakes. (True story: Lightning actually hit a neighbor's house one time, blowing a hole in the roof of their garage. That one scared even my dad!)

Yeah, it was that kind of thunderstorm we were experiencing as Don and Byron wrestled with the hay bales and I pulled out the biggest tarp I could find to cover them. At one point, a crack of thunder was so loud I clapped both hands over my ears. Whew!

Byron left, the thunderstorm cell passed by (though the rain continued), and since he was soaked anyway, Don took the time to stack the round bales in an orderly fashion so we could tarp them.

We kept the hay tarped for a couple more days until the threat of rain passed...

...then uncovered it to let it dry in the sun. We're keeping the hay untarped in dry weather to make sure no rot sets in, and periodically re-tarping it when rain threatens.

Bringing in the hay normally isn't this exciting. But, regardless, at least now we have the the livestock feed for the winter.