It was my first time in this wonderful country named America and I LOVED every single moment of it!
Of course it was not only pleasure, you got to earn your way around (no matter where you go) and so I was “helping” my uncle and aunt baling hay for their horses.
Note the “helping”…
Feeding time at our farm
As you might know by reading Tractor Disaster (if you haven't yet, please do!) I was not the natural that I would have liked to be, but I had some more experience driving tractor back home in Holland and my uncle thought I was ready for the real work!
My aunt and uncle had a field a couple of miles away from the farm and it needed to "be done". Making hay bales is simple, first you cut the grass (usually done by a pro, my uncle, otherwise you have too much grass left standing in the field), you wait a couple of days or hours depending on the weather, you rake the grass (throw it around a bit so more air can get underneath and it will dry better) and then you make little dunes (rows of grass piled together so you can pick it up easily) where you can drive over with a tractor and baler and make hay bales!
And yes all of this gets done with a tractor and a piece of equipment and it really is, lots of fun… if you do it right…
My task for the day was making dunes (rows) of grass, so my uncle could come later in the day and start to bale the hay and we would load it up and bring it back to the farm. My uncle dropped me off in the morning, showed how everything worked and I started driving around the field.
Manure hauling on the fields
It was beautiful weather and I saw deer, flowers, birds and grass, grass and grass! I and was fantastic! The field was a bit rolling so I didn’t get the feeling I was doing the same thing the whole time, every hill brought something “new”… And the rows of grass were perfect and I really thought my uncle would be so happy to have these perfect rows so he would be done in a swiffy and have perfect grass bales!
Yep, perfect it was…
I don’t remember how many hours later, my uncle comes with the big tractor and baler and stops in the field.
HE JUMPS OUT AND COMES WAIVING HIS HANDS AND SCREAMING FROM THE TOP OF HIS LUNGS, RUNNING TOWARDS ME!!!
“Hmm, what is he doing…” I thought…
So, I stop. Turn off my tractor and get off…
“What do you think you are doing???” “Hmmmm, making nice perfect rows, so you can bale your hay???” (I am miss smarty pants) “YES”, he yells. “The rows are great but look at that tractor?!?” So I turn around and look at the tractor… and I don’t see anything wrong with it…“Just LOOK AT IT!” my uncle insists… And then I see it… The tire is flat… And not only is the tire flat, the rim is bent… And not just a little bent, NO COMPLETELY BENT…
"Euhmmmmmmmm…. how does that happen???” I ask him with a face as red as a lobster…
Did I tell you my uncle is a fantastic guy?
Harvesting grain and straw for our cows
He took a couple of (deep, very, very deep) breaths and explained to me that, THAT happens when you drive around for several HOURS with a flat tire…
Then I had to explain to him why I did not notice…
Well, I really didn’t know. Like I said, the field was not completely flat and I was just focusing so much on making these prefect rows and enjoying the nature and wildlife I just hadn’t figure out why I was leaning to the right like… A LOT!!! Not even when I switched from going round in right circles to making left circles…
My uncle had to get a whole new rim, and yes tire too, and I felt really, really bad. My uncle did let me “help” some more with the hay bales, but I didn’t drive too much tractor anymore those months.
And yes it is Friday so let's hop! Farm Friend Friday.... See the button (Yes i did it!) and the Social Parade (button will follow!!!)
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