A state of flux

I like my life to be like a Lazy River ride, but lately the family tempo seems to be picking up speed- I hope we don't end up in Splash Mountain instead! Nothing crucial, just little changes, except for Ameranth hiking cross-country- that's a big change. In the last 6 months or so, some of the 'kids' started new jobs; one's company was bought out and that job will be changing; another has applied to a new company and that may bring about a move; and one has moved into a new apartment and relationship. So many things to think about as I pick items off the shelves!

And me working again is another recent change that I am slowly getting used to. It is nice seeing sunrises again. At least it is when the fog isn't covering the early morning ground, which it was 4 out of 5 days this week. I must admit the weather has been nicer and it finally feels like summer. In fact, Friday I finally wore shorts to work which made it much easier to deal with the heat in the warehouse. Next week we move up to 8 hour days, but I only work 3 days so that should be doable!

Boomer has done well dealing with the change to his schedule, but he was giddy today when I stayed home with him. He had a walk, went to the post office with me and helped me hang out the laundry and weed the garden. Then as a bonus he got to bark at and jump on the satellite TV repairman. Good day for a dog. And perhaps a reminder for me to take each day as it comes and not worry about what I can't control.

Holiday weekend

We had a very nice visit with Ms M, Mr C, Sectaurs and Minnie this weekend. They did get caught in the holiday traffic coming up on Saturday so were a little later than we expected, but the weather was wonderful. We played bocce and croquet then we cooked hotdogs over the fire. Well, Mr C and I did, everyone else had hamburgers. Anyway we were so busy that no one took any pictures, unfortunately.

However, someone in the family had a picture taken, and it appeared in today's paper in Logansport, IN.

Ameranth reported that a very nice local man invited her to dinner at the pizza parlor with his extended family, then insisted she go home with one to sleep indoors when a thunderstorm arrived with tornado warnings nearby. She has met some very nice people along her way and I appreciate all they have done for her.

What # day was it for rest?

It's been a bit busy around here, and blogging fell to the bottom of the list, along with making dinner, vacuuming and washing dishes. I had my annual physical last week (and yay for not needing intimate-lady-exam until 2012)-changed the prescription I take to help with pain, and sleep, and I am slowly getting used to it. The first few days were nauseous and sleepy, and then I started work on Monday!

 I received a letter from my former employer inviting me back for seasonal work and went for the hiring interview, expecting to start in the fall again. Much to my chagrin dismay surprise, I was told there was a class starting June 27th, and since I had no good reason to say no, here I am, back filling orders at the warehouse. Thank goodness for 'work hardening' because I need to ease into this! 4 hour days this week, 6 hours next week, then on to 8 hour days when the work is there.

This means I have to be up at 3 AM again (J gets up 15 minutes earlier) and that's bad enough , but it also means J and I go to bed by 7 PM at the latest and surprise- it's light outside! Our bedroom faces west so it's pretty darn light out and the birds are singing. I got up last night to let a surprised Boomer out to pee because the silly catbird outside our window can whine just like he does.

We've also been busy getting some little projects done before the kids come up for the weekend. J's got one of his horseshoe pits reclaimed from the jungle but ran out of the bargain play sand he had stashed away.

So, one down and one to go.

We've also been weeding flower gardens and trying to keep up with the lawn.

 

The old van is gone and I am driving Ameranth's Taurus station wagon, which is an evolving adjustment. At least once each day I hit the stupid alarm button instead of unlocking the doors, and I had to go to the manual to figure out the heat/ac digital array.  It's been a hectic 7 days. Oh yeah, we started work on another bedroom upstairs!

In the good news department, I snagged some more Ladyslipper photos from her mother's Facebook site. In the bad news side, she and Shoeshine will not be able to visit this summer as hoped, due to financial constraints. She's finally getting hair!

Hay-O!

I read an article in this morning's paper referencing an article from 1940 about haymaking. The author wrote about using a scythe to cut grass, and the art of tossing the loose hay into the wagon correctly so that it would be easier to offload to the haymow. He mentioned the different rakes used, and the progression to the balers and mechanical ramps used later, and it all brought back memories of summers helping my grandfather with haying.

It was in the '60s, not the '40's and he had a tractor, but no baler- just the tedder to spread and toss the grass to dry, and the infamous hay rake with which he terrorized his 'help'. His help being the five of us grandkids and his youngest son, Chuck, who is just 3 years older than me.  As far as I remember, #2 and I started helping at the same time, and the younger ones took our places as they grew- and we escaped.

My grandfather was a big, no-nonsense farmer/school bus driver who could laugh as loudly as he yelled- but he seemed to yell a lot more often.  I don't know how often I heard "If something's worth doing, it's worth doing right" and "There's two ways to do this, the wrong way and the right way" with the right way being his way, of course. He was Mr. 'my way or the highway'.

So it was pretty scary when you got tall enough to ride the hay rake.

The type he used was a dump rake. Those big jangly teeth were lowered to catch the hay and sweep it together, then a foot lever was used to raise the prongs, leaving the hay in a line. They would be lowered again and sweep the next batch of hay back to the be dumped next to the first, making one long line of hay to be picked up later. Ideally, that is how it worked. 

Now take another look at that rake. Ten feet wide, rattling, bouncing teeth, a little metal seat with nothing to hang onto as you bump across the field, stretching out your foot poised to push the trip pedal that you barely reached when it was was up, never mind depressed. There was always a delay between the stomp and the rise of the rake, and timing that was the tricky part. Anticipating Papa O's bellow of "now!" and getting the muscle twitch reaction right made for a stressful ride. And, looking back, how the hell much difference did it make if the lines wobbled a bit? A lot apparently. (see paragraph above describing my grandfather)

After that came the gathering of the hay, with 3 tine forks and more directions. If I remember correctly, he had a stake body truck to carry the hay to the barn and my brother and I weren't too much help after the hay got to a certain height in the truck. I think we used hand rakes to help gather the loose hay. 

I think he had a lift in the barn to get the hay from the truck up to the haymow, sort of like the claw used in those machines to grab a stuffed toy? except using ropes, not machinery. I don't remember clearly,  but we weren't allowed in the barn while they unloaded, so we stayed out of the way.

As far as I know, there are no photos of our 'haydays', it was not a time when recording daily activities was as easy and usual as it is now. (Hence the "I think"s and "I don't remember"s I used a lot.) The part of me that loves looking at old photos and marveling at the moments captured wishes there were pictures, but another part enjoys the mental snapshots that are mine alone.  My siblings and I shared the same events, in the same places but not all the same times. Although the angles of our memories are all different, I'm pretty sure Papa O figures prominently for us all in those conjured up by the smell of fresh hay.