In a previous blog I mentioned how much I love baling hay. I should have specified that I feel that way when everything goes right.
We had an interesting experience baling hay. It was really a comedy of errors – I can chuckle because I wasn’t involved in this baling experience. We had some guys over to help which relieved the boys and myself this time. Sometimes on the farm stead, things go so horribly wrong that you just have to laugh….helps to keep your sanity!
My husband left work early to get a small field baled and in the barn before the expected rain. The trouble began when the baler got to the field and refused to tie all those wonderful knots in the baling twine. After numerous adjustments, he seemed to satisfy the baler and work progressed…down two rows. Then evidently he hit a nest of some kind. Immediately the air around the baler was filled with some type of stinging insect that objected to having its nest baled. One of them hovered directly in front of my husbands face and then decided to go for the nose…a direct hit! Thankfully he had the presence of mind to grab some plantain, chew it and put it on the sting.
Since he couldn’t get back on the tractor he went to find some sort of wasp spray. He left the baler going…for a long time….with dry hay beneath it….and in it….get the picture? Smoke..then fire! He quickly jumped on the tractor and drove to the nearest faucet..which happened to be in the middle of the front yard. Smoke was pouring from the baler and from the row of hay out in the field, which caught the notice of our nearest neighbor.
Lloyd came quick as he could to see if we needed help. Aren’t country folk wonderful!! The fire was quickly quenched. Husband and neighbor got everything under control and the tractor and baler were working in perfect harmony for about 10 minutes when the clouds broke open and we had a down pour like we used to see in Florida. Thankfully the guys had been picking up what was in the field during the wasp, smoke, fire fiasco. We lost very few bales but spent a great deal of time and effort with little to show.
Thankfully days like this are rare…but they do happen…..lots of time, effort and frustration and very little to show for it at the end of the day. Perhaps it is God’s way of keeping us humble. We are very grateful it wasn’t worse. No damage to the tractor or baler…the fire in the field was quickly put out before the rows of hay were ignited, no one was hurt and we didn’t loose a field full of hay bales to rain. God blessed and protected us. We are thankful for the blessing, the protection and that we can laugh…
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