Straw

Paul had 1000 bales of wheat straw to put up in his barns this weekend.  I was glad he was working on putting it away this weekend when we would be able to help him.  On Saturday, John and Aaron were able to help them get about 600 bales in the barn.

After the kids t-ball game we went to watch for a bit so I could show them how it was done. 

Mostly they were concerned with how Daddy got up that high.

They were able to get 600 put away by 1:00.

Mallory lifted the kids up onto the hay rack.  Ethan apparently thought he was the "straw boss".

The girls liked to throw the straw.  After all the work, Trudy treated us to a delicious lunch. 
Paul still had 300 bales in the field to pick up and be put away.  He was going to call us when he was ready to put more straw in the barn.  Later he said, it would have to wait until Sunday.  John and Monica weren't coming back on Sunday.  Brett and Mallory had other commitments.  I wanted to help but I didn't know if I was strong enough to lift straw bales so like a dork I practiced with the straw bales we had in Dad's barn.  Yep, I could pick them up and carry them.

So as proof that I really did help put 300 bales of straw away, I had Caden take some photos. 

Look at this cool attachment Paul has for his tractor.  I don't know what it's called but I'm going to call it a Hay Hook.  I kind of think tractor accessories are like scrapbooking tools .... they make all kinds of things to make things easier.   I'm sure there's a whole catalog of them and when you look at that catalog you want to buy them all. 

It was a couple hours of work and really not too bad.  I can even move today.  I've done worse things ... like lay in a hospital bed for 11 weeks straight "baking" triplets.

Taking 4 kids to the grocery store is far more work than this .... and way more stressful.  I liked it so much I hope I can help more on their farm ..... a true farm girl at heart!