Bales stacked in hayshed

Today I finally picked up my bales out of the field and stacked them (mostly) in the hayshed.  I planned on doing this at the beginning of the week but everything kept slipping.  Because Diamond has not calved yet and is in the NE pasture I needed to put her and Maria somewhere so I could move about with the gates open.  That meant the fruit tree area.  The trees and bushes a..r..e  protected but the replacement heifers this Spring put pressure on the protection.  They did get past the middle apricot tree's protection and ate 99% of the tree's leaves.  It appears that killed the tree.

So I had to spend a little time Monday and Tuesday beefing up some of the protection.  Especially around the nice pear tree.  I've been putting that tree's fence rebuild off for quite some time.  Yesterday I finally did it.  It took longer than I expected so I didn't get to moving the bales till today.

Last night Daisy came in the house shortly before I was done watching my recorded TV program.  She settled down on my lap and went to sleep and started snoring. Once the show was over I turned the TV off.  I didn't have the heart to move Daisy so I quickly fell asleep sitting on the couch.  I figured Daisy would wake and move within a couple hours.  I woke up at 5:30 am with Daisy still sleeping on me.  I moved her aside and went to bed as I was tired.  20 minutes later - after I fell asleep again - she wanted outside.  I let her out and went back to bed.

Yesterday Wyatt discovered that Donna's baler problem was a bad bearing.  A new part is over $500.  Donna planned on going to the farm implement 'boneyard' in St. Ignatius, 80 miles away. I said I go with her this morning.  Call me just before you are ready to go.

Donna called at 8:08 am to tell me that she had called them and they were going to look for a baler with her part.  They'd call back in a half hour.  I told I was going back to sleep.  Call me then.

Donna called at 8:52 am to tell me they didn't have the part.  They gave her a name of a place n Oregon that might have the part.  I told her I wasn't going to Oregon.  I went back to bed.

Donna called me at 9:03 am to tell me the Oregon location had the part.  It cost $300 and they would ship it to her.

I went back to bed.

At 9:30 am I heard the phone ring.  I didn't answer it.  Probably a telemarketer.  They left a message, which telemarketers usually don't do.  I got up to listen to the message.  It was a telemarketer saying they could get a lower credit card interest rate for me.

I went back to bed.

I woke up after 10 am.

I woke up at 10:50 am.

I woke up at 11:30 am.

I got out of bed at 11:45 am.

12 hours of sleep.  I was still a little tired.  I had kept waking up from active busy dreams.  So I wasn't getting a full rest even when sleeping.

I didn't have time for my morning "wake up" bicycle ride.  I don't drink coffee and instead as a replacement go for a short 5 to 10 mile bicycle ride to wake up and get going for the day.

I put gas in Jan's riding lawnmower; figured out to open her new vacuum cleaner so one could empty it; and cut a dozen branches from a tree of hers.

I washed two loads of laundry and finally had breakfast a 1 pm.

I gave some apples to Diamond, Maria and her calf and let them into the fruit tree area.  In the afternoon I hauled the hay bales from the hayfield and stacked them in the hayshed.  I had to have Curtis quickly help me two times as I squeezed two bales in a row.  He operated the tractor's loader lever while I pushed on a neighboring bale.

It was 86 degrees and hot.  And guess what?  I was tired when I shouldn't be.  And my hip - which apparently has arthritis - was bugging me.  I should have gone on a bicycle ride as that energizes me and makes my hip feel fine.  Instead I laid down for a minute and woke up 1 hours 15 minutes later.

Really??!  I had to sleep some more???!!

I had a small lunch at 6:30 pm and went out to lay out my mainline irrigation pipes now that the hay bales are out of the hayfield.  Naturally some of the cattle were nearby so I had to shut the gate each time after getting a pipe from the stack in the pasture.  Also slowing me down was something I ate was disagreeing with me which led to multiple bathroom breaks.  I came up with the idea of moving the steel pipes using a wheelbarrow's handles.

Instead of moving the last four pipes (tomorrow!) tonight I decided to finally go on a bicycle ride at sunset.  12 miles of riding energized me but it was getting dark by the time I got home.  So much for my day.


My 'new' bales are more dense than my previous bales.  They are also a little smaller at 5 feet in diameter than my older bales.  The density helps to stack them better as they don't seem to settle much.

Three bales did not fit inside my hayshed.

My supervisor approves.

Maria hiding behind the newly fenced pair tree.

I put corral panels around the two mature apple trees.  I still caught Diamond with her head straight up trying to reach the tree leaves and apples.

Diamond's udder is still not ready.

Pregnant Diamond.