Bicycle lawn ornament and irrigation

At the Monday auction I got a bicycle lawn ornament.   Once I saw the lawn ornament in person I knew I had to have it.  It is made of solid metal, not tin.   While the wheels turn, it is not a wind ornament.

I am nearing the end of irrigating.  This evening I reached the road and finished the south side of irrigating.  I have a few days left on the north side.  Because I have a few shortened lines due to going around the house, I made three lines from the two lines (and by adding a few extra pieces of pipe.)

Because the north line will continue east, I moved the current north line to the east of the three lines.  The middle line is "new" pipes.  Because the south line will eventually be stored west in the pasture, the west line of the three lines is nine of the fifteen south line pipes.   Therefore more carrying of pipes than usual.    And the extra carrying now will reduce future carrying of pipes through wet irrigated fields.

I expected this evening irrigation pipe move to take a little longer than the usual almost two hour move; but it took way longer.  New pipe configuration meant adjusting some of the hook and latches.  The smoky skies meant the three quarters moon was more orange and didn't shine much light.  By the time I was moving the third line it had gotten dark.  That slowed me down.  I'll see in the morning how straight my third line is.  And because one sprinkler ended up right against a fence I had to replace the 40 foot pipe with a 30 foot pipe.  I hadn't used this pipe before and the hook and latch had trouble working with the next pipe.  Once the water was flowing, with a flashlight in the dark I found the two pipes were partially separated and leaking badly.  Before long hardly any water would be thrown from the sprinklers.  Twice I had to pop off the last pipe to release pressure so I could try to re-hook the pipe.

I had a few extra pipes than normal so in the morning I'll see how far the sprinklers are throwing the water.

All told it took me almost four hours to set the pipes tonight, for a total of six hours spent today moving pipes.  I have two more days left and I'll be done for the year and I'll be so glad.

Earlier this week I learned I can get a second cutting of my first year alfalfa field.  When getting cost quotes from the two seed dealers this Spring I asked about first year alfalfa.  No fall grazing by the cattle until the ground freezes as the cattle will pull some of the alfalfa root-and-all out of the ground.  Weeds.  The first year yield will be lower than average.  And no second cutting.

But my go-to guy Chris said earlier this year I could get a second cutting.  The internet did not counsel against a second cutting.  And finally Jorden from the local ag extension office said they did second cuttings and it was ok to do so.

And most of my alfalfa has gotten tall and thick.  I am having trouble finding the pocket gopher dirt mounds in the hayfield.

So change of plans.  I plan now to cut the field again.  Ideally I would have the field cut and drying right now as the weather is dry and the temperatures in the afternoon warm.  But I am not done irrigating due to a late start from all the problems with the first cut.   What about next week?  A big weather pattern change.  The end of dry and warm weather and it is forecast to be cool and wet.

Always a challenge to get anything done.  So, we'll see if I can get a second cutting this year.  Everyone says to do a last alfalfa cutting at least four weeks before a hard freeze to give time for the alfalfa plants to do a little re-growth to better prepare the roots for next Spring.  Time is not my friend right now.