Car Cleaning and Critters

Did I mention I hate car cleaning? I would rather pay somebody to clean our car than do it myself!! What makes it even worse is cleaning it on a hot Saturday.....Oh my lord! Crazy lady here cleaning the car! But now it smells tons better. We are not the best car caretakers. We clean our vehicles maybe twice a year. Oh I know, this will hurt some folks but they are a tool for us. We use them like farm rigs! They haul hay, grain, tools, us and once in awhile an animal or two!

Most of the time, we clean the trash out because it can pile up and I hate that more!
Today was the day to clean the FJ out! It was downright filthy! It is much better now but had to do it in shifts because of the heat (90's)! I hate that too because it draws the CHORE out!
I did not however, give the outside a bath. I will run it through the car wash next time I am in town! God Bless the person who came up with that idea!
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I had a lot on my plate today, really! I got up and called the feedstore asking about hay. I admit I am nervous about this years hay crop. It is slim pickin's in these parts as I am sure it is around this nation. With all the drought conditions and fires and such...hay will be in high demand. We are trying to get our  "paws" on whatever we can at this point. Looking at trying to get ourselves about 60 round bales to cover our stock this year. Granted the cows are not here but better not to be short.
We have seen some changes here that are signs of FALL! Yes, I said it..August brought in fall feelings.

 Holy mother of Moses! So, I have asked the feed store for 18-27 bales..."spoke for that many"(means if I ask for that...they assume I will pay for it upon delivery) plus we "spoke for" 40 bales from another guy over my inlaws way. We are thinking winter is fast approaching and who knows what that means. 1800's type of winter here in Missouri. God I hope not!! Or is it going to be a long one?

We are already feeding hay as the grass is drying up. The grass pastures were so lush...now are dry,dry, dry!  Hard to fathom in the land of plenty, right? The grass is crunchy and I am watering the garden which is drying up too! Crazy Crazy weather!
Back to my day, hooked up the trailer(mower trailer just right for the FJ) and headed for the feed store (20 min drive). Grabbed couple bags of oats, corn and scratch for the hens. Came home and unloaded. Mountain Man is not here to help me as he was staying over at his folks for the last couple days working on FIL's cabin. So I scooted the geldings into the upper paddocks and locked the gate. Then I was able to pull in to unload into their pen. I fetched the tractor which did not have the hay hook on it but the bucket would work just fine. Just have to work it a little differently to unload hay. I pushed the hay round off the trailer then it tipped onto it's round side which was perfect!!

I then moved the hay rack (not light little thing) to go around the bale so the horses do not crush or wallow the bale down and waste hay! Removed the string...you will get a laugh out of this tale...I try to have a knife on me so when I have to cut strings it is easy peasy...well the only thing I had available without hiking back to my car or the house was the machete that Mountain Man had on the tractor. Ha Ha Ha! Yes, I used it to cut strings...worked fabulous! Can you imagine? Ha Ha Ha

Then I hollered for the boys to come down....nothing....hollered again....nothing! So, I walked up to where they were in the pasture and they followed me single file down to the gate....silly boys! Gotta have that "mare" tell them what to do! Shut them in their pen to let the pasture rest for awhile or at least until we have some rain or something.
Off I went to unload the FJ! Pulled up to the hen hut to unload the square bales(had given the sheep their hay already). Now where to put them in the hut.....so I went to reorganizing the chaos. I found a spot which will work for now. Future hay storage is a must for sure!! hmmmmm

Then I had six bags of grain to unload. Filled up the blue barrels with their grain. Fed the hungry chickens (they are growing so they act as if it is their last meal).

Clean the outer hen hut, filled up their water dish and shut the gate!

I am a tired people!

Enjoy what you have left of your weekend!






Copyright © 2018 M.E. Masterson All Photographs Copyright © 2018 M.E. Masterson