Haystacks

I remember chopped hay stacks...three memories about chopped hay that comes to mind right now would be that one stack burned for a long time because it was too green when it was chopped. (Which means it got hotter and hotter inside until it was smoldering, we had the fire department come and the hay was spread out to finish burning)

The second memory is of Dad backing two hay wagons and the chopper all at once (It is like backing 3 large camp trailers all hooked together at the same time). I can't even back a single trailer very well.

I remember having a crew come to help so that the lunch table was full of people. Mom always made lemonade and pies. I think Uncle Earl DeCoursey used to be one that always helped they also used handkerchiefs over their faces to keep out the dust (Just like the old robbers in the movies). I don't have pictures of stacks however here is Julie, Peanuts and I standing on some hay....I don't know why.

(One reason I wanted to start a blog of memories is so that my siblings could correct & add to the memories expressed here)

The second kind of hay stack was bailed....not only did it give us much to do it also gave us much fun and it fed the cows. The work for me was rolling it in the fields or driving the vehicle so that the older kids could buck it onto the trailer, stacking and hauling it in to stack again. (Lots of memories come from this.)

One was when Larry got stung by a bee and Dale took off with him on the tractor as fast as he could to get him into the house leaving Karen, Dave & I to walk home. (The previos bee sting caused lots of swelling so it was determined that Larry was allergic so the next bee sting would kill him. It didn't, even though the drive in almost did, and I don't think he is allergic any more. At least that one didn't do what the doctor said it would do) The walk into the house was scary because we had to go through the cow pasture, where the cows were. (It is funny to me now because I am not afraid of cows but as a child, I always was.)

The important memory was the forts and tunnels in the hay that my siblings created. One went from one end of the stack to the other with many twists and turns and a secret room. (Now, that causes fear today when I think about it but at the time it was pure fun. Until the black widows would move in, which meant that was the end of that fort. How did we breath and how did we see?)

A side memory I have is turning the bails over and finding mice...sometimes hairless babies and other time big one that could be caught and I would carry it in my pocket to give to the cats, using leather gloves of course to pick them up. They do bite.

I think we all learned at one time or another that the movies that depict people jumping off moving vehicles are lies, since we used to ride back to the field on the trailer and it is easy to jump of off....ha ha we were going very slow and the trailer is close to the ground. I remember ending up on my bottom before I even knew I had hit the ground with my feet when I jumped off the back (Dave could do it if he was running the same way as we were going before hitting the ground). That reminds me of another side memory of how much fun we had surfing on the trailer when it was unhooked or parked trying to balance it on the two tires by running forward and backward on the flat bed.

I love the memories of growing up on the farm and would love to hear yours.