The first FULL day of summer and The Farmer has been in the hay field for two weeks now. He and Neighbor Dave (who is also a farmer and retired) began doing custom hay baling last year for other neighbors. There’s not a lot of money to be made (like all farming adventures), but it does keep them busy and gives them a reason to buy more toys …uh…equipment.
They have been (mostly) fortunate with the weather. It takes 3 good days to cut, dry, and bale hay; they have had almost two weeks of dry weather. Of course, now we need rain because the fields are drying up.
Can you imagine what the Lord thinks about us farmers? First we pray for rain so the crops and hay will grow, then we pray for no rain so we can get in the crops and hay. And then we complain because it gets too hot and too dry for too long. No wonder Missouri’s weather changes so often—all those farmers praying for different weather conditions to fit into their own schedules!
The thing I like about summer, besides the fact that there is no snow, is the opportunity to get outside. I don’t really go outside just to be outside, but I do enjoy sitting on the front porch, and swimming. Our home is right-smack-dab in the middle of our field, so the cows are always around, which is usually an enjoyable experience. However, when The Farmer and I sneak a little alone time on the front porch swing, or I’m floating in solitude around the edge of the pool, the aroma of cow manure wafting in the breeze is not a pleasant experience.
This phenomenon doesn’t usually occur when it’s been so dry, so I confronted The Farmer with the problem. He offhandedly remarked that the “aroma” seemed to be coming from the east, which isn’t the norm, but unfortunately meant that it was coming from our barn lot.
Not that The Farmer needed any confirmation that he was right, which is the norm, but I found it anyway. Today as I was surfing the Net, I ran across this folklore in the Farmer’s Almanac:
calves watching out by the pool
We’ll see if it’s true or not…meanwhile, I’m considering planting some honeysuckle on the east side of the house to see if that will mask the “aroma”.
