Mutton Bustin'

It was another extaordinarily hot day today- I think the mercury may have hit 100 again like yesterday.

Today started out like most. I did chores, and it was a much quiter and less traumatic version of chores because Ace can now have his grain and grass back and no more shots...and boy let me tell you that just made that little butterball's day! Haha, he's pretty cute, and feeling much better. So, anyway, we finished chores and since it's now just the three of us on a regular basis there were plenty of things to pick from to get done.

Ross went out along the road for a second cutting and then west of Hisle and windrowed all day long. Merle and I went and checked the second cutting from yesterday and decided that we had better put it up before it got too dry. The stems were still kinda damp but the leaves were falling off, so we didn't have much choice. We went back up to the shed and took the loader and three point off of the tractor Jeff was usuing and hooked it up to my rake. In the process we got ahold of Roger, Merle mechanic from the Case IH dealership in Phillip. Roger decided he could come down tomorrow and work on equipment, so we had to stop hooking up and go sit down and make a nice long list of things that are wrong with each tractor. Let me tell you, we came up with plenty to keep him busy all day tomorrow. The main thing though, is to get that darn rake tractor so I don't have to hold my breath everytime I stop or shut down. So anyway, we called them back with the list and went and finished greasing up and hooking on to the rake. Then took off to the hay field.

It actually baled up kinda decent, it was hard because so many spots were thick then thin then somewhere in the middle- but it worked out. Halfway through my fan quit working so I had to open all the windows in that nasty smoky cab (Jeff's cigarretts made it a little on the smelly side)- so hopefully that aired it out a little and let the hay smell overrun the smoke smell! Eventually the fan started working again, so I don't know what the heck might be giong on- could be a few things, probably electrical.

After we finished all the hay that was ready we went in for dinner. Afterwards we went back out and brought fuel to Ross and moved his pickup to the field he had moved to throughout the day. Then, went back home and put the sweeps back on the chisel. That took us right up until chore time. Then, I made a mad dash in and showered and got ready to go watch some serious mutton bustin' in Gordon. We only left a half hour after we wanted to...lol, oh well I guess. There were a few stops in Martin...as usual and then we headed out with pizza Merle ordered to go.

The rodeo was tons of fun- the girls got first and second in the mutton busing with scores of 79 and 80. Hadleigh, the four year old won it and Hannah was right behind her. If you don't know waht mutton busing is: They take little tikes and put them on sheep and jsut let the sheep out of the chute; the one who holds on the longest usually wins or gets the highest score. It was sooo cute, and I think one reason the girls do so well is because the ride them backwards so their feet wrap around the neck and then they grab the flank with their hands. Hannah rode a long time and then fell off but Hadleigh had a littel harder riding sheep and then when she came off just bit the dirt. She had an entire mouthful of arena dirt, and her shirt was all unbuttoned with dirt all down her face and chest and she was as proud as ever- it was adorable. They both got these really cute little buckles and were showing them off. They also had miniature bull riding for 11-14 yr old boys and a Jr. wild horse race- they were all awesome and really fun!

But, the rodeo finally came to an end so we headed home and Brandy started looking for kids- Hadleigh had just fallen asleep on her lap so that one was easy, but not so much with the other two!

We made it home without falling asleep, but boy did we miss a heck of a storm. We got .53 of rain and it must have come down fast because everything is muddy muddy and it even looks washed out again in some places. I'm sure it wasnt' real good on the hay, but proabably helped a lot with fire danger with the dry conditions, wind, and lots of lightning...nothing so far, which is good.

Well, I am faired out and headed for bed, we'll see what tomorrow brings.