The Best Laid Plans

What a day. This life stinks.

I’m still at my Dad’s house. I’ve talked to four people in the past three days (cashier at the Tim Horton’s, cashier at the grocery store, cashier at the Canadian Tire, and the owner of the farm equipment shop). In total, probably about 4 minutes.

I woke up this morning to bright sunshine. The sky was blue with a few fluffy clouds. That means haying. I was in the field by 9:30 and raked two fields. Though they were still a bit wet, I figured that they could benefit from raking and would dry a little faster. I was finished raking by 12:30. The other three fields were still too wet, so I left them.

I decided that I would go for my run. I didn’t run yesterday and I was a little disappointed in myself because of it. I decided to run into town and back. It turned out to be 17.3 km. It was the hot part of the day and I was a little uncomfortable. Sweat kept dripping into my eyes so I decided to take my shirt off so that I could mop my forehead every now and then. The run was good, but tiring. Some maniac was passing a car and I just about got run over. Also, as I was running, I came across a turtle who was right in the middle of the road. I picked her up and moved her across the road. That made me feel good.

Anyway, I got a little bit of a sunburn on my chest and shoulders. It was really the first sun exposure that my under shirt area has had in many, many years (perhaps a decade). It took a lot out of me, and so after I ate lunch I decided to lie down for a few minutes.

The weather people were predicting a 60% chance of thunderstorms this afternoon, and I had two fields of raked hay that needed baling in the late afternoon. I knew that they wouldn’t be ready to go until after 4:00 (or even later), but I needed to get them finished before 6:00. The plan was to finish them and then head back home. My rental car was due back at 10:00 pm tonight. It’s a 3-4 hour drive and so I couldn’t afford to dawdle.

So at 3:30, I headed with the baler to make some hay. I was cooking along nicely and
finished the first field quickly. The hay was still a bit wet and will probably mold and rot because it wasn’t dry enough, but I didn’t care. I’ve given up caring about these stupid cows and this horrible chore.

I moved on to the second field and things were going perfectly until I smashed into a giant rock. The rock stuck up about 8 inches out of the ground, but was covered up with hay and so I couldn’t see it. The baler pickup smashed into it and bent the piss out of four guards. The machine started to make a huge noise and I knew then that my perfect plan was out the window.

I got down off the tractor to see the product of my carelessness. It was a doozie. I
unhooked the baler and blasted it up to the house. I figured that the farm equipment dealer would be open until five and I guessed that it was pretty close to 5:00.

I got into the house at 4:52 and called Carson’s. He didn’t have the parts, but he made a few calls and found some in Jasper. I asked him if they could leave it out for me and I would go grab them right away. He said that was fine and I was off.

Jasper is about 40 minutes away. I got the parts without incident, but by the time I got back home, it was 6:30. The plan to leave at 6:00 was shot. Still, there were threatening rainclouds above and the raked hay became my priority.

I struggled and struggled to get the machine repaired. I managed to pinch the tip of my pinky in a pair of pliers, slice the last digit of my middle finger on my left hand, drive my back into an adjustment handle while standing up, and get a huge welt on my forearm when a pickup tooth unsnapped. It wasn’t pretty, and I took some significant abuse from the machine.

I managed to get all the guards back on, but when I started the PTO the machine started grinding and the pickup wouldn’t rotate. I had to search to find the problem. Some of the teeth had been bent in the smash-up, and they were preventing the machine from rotating properly. I had to take the guards off and then remove the damaged teeth. I did, with some difficulty, and everything was back good as new.

I continued baling until dark. I managed to get the raked field finished. There are three more fields to rake and bale, and if the rain holds off tonight and tomorrow as it did today, I will be able to get them finished. That would be so sweet. The forecast is calling for a 60% chance of rain tonight, 60% tomorrow morning and 70% chance tomorrow afternoon. I don’t like those odds. Worst case scenario is that the hay gets ruined but I get to go home.