Thunder Lightening and Hay Bales !

The grass lay in pathetic limp lines across the pasture. Still visible the  blackened stump remains of the lightening tree, for the longest time my GPS signal that I had missed my turn, for the longest time a local landmark that marked a point on the compass close to the little town quaintly named Home. Swathes of cut grass bordered by dense blackberry bushes, deep green Bulrush, sapling Alders and huge mature Cedar trees, drying in the sunshine. In a perfect world the tractor would growl from the early morning light, the baler would chatter, the sun would shine and our big Cedar barn would groan with hay bales straining the support beams..the aromatic smell of cut grass would permeate the air …but it wasn’t a perfect world, the sun didn’t shine the old red tractor didn’t move and the baler remained silent. High above the ranch, grey clouds turned black, thunder claps broke the silence and lightening forks lit up the sky. MJ, resident meteorologist for Fox 13 had excitedly reported the growing threat of thunder storms and the “double Doppler” had lit up like a Christmas tree.. it was supposed to be way North of here and in the shadow of the mountains and passes, it wasn’t supposed to be where our hay was waiting for us. The rain started to fall, under the cover of darkness the clouds had rolled in. Early morning moods were as black as the stormy sky, this wasn’t meant to be…it wasn’t supposed to rain, our hay was on the ground. The troops had answered the call, returning WOOFER Holly and resident Carla were excited, good friends Patrick and Kelly resigned to the inevitable, indomitable Mary as always, there when we need her and Bran excited to the point of frenzy !!   By 3pm after a long hot day of hurry up and wait the call came, the flat bed trailer rolled, the big Chevy truck growled and Bessie the old Ford coughed and spluttered into life. The girls never stopped smiling, bales of hay were collected piled thrown and stacked, Kelly Patrick and Mary, older wiser and more experienced knew that by the end of the day, smiling would be in short supply and bale by heavy bale stoically cleared the pasture with the thunder and lightening still lighting up the sky.It was a good day, we have some amazing friends ( who are now possibly wondering just  and we have an awesome life.

A white Leghorn chicken captured Holly’s attention yesterday, strangely, Holly loves our noisy feathered friends and a white chicken with a dirty butt is a white chicken with a problem. I would have considered a white chicken with a dirty butt fairly normal but clearly said white chicken needed a bath...and a blow dry ( WHAT !!)… So there we were with a chicken in the sink, happily having a shampoo while our chicken whisperer used my hair dryer to fluff and puff her feathers. ( she is probably the egg eater I’ve been looking for !!).

The girls took a horse ride last night, Lady our big Shire mare instantly switched on the charm offensive when she spotted her handsome four legged companions and both Charm and Starbuck were more than happy to respond. Lady took the lead, tail swishing and teasing the boys. Starbuck’s lip curled and Charm danced. Both geldings wanted to be in closest proximity to the outrageously flirting mare, heads tossed, hooves danced and ears threatened. It was a fun ride…we all returned still attached to our four legged partners who were still fixated by Lady’s swinging rump but it was a close call !!!

I’ve got to go, it is way past barn time, take care, keep safe, M