All Was Quiet on the Homefront

...Except for the phone ringing, people talking, tractors running...

The hay is cut. It's been fluffed into rows. The Brain is on the baler. Soon we will have lovely rows of bales lining the field.

But our bales are rectangle and MUCH smaller. I thought the picture was cute. :-)

And this year, we won't be pulling 13 hours in the field on my birthday, like we've done before (Seriously, birthdays at the end of June...). Because today is my birthday and the hay is just starting to get baled. :-)

Please let me pause to explain Haying. Haying is, I'm sure, recognized as a national holiday. If it isn't, it should be. The observation of this holiday is nearly always the same, and I will write it out here for you if you would like to participate. This annual bonding of mankind and his tractor is looked forward to every summer and reminisced every fall/winter/spring.

Day One: A tractor and mower are dispatched into the field, and grass is cut. The driver of the tractor will often receive burns from the sunlight as this is far too rugged a job to wear sunscreen.
Day Two: Again, the tractor is dispatched, but this time to fluff up the hay and make it into lots of cute little rows. The sun will then bake the grass until it is dry. It will also bake the driver of the tractor, but oh, well... Farmer's tan, yanno.
Days Three-End of Holiday: When the grass is deemed dry enough by an elder member of the family, it is scooped up by a machine and processed into bales. A truck driver (usually the youngest child or a lady member of the family) will putter along with a flatbed trailer while family and neighboring menfolk (and strong womenfolk) "buck" bales onto the trailer.
      A leader is chosen by the "crew" to be the one to stack hay. This is a crucial part of the ceremony; the stacker must make tight stacks so bales do not fall from the trailer on the drive back to the barn. However, if a stack falls, there is a special ceremony: First, there is the blame and demotion of the stacker. Then the pile of hay on the ground is thrown back onto the trailer. Occasionally, there may be a ceremonial "strapping" of the stack. This is accomplished by the tallest members of the crew tossing straps over the stack and tying them down.
      The noon meals on these last days are also of longstanding tradition. Hamburgers, Coke, and Mug Root Beer.
      On these days, it is customary for sunscreen to be worn, as there are often womenfolk on the crew and they insist on the men wearing it, also. Rugged though they may be, the lady driving the truck is the keeper of the water bottles, sunflower seeds, and brake pedal, so it's best to make her happy. :)

The end of the holiday is celebrated with high-fives all around and promises to come back the following year.

Go forth and celebrate summer, my friend!