Farm Chores

This is the barn that Bob and I go to to retrieve the horse's hay. It's this wonderful old farm at the top of a hill with huge fields all around- always very windy. But it's sort of a fun adventure; I'd been hoping to take Louise with me when I went today, but Sheldon's mother's funeral was scheduled and so Bob and I went. Maggie was entirely out of hay so there was no question that on my day off, this was Job #1.

Doug (the man that works at the farm) goes up into the loft and essentially jettisons these forty pound bales of hay down, while you scramble to stack them in the appropriate manner. (There's one way to correctly fit the twenty bales on the truck). Doug is very accurate in his hay tossing and he often gets them to line up just right. Sometimes he is overly enthusiastic and then it's time to jump out of the way. Bob is very brave, but not just because he trusts that the bale won't land on his head, but you'll notice there is a German Shepard that is waiting at the tail gate of the truck. If the bale doesn't get you, the jaws of death will.
(Only kidding; the dog is very friendly. And today? I was in Canine-lover's heaven as there were three dogs at the farm, all swarming me and demanding attention. Jules had a lot to be jealous of when we returned home.)

This is another of the out buildings at this farm. It's a great place to visit as I wish I were wealthy enough to own all this gorgeous property and have a studio in a building like this. And it's stucco; we all know how I love stucco.. They have miniature horses and beef cows and last year there were baby donkeys. It's just nice to know these places still exist. Too bad Sheldon and Louise can't buy it. Then we could buy our hay from them!
At least the snow has melted and we could drive right up to our rather petite barn. Maggie greeted us, happy to see we had arrived with her belated breakfast. Too bad Sheldon and Louise weren't here to stack the hay. They'll be leaving us shortly; the burial was today and they head to new Jersey on Friday and then will fly back to Santa Fe. They'll have been here almost four weeks but we will really miss them. So will Jules. He's enjoyed having an extended fan club and I think he gets twice the dog treats.