I am extremely introspective, and so when Pete goes away, I obsess about things – some are not worth obsessing about, and some are. The unavailability or the availability of hay – now this is definitely worth getting my knots in a knicker.

The situation as of Monday, two days ago – was that we had approximately 10 bales in the barn. That’s enough hay to last almost two weeks. Also, rain was pouring out the sky like there was no tomorrow – and then some. The two together were a double whammy for us. The ongoing bad weather had already put a damper on plans to get more.

I became convinced that the odds of our getting hay locally was about 0, and this was being optimistic. We might be able to get the very expensive out-of-state hay – that is if we were lucky. And oh, the cost of this stuff -- $40.00 a bale – who has this kind of money?

Pete forgot to call John DePriest before he left, so yesterday I had to take matters into my own hands and call him myself. John is our hay guy. I did call – he told me that he had done one cutting, gotten about 200 bales, and they were sitting on his trailer, in the overhang area. The cost $12.00 a bale. I told Pete this last night when he got home. He called John this morning and John told us to come over at noon and pick up a load.

John is the absolute best – he’s honest and ethical and intelligent and has a good sense of humor. And he would never, ever sell us wet or damp hay. He also is one of the few remaining hay farmers in our area who bales square bales. We don’t want round bales – the quality is variable and there is that chance that horses that eat such hay will come down with botulism.

When we get hay, our conversations first center around the weather. Then they veer in the direction of cow farming. Then they veer in the direction of farm equipment and in my estimation stall out. I don’t mind though, it’s okay to let the guys talk for hours on end about such things.

It took a while for us to find John. Such things happen only after you live in an area for some time. It’s sort of like finding the right hair cutting person. I am sometimes reminded of what it was like, the first few years we had horses. We dealt with a couple hay farmers who were shysters – they were expensive and sold us damp hay. Most farmers will allow customers to bring back damp hay – but what a pain that was – unloading a whole barn of hay back into the truck and going back for more. And then there were some who would not take it back. Thank dog those days are now over.

So as of tonight one of our three hay sheds has 80 plus bales in it. I of course will sleep better now knowing this.

Next: 183. 7/6/17: Living the Life