Day 3 started far too early, the morning after the night before.

5:19 am — Worried #hairybeast nose…”It’s Monday. You’re usually up by now. Nobody told me it was a sleeping in day.”

6:43 am — Different #hairybeast nose… “HEY!!! Get up. It’s a beautiful day outside…you waaaay overslept. Get up. Get up. GET UP!!! Take me to the creek!”

6:47 am — Tentative stretching. I feel like I’ve been mauled by a Mac truck. And my eyes won’t open.

6:50 am — To the pushy dog… “I’m up, already. Don’t be such a pushy dog.”

6:51 am — Walk the #hairybeasts. Take pushy dog schwimming. Oh, we love schwimming.

7:30 – 8:10 am — Eat breakfast, feed the birds, feed the dogs, normal morning stuff.

8:15 – 10:00 am — work stuff.

10:07 am — Put diesel in the tractor, grease.all.the.things., dust off the radiator screen, check radiator level, grease the other thing I missed …

10:26 am — Go. Mow stuff.

12: 35 pm — Sqwee! Done going around in circles to the right.

12:40 pm — Drop and disconnect mower. Remember to disconnect the hydraulics.

12: 42 – 2:30 pm — Wrestle with rake. Win. [For the record, this is a really big deal. Normally it’s a two-people job, just because it’s an odd offset. The fact I got it all hooked up, by myself, without an extra set of arms, yeah, well I’m feeling pretty badass at this point. Even got the PTO hooked up on the first try.] 

  
2:32 pm — Take a second before actually starting to remember it’s all left now.  Set out to rake the first section I mowed. And then the next section, etc. Advice from the Old Man: “Just listen to the tractor, get some speed, but don’t go too fast. Watch the rake. Figure it out.” Uh, OK.

  
3:30 pm — Starting the largest section of field. Reminder from the Old Man to make smooth corners. Uh, OK.

The Dead Critter Count has been outsourced to the Farm & Ranch Sanitation Department. They’ll report later on the identified metrics and outcomes. The #hairybeasts have been contracted to do some of the field work. 

  
4:46 pm — I could sure go for a … oh, snap! Pro tip: any cookie’ll taste fresh from the oven homemade if ya leave it in the toolbox in 90 degree sun long enough. You’re welcome.

Left. Left. Left. Left. Left. Gimme one more day of this and I think I could run at NASCAR. Put me in the #bison car, sponsored by SPF 742, 83 gallons of water, hydraulic oil, WD40, Teva, and topped off with a Life is Good ™ baseball cap. If the fender falls off cuz someone gets a little squirrelly in turn 2, break out the duct tape & baling twine…

5:45 pm — Just finished raking, in 2 hrs 15 min, what it took 7 hours to mow yesterday. Uh, OK.

Go,  go, Gadget Cloud. E.T. Phone home. 

  
6:15 pm — All caught up to everything I mowed yesterday and the day before. No more raking till tomorrow. (Then I getta do it all.over.again.)

6:40 pm — Shower. Ah, the bliss of water I’m not drinking. Followed up by Goop. Love Goop! 

  
Goop, for when St. Ives Purifying Sea Salt Exfoliating Body Wash and a scrubbie just won’t take the grease off.

8:26 pm — #babybeast is one tired dog. #letsleepingdogslie. She’s got the right idea. 

Observation from the field:

• My MOTO saddle is WAY more comfy than tractor saddle. Best remedy ever? The old down pillow, all mushed up. 
• Hot air is still hot, even with a breeze. 
• Grass seed (& chaff) + Chapstick + wind = terrible combo.
• The local grasshopper population is decimated. In other news, I should be on the “favorite human list” of every blackbird, finch, starling, and barn swallow in a two mile radius.
• There’s a lot of protected time to think, pray, meditate, make up silly little songs, run through your to-do list, and day dream.  
• While it is possible to text & tractor, it is not advisable for straight lines or spelling
• Grass, as a projectile, can draw blood and leave a welt. It wouldn’t surprise me if TSA started screening for it.
• If one stares too long, one can become mesmerized by grass lapping at the mower cover. In other news, a moving tractor isn’t a good spot to nod off.  

  
Not as many critters in the upper field. Woot! 

About 2 hrs left of mowing tomorrow, then on to raking! 

#############

It is impossible to know how what you do, especially if it’s normal to you and no big deal, or how what you say can impact someone else…unless they tell you. 

One of my friends told me today, “So proud of you for taking this on and sticking with it.” 

Another friend commented, “you’re so rad.” 

And in the telling, it’s impossible to predict what a profound effect even a simple expression can have. 

To me, arguing with equipment, cutting hay, taking care of the Old People, these are the every day variety of stuff-that-has-to-get-done. #trueconfession I got altitude discouraged at one point yesterday when I’d used about a gallon of WD40 and couldn’t get a nut to come loose. So both comments have stayed with me all day. Thanks, DK and CP, for the encouragement! 

#notetoself: when you have the opportunity to tell someone when they do something you admire or appreciate, tell them!!

There are certain milestones you look forward to. Turning 16 and getting your license. Your first car. Graduating high school. Moving into your first apartment. College. Getting a “grown up” job and fitting in to the “real world.” Buying your first new car. Paying off student loans. First two-week vacation, somewhere foreign. Etc. 

Yesterday I experienced another milestone. It’s all my responsibility: all the mowing, all the raking, all the equipment. I’ve been slowly taking over, but The Old Man has always been available to back me up if I get in over my head. Now, at 80, he’s mobile only with a walker. Getting to the field, lifting, pushing, wrestling parts is beyond his capacity this year. 

So, chalk up another notch on my Grown Up belt. I successfully navigated getting started and finishing day one in the hay field.  

I learned a few important things:

• Something will inevitably happen (read, go wrong) and it’s never similar to what went wrong last year
• Tears of frustra–er, fierce determination won’t budge the dead weight of a several hundred pound piece of equipment
• Taking a breather and thinking about how the hydraulics function is much more effective 
• You can stretch some interesting body parts when you try to shift several hundred pounds of equipment dead weight
• A vice grip is a pretty useful tool 
• WD40 is one of the most important tools in the shop
• It pays to hang on to old tractor parts

Also, it’s smart to have friends who know stuff you don’t, and can do stuff you can’t. Like weld. (Thanks, Poppy, for the help.) And I’m significantly better with triangle corners than square ones. 

Day 1 live critter count:

• 1 bunny
• 14 voles (although 1 might’ve been a dupe)
• 1 garter snake

I’m glad the bunny is still around. Although I’d much prefer more snakes and significantly fewer voles.