Lazy Hazy Days of Summer

This might be the earliest we have ever had hay to the barn.  My nephew Alan, has been a very busy guy cutting field after field of lush, high and thick hay the last few weeks.  Days have been perfect hay days.  The winds we had all winter have carried through June.  Dry, breezy and sunny days and a good crop of hay has made this year worry free on food for the horses.  I'm sure all the farmers around have smiles thinking of the stress free haying season.  As I set looking over our back fields watching the trees bend and twirl, the breeze blowing and the picture perfect clouds floating across the blue sky it is one of my awe moments.  So much so that other than fix a meal today I am going to enjoy the view.  The water colors are all set up ready for some more practicing.  I might have to float a loan for more water color paper!  Practice is not making me perfect.

The Baltimore Orioles are busy feeding their young on the fresh oranges and grape jelly from early morning until late evening.  They must have a bunch of hungry kids!  I'm thinking that soon we will see the young coming to the feeder.  If you read an earlier blog I mentioned the Painted Turtle that crossed our lawn one evening.  Last night as we sat here I noticed a brown clump where Dick had tilled for a flower bed.  This morning when he went to the barn he noticed it, walked over to take a look,  it was the turtle covering eggs she had laid in the flower bed.  She must have wandered for days to find the perfect spot . That is a first at  Cook'n by the Creek!  Dick is going to put a fence around the spot so Quincy won't get curious and dig the eggs up.  Now I will be googling to see how long it takes for the babies to hatch.  We have seen many lay their eggs along the road by Alma Pond.  It always amazed me that they prefer gravel/dirt and next to a road! 

Another load of round bales just made it home.  They are nice, big and tightly rolled.  Thanks to our son in law for hauling them with his truck and trailer that holds 5 bales at a time.  It sure helps and makes the day shorter.  They are rolling them off the wagon by hand, fun to watch.  Some seem to roll quite a distance before they stop.  Dick will use the spear he hooks to the bucket of the tractor to take them in the barn.  That way they will stay dry and full of what nutrition the hay has with no chance of mildew from getting wet.  Geez, how lucky these horses are, top of the line for them!
17 years we have been hauling hay.......

I often think of my mom which is obvious on how many times I mention her in the many blogs I have posted.  Yesterday we went to our friends 50th class reunion from OVHS.  They graduated a year ahead of us in 1966 but as small towns are they ask friends to join their celebration.  One of my friends husband and I were talking.  Our fathers worked together for Messer Oil out of the Horse Run building.  We would go to their house in the summer and set on the porch for a visit.  When done we would go next door to Al Crans farm and buy eggs if ours were not keeping up.  He said, hard to believe it was so long ago.  Then I found myself saying what I had heard my mom say so many times, the older you get the faster time goes.  Isn't that the truth.  The "kids" that were at their reunion were of  families we all knew each other quite well.  I can go up and down the valleys and name each farmer or who lived in what house from way back when.  Not now, oh I can name the ones from so long ago but not the residents of present.  Times have changed, and the old family names are few and far between. 

This is my mom, Della.  She never liked having her picture taken.  This was taken in 1951 and looks like early spring,
no leaves on the trees but she has her homemade sundress on and clothes blowing in
the wind.  The view is looking up the Horse Run Rd.  We lived first farm on the left
after crossing the Horse Run Bridge.  Tough to see the farm now, it looks nothing like
the neatness my parents put forth to make it look so beautiful.