Tractor Tipping, Chicken Plucking and Cable

While Emma has been in Montana, we've been busy! We've cut all of 1st crop on the east side of the river. Alex took the swather over to the westside at the whopping pace of 5 mph. Fortunately our neighbor lets us use his bridge, so it cuts the distance in half. Everytime we move equipment I think of that Craig Morgan song " I'm a God-fearing, hardworking combine driver,hogging up the road in my p-p-p-plower, chug-a-lug luggin 5 miles an hour in my International Harvester". The line "I make a lot of hay for a little pay" is sadly appropriate as well. Basically, that song describes our life.

Since we're making so much hay, someone has to haul it and that would be Jim. (He also rakes and bales; a multi-talented farmer!) Thursday, the cable on the balewagon broke, tipping him straight up in the air. It reminded me of the movie "Cars" when Lightning McQueen goes "tractor tipping" with Tow-Mater. I was sent to town to get a new cable, as in at 4:25 I get a call : "Can you go to town (30 miles away) and get a cable before the shop closes at 5:00?" No problem. Of course I'd been working in the yard all day and hadn't showered for who knows how long. That is why God invented baseball caps. Thankfully, parts guys don't seem too judgmental about appearance. We also stopped at Wal-Mart, where anything goes as far as appropriate shopping attire. I realize when most people say they are going to get cable, they are referring to something else, but our cable only cost $7.47 and should last for some time.

We also processed 20 of Will's broilers. And by processed I mean we cut off their heads, dipped the carcasses in boiling water, plucked all the feathers, clipped their feet and necks off and stuck them in freezer bags. Sorry if that's too graphic for non- farmers, but this is how we get our food, people! Will was a little upset at first, but he got over it when he realized we weren't going to kill any of his Black Giants. Ahh, life on a ranch... so very glamorous. I will get a little culture next week, though as my friend Veronica and I and our two boys head off to New York for a broadway play (Lion King) and a Mets game. More about that in a later post. Until then, Happy Ranching!