Well, Almost

Better Today, Hay, Hay, Hay! 

But...I was still cold. I did the barn chores came back in the house and took forever to get warm again.

Then I called my hay man as I was down to three bales.  I needed to go shopping for some materials to make a grave blanket for my parents' grave, so I took my shower and changed clothes and....hay man showed up.

That took me back outside in my down coat--so I wasn't too cold. We chatted while he unloaded and stacked my hay--sweet guy. And then he repaired my carport roof where some of the roofing was blowing loose. There was still enough wind to lift the metal roofing material, so it was pretty windy again.

Then I went off on my shopping trip.  I managed to find a nice bow, some silk poinsettias and some trimmings for the grave blanket.  When I got home I searched some more and found a good piece of wood to use as the base. I have some lovely evergreen branches on a bush by the house, holly from the holly tree, and probably some pine cones from the pine tree to decorate the blanket. I've made one for the past two years or so instead of buying a ready made one. Even with the ready mades, I used to add evergreens from our home and the holly, so I finally decided that making the whole thing from greenery from home was the nicest remembrance for my parents.

Thinking now that adding some standing pine from the woods would also be a nice touch as every Christmas, my mother loved to take a walk out into the woods to pick some for the house.  Might make a good motive to take Chance out for a hack--presuming I can find a suitable fallen tree to stand on so I can remount after picking the greens.

Speaking of the hay, the Boys are really cleaning up this grass mix from New York State. It is really nice hay with a green look and a good fresh smell.  Apparently, NY-- at least the upper part of the state--had a great growing season for hay.  I guess all the rain passed well north of us this summer since we had virtually none, and our hay crop was really bad.  I heard at least one farmer plowed his whole crop of corn under because it never even grew enough to produce ears.  The farmer here by me got a pretty good corn crop from the looks of it, but I did notice some of the ears were smaller then usual.

Amazing that in this world of advanced science and engineering, we are still at the mercy of nature's whims.