The day before yesterday my neighbor asked if I would be able to help him bring in hay from the field, and of course I said I would! He has a couple of big tractors and helping out means I would get to run one of them, and besides, it is good to help out, even if I do get to feel like a twelve year old while doing it! I spent a couple of hours loading hay that evening, and then agreed to come over again the next day, yesterday. I didn’t keep track of time, but it was a good five or six hours with only one stop for about five minutes to grab a drink.
I was loading 1,400 pound alfalfa bales onto pickups with flatbed trailers attached, and the farmer was unloading them as they came up to the shed. I have no idea how many there were, but we cleared about 250 acres of fields in those two days.
I discovered that working a tractor is not making the work easier on the body as such. Sat in the operator’s station, I have a clutch, an accelerator, two brake pedals, two gear shifters, and a forward and back stick to operate as well as the loader control and the steering wheel. There is paying attention to make sure I know where people are around me, and being sure not to bugger up somehow. It is done in a cab that the A/C mostly worked in. There were also the distractions such as the hawks that would sometimes land on a bale and stay till I was not far off approaching to pick it up. It has its mental tax and it certainly is physically taxing. I am not used to using a clutch pedal at the moment, so that muscle was pretty sore after.
There was one point when the farmer’s wife got out of the truck while I had two bales up over the trailer and the bottom one was collapsing and tipping, nearly dropping the top one off, so I just stopped and waited to be sure it did not fall on her. I told her about it after I set it down, hoping she will be more mindful of it going forward because she put herself in danger, and I would hate to see her get squished. I was not a fan of that moment. Forgive me if I seem over dramatic bringing it up. Two of the three people in my family that have operated heavy equipment have had accidents that have resulted in deaths. My grandfather was a serious stickler for safety, and would walk off jobs where foremen thought they could tell him what to do as the operator, but proved that safety is no accident. I admire him deeply for it, and hope to follow his footsteps on the matter.
Today I am pretty sore. Running the machine was a lot of work and it was not all just fun and games, even if it did appeal to my inner child. It was fun, and I did really enjoy it. The nest moments were working right down next to the river as it flowed by. What a beautiful space that was, and what a wonderful farm my neighbor has! He is a lucky man! He is also a good man, and I am glad to have been able to help him out!
It is raining today, which would have spoiled the hay in the field. With it all tucked away in the barn, there are no worries now, and I am glad to have been a part of that. I’ll feel recovered by tomorrow, no doubt. And with the smoke that has filled the sky this summer, hopefully the sky will have a moment of recovery too.