Hay!

If you’ve read my blog for long (or know me in real life), you know I have a love-hate relationship with the cows who call the pasture in front of our house, home.

For part of the year, we have cows out front. I love them, especially when it’s baby-season. My Father-in-law always makes sure he puts some momma cows and babies out there and I love them…for about two days…then my garage starts to stink, because the “gifts” they’ve left on our driveway are unavoidable, and SPLAT!, in the garage it comes via my car tires. Nice. Not to mention my car is always the one in the parking lot with splatters on the side… not kidding…

ANYWAY, I DO love those cows (when they’re aren’t crazy and chase me down the drive way while I’m walking) and I love having to cross two cattle gaps to get to our house and I love looking out the window and seeing them in the field, but after a few months of it, our driveway gets a break, and it’s a nice welcomed one.

When the cows are moved and the break comes, it means hay season is coming soon. The grass in the field grows and grows and GROWS. The once eaten-down-by-the-cows green grass is greener than ever (thanks to the summer sunshine and rain), but it also gets almost as tall as Annabelle. A field of bright green hay grass is pretty, don’t get me wrong, but to me, nothing compares to the clean-cut look of a freshly baled field.

We’d been grocery shopping a couple weeks ago, and when we pulled into our drive I nearly sang the “Hallelujah” chorus when I saw this…

You can see where they’d cut and how tall the grass had gotten…

AB was even excited!  (Thanks, Publix for the free sugar cookie she was still munching on!)

She spent the rest of that week at our front door or in the windows of the office looking out and watching her Pappy, Uncle Adam, Uncle Van and the other men who work on the farm cut and bale hay. She’d wave as their tractors passed by and she’d have to identify whoever was on the tractor… amazingly, they were all, “A-UM” (Adam). I still don’t know how he was cutting, fluffing, raking AND baling at the same time…but according to AB he WAS! :)

Last year, when the guys were working in front of the house, I volunteered to cook them lunch one day. My Granny always cooked a big lunch for the people who worked on their farm and my FIL said DW’s Grandmother used to do the same thing for the men out here. I like some tradition, so it’s one we’ve started! When the guys are working in front of the house, one of the days, I’ll cook lunch for them.

In an attempt to redeem myself, before I tell yall what we had this year, let me tell you what we had LAST year… I made stew beef and rice, peas, biscuits, corn casserole and chocolate delight. Granny would be proud.

Alright, here’s what we had this year… sandwiches.

Yep, I served sandwiches. I was too busy working on my acceptance speech for Domestic Wife of the Year to cook. ha.

I didn’t break out the light bread and bologna, though, yall… I at least bought some good sub rolls! Ha…

I had to make a photo collage to make it look a little “fancier”!  :)

I did Italian subs and to make them look a little cuter and taste a little yummier I topped them with a Greek (Pepperoncini) Pepper. I have recently become obsessed with these things! They’re the kind that come with a pizza at Papa Johns and are on the salad at Olive Garden. My Granny always had a jar at her house, and I’d never even tried them until a few months ago…and now I LOVE THEM.

After the hay was baled, I tried to get some pictures of AB on one of the round bales. She would have NONE of it. 

I did get her picture on the hay trailer though, with her brother’s boots and hat… they’re kind of cheesy, but still cute…

At first, she didn’t want anything to do with that either…

Then we saw someone driving across the field…

It was Uncle Adam!

Little miss was full of big smiles after that!

One night, we were riding out to the lake, and DW and I let AB sit in one of the tractors, too. She loved having them in the front of the house for the week!

Now all the hay, tractors and equipment are gone, and the field sits empty…waiting on some cows! (Preferably cows that are going to have some babies!) :)

~amw~