Our last and final hay cut of the season was the golden one. The best hay, the perfect conditions and we put up some excellent hay. Mark and Tony baled 3 flat racks of small squares. One of those I was the driver. Mark gave me a 30 second how to and turned me lose. Use the clutch and the brake, ease the clutch, put it in drive, park when you stop, throttle up to a certain rpm, keep it in this gear at this speed, turn this button to turn the PTO for the baler, and on and on. Wow, I was feeling a bit nervous. I didn't have time to be. He put Luke in the buddy seat to help me watch the rack and he jumped on to start stacking and went to baling. I think I handled it well. I kind of impressed myself. After we finished a rack, Jayden came home and the rodeo team picked her and her horse up to head to North Platte, NE. I wanted to go watch, but 7+ hours is just too far to drive alone.Back to the hay field I went and for hours Jake and I hauled square bales. We hired a guy to bale 1600 lb square bales. This was new to all of us. Mark loaded our trailers, 12 at a time and we hauled them to the cow barn where Tony unloaded them into the cow barn. Those trucks really had to work to pull the heavy load. Jake was in a separate truck hauling as well. I don't know what made me more nervous, myself hauling all the bales or Jake. I was so thankful that after 4 loads, I never met anyone on the road. It was a lot of sitting and waiting , wait to be loaded, wait to unload. I am not much for sitting still and being patient. It about killed me. I grabbed some magazines and had Luke along for company. We finished around 7:30PM and had a late supper.
Jayden left for North Platte, NE on Thursday just after noon. The rodeo team picked her up with the university dually and one of the team members 3 horse bumper trailer. We arent sure why they didnt take our featherlite which would have been much smoother. The new team coach was along and I got to hear all about her later. She sounds like quite the gal. She had the team all upset by the end of the weekend. She is very controlling, wants to be in charge, and is goal driven. One of the main issues, the coach doesnt know anything about rodeo and it shows in many ways. It sounded like she took the fun out of the weekend and their were lots of confrontations. It's really too bad. There were 5 people including the coach that rode in the truck Jayden was in. She is getting to know the team members, some are experienced and serious, several are just there for the party and dont take much care in their horses. This is a sport Jayden takes serious and enjoys and wants to compete the best she can. Each part of college is part of the life lessons she will learn. This weekend it was a lot in tolerating people. She also was amazed at how much money she went through. When it is her own money that she is spending on food and gas, you really pay attention. She also had a scary run. She was first on the ground and her horse, Astro fell. His back legs went out from under him, but he didnt roll. It was scary to watch from the video. I am so thankful she and her horse were ok. I hate to see that! I try not to worry when she is so far away at a rodeo. I am used to her traveling with Mark or I, or a responsible barrel racer or family. She is hauling with college partying, young wild kids to another state with horses in a trailer. I am not comfortable with it, but I am trying to trust that it will all be ok. She is under God's protection and all I can do is pray.
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