Damn, I'm Good...
I was going to make a different post today, but the ol' compy's been acting up so I can't upload the photos to show you all what I was talking about last time. Gadfry... has it already been a month? You all really should update more... especially Tiff. I blame her for my sloth.
Anyway... a friend asked if I could bale and haul some hay for him so we did. It was while I was hauling that I got to thinking about things. As most of you know... that's not always a good thing, but in this case...
The bales were good alfalfa bales, and that means they were like bricks, and those stack incredibly well, so I got to looking at my stack, and it was a pretty nice stack. But pride goeth before the fall, and in stacking terms, that's literal, so I didn't get too haughty.
So... just to tell the tale, there are people who've stacked more hay than I have, but I can stack up there with the best of them, and that's what got me to thinking...
I can't remember when exactly my dad put me on the stacker, he never could stack worth a darn, and it bugged him, so as soon as he could, he put me in that thing. I was probably around 16, and I can remember it like it was yesterday. There's a lot of levers in that thing that run all the hydraulics and you have to fumble around like a schoolboy on prom night trying to find the right one for what you want to do. I was going at a snail's pace too... it was a steep learning curve. Now I can clip along at 10 mph and do everything through muscle memory. Funny thing what better than 20 years of doing something can do for your skills.
It's actually kind of funny... when you're good at something, you make it look easy and everyone thinks they can do it too. They think they can just borrow my machine and the perfect stacks will magically appear. It's not that easy, and I find it hilarious when I go look at their job and it's horrendous.
I take it as a lesson, when you watch somebody and they make what they're doing look real easy, it's probably skill at work, not necessarily that the job is easy in and of itself.
****************************
Today's mystery lyric: (Remember the rules folks, no online searching of the lyrics, if you don't know it, you don't have the answer!)
Out in the street,
dogs are all around you,
cats are all in heat
Answer to last lyric: Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffet. Way to go Tiffy!
Anyway... a friend asked if I could bale and haul some hay for him so we did. It was while I was hauling that I got to thinking about things. As most of you know... that's not always a good thing, but in this case...
The bales were good alfalfa bales, and that means they were like bricks, and those stack incredibly well, so I got to looking at my stack, and it was a pretty nice stack. But pride goeth before the fall, and in stacking terms, that's literal, so I didn't get too haughty.
So... just to tell the tale, there are people who've stacked more hay than I have, but I can stack up there with the best of them, and that's what got me to thinking...
I can't remember when exactly my dad put me on the stacker, he never could stack worth a darn, and it bugged him, so as soon as he could, he put me in that thing. I was probably around 16, and I can remember it like it was yesterday. There's a lot of levers in that thing that run all the hydraulics and you have to fumble around like a schoolboy on prom night trying to find the right one for what you want to do. I was going at a snail's pace too... it was a steep learning curve. Now I can clip along at 10 mph and do everything through muscle memory. Funny thing what better than 20 years of doing something can do for your skills.
It's actually kind of funny... when you're good at something, you make it look easy and everyone thinks they can do it too. They think they can just borrow my machine and the perfect stacks will magically appear. It's not that easy, and I find it hilarious when I go look at their job and it's horrendous.
I take it as a lesson, when you watch somebody and they make what they're doing look real easy, it's probably skill at work, not necessarily that the job is easy in and of itself.
****************************
Today's mystery lyric: (Remember the rules folks, no online searching of the lyrics, if you don't know it, you don't have the answer!)
Out in the street,
dogs are all around you,
cats are all in heat
Answer to last lyric: Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffet. Way to go Tiffy!
posted by LL at 9:52 PM
9 Comments:
This post is begging for a video to demonstrate your skills (or someone else's lack thereof). You can always put a black bar over your eyes like you do with the beard photos. DO IT!!!
Besides, I have no idea how hay gets baled. It would be educational. My Dad used to buy it for our horses, but we just dealt with the finished product and I never gave it much thought how the stuff ended up in a cube shape.
I know enough to just pull out the lounge chair and watch.
fermi - You do realize that if I was on camera... I'd do a horrible job. EVERYTHING would go wrong and you'd hear me use... colorful descriptions when referring to the bales.
I don't have a video camera either and I'm not sure my little digitalcam would do it all justice. If I had a flip... I'd film it for you, but I'm not sure how to put it up here. (just as an aside... a friend flipped us this spring when we had to swim the cattle across the creek. I haven't seen the video, but I'm betting it's worth watching. There was a LOT of water.)
But... if you want an series of instructional blog posts... I'm probably going to cut hay tomorrow, so I'll take the camera with me and take a few pics...
Then I'll take a few more when I'm baling...
Then I'll take a few more when I'm hauling...
Then I'll also take a few of my latest stacks, and those of the neighbor for comparison. He has an excuse though... his stacker is pretty darn old.
BC - I wisht I could do that too.
I want video too. Get a friend with a camera and ask them to do it when you aren't looking so you won't suck.
You grew up on a farm! What the hell do you need a video for?
Sheesh... fermi... do you see what a bad influence you are? Why I still let you come around here... *sigh*
I can think of nothing more interesting right now that instructional hay baling videos.
Clearly I'm in need of a vacation.
Clearly... you've never seen an instructional hay baling video. You'd completely bypass that vacation if'n you had.
That's how I feel about walking in 5 inch heels. I make it look easy, I make it look good but it took a lot of twisted ankles to get me there!
Ahhh BEEutiful... I'm wagering you make everything look good.
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