The 4th of July Meets Hay Week

Putting up 27 acres of grass hay in small square bales is no small feat. Between mowing, raking, baling and stacking it all in the shed it ends up taking almost a week. Hence, the term hay week, when the rest of life is put on hold and we make hay while the sun shines and pray it does not rain until we are done. This year the final push to get the hay in the barn fell on the 4th of July. It has been a few years since we spent the 4th doing hay, but this was definitely not the first time. :)

Everyone worked hard, put in extra hours and worked as a team. I missed a lot of hay week because I was in Omaha working with Compass Ministries, but I was able to be home for the 4th and capture some of the action to share with you all.

Benjamin enjoyed hauling the full and empty hay racks back and forth from the field to the shed. The 656 got to put in some more good service hours.

Before it was mowed, the grass in the big pasture was up to Benjamin's chest. Needless to say it made for a lot of hay.

The whole operation in motion.

Leah is our current resident tractor driver for haying. She does a pretty good job from what I hear.

Christopher came over to help and on the 4th was assigned riding the rack duty. This is one of the hardest jobs in haying because not only do you have to haul and buck bales, you have to do it while surfing...

Hay! That's what we make, we make a lot a hay... :)

In the mean time the kitchen crew headed up two important projects, getting the house in order and making food for the troops. Hay week has a tendency to wreak havoc on an orderly or even semi-orderly house and since I was not needed for unloading this year I put the little people to work getting it back in good shape.

We made good time cleaning the house and started in on making lunch. It was the 4th of July after all and a cook-out with trimmings was in order.

Regretfully, grilling is not one of my areas of expertise. I can start fires though and even though this picture is quite deceiving I got a good blaze going. Leah came up out of the field just in time to save the burgers and hot dogs from my grilling and lunch turned out splendidly.

After lunch it was back to work on the hay, especially getting it into the shed. Daniel also came over to help, much to the unloading crew's relief.

I know this looks like three of the same picture in a row, but the sequence of what happens to Timothy, or should I say what looks like happens to Timothy, was just priceless. Step 1....

Step 2....

Step 3... Rise victorious!

After the hay was all up and in the shed it was time for relaxing. About 9 we went in to town for the fireworks. As you can see, we set up as close as we could possibly get. I remember when I was little and the tape line was right on the dirt... I guess that was before they shot off fireworks from right there instead of just lighting them behind the fence.

Becca brought a soccer ball to share and before long they had quite the game going.

Meanwhile the rest of us chilled and soaked in the beautiful evening and way too much bug spray.

Did I mention it was a beautiful evening?

The Kenistons are a band composed mostly of Lyons residents that plays before the fireworks every year. Leah and John sat as close as they could and enjoyed the show. Look closely, Leah is in the orange shirt and straw hat and John is in her lap.

And of course, the fireworks. On the first day God made light and on the 6th day He made man in his own image. Hence, it is not surprising that as soon as he could, man invented fireworks, one of the most beautiful man-made ways of displaying light on the planet. I adore fireworks and wish there were more holidays on which cities took it upon themselves to shoot them off for the enjoyment of all their citizens. There was a great deal of cheering and hooting from our corner of the park with every display and when it was all over we trundled ourselves home and into bed. The perfect ending to an awesome and productive Independence Day!