fourteen bales

This is the early-morning scene from my back porch today.  The alfalfa we didn't plan on having produced fourteen bales.  Our old baler doesn't make the huge bales you commonly see; it would probably take two of ours to equal the bigger bales, but these are a nice size for our use; Cliff's little John Deere can handle them nicely.  Besides, this is the only baler we could find for $500; Cliff's brother in Kansas found it for us.  

The baler doesn't quite work properly, so Cliff has to get off the tractor with every single bale and help the baler tie the twine.  This has always made me nervous; it looks dangerous to me.  I can guarantee that Cliff was one tired puppy after all that walking around the tractor and climbing up on the baler.   That's probably why he fell back asleep after drinking two cups of coffee in bed.
Anyway, our cows will have alfalfa for at least three months of the winter next year.  We won't turn the horses in on this hay.  In fact, we don't let them have access to big bales at all, not since Blue foundered and was put down.  Last winter Adam took over the feeding of his horses, which made less work for us and more money in his pocket.  


I saw one hummingbird yesterday, could have been the same one as the day before.  I get so excited when the hummingbirds return.