No, I Didn't Marry An Axe Murderer

But he was sharpening his knives all morning...

Big scary knives!

So what happens on a farm is that one day in May (or June, in this case this year), "We're going to start sileage" is announced. You know it's coming. The Farmer has been checking the weather forecast for the past two weeks. He's been hemming and hahhing over what the next two weeks will bring in terms of rain. And in the PNW, well, that's a tough job. Because when you start sileage you have to finish sileage (at least on The Farmer's Farm). And it takes two weeks.

So you wait. And wait. And The Farmer gets nervous. And The Farmer starts to get annoyed. And then, suddenly "Sileage!" is declared, almost like Senior Skip Day and everything re-routes in his world for two weeks. My world, I'll admit, is still pretty much the same except that lunch has now turned into picnics on the back of the brown pickup in the middle of a sileage field.

Could be worse.

So yesterday morning The Farmer sharpened his knives.

These are the knives. OK, they probably are called blades in The Farmer's world, but you catch my drift.

They spin very fast and chop up the grass into sileage.

As you can see, the blades need a little help.

So The Farmer pulls this metal rod in and out slowly while the blades turn.

The cover of the blades is closed and locked for this process.

Because, well, you could lose a finger.

Or four, according to this warning sign on the side of the machine.

Side Note: I find it interesting that the Spanish word for "warning" looks like "advertisement." Why, yes, you should be warned about all those dang ads on TV. Many are annoying and make you want to poke your eyes out (but not necessarily chop off your fingers).

The Farmer inspects the results of his first attempts at sharpening.

In case you are worried, the machine is turned off at this point. No fingers were hurt in the documenting of this process.

And what does sharpening sound like?

Well, since you are running this stone block over metal blades, it sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard.

But really really loud.

Since I've only been a Farmer's Wife for a mere four weeks, I don't really know what any of these other parts do on the machine, but I took pictures anyways.

OK, I do know that big spout thing-y (technical term) spews the cut sileage into the wagon behind the tractor/cutter. I can figure that out, at least!

And the final result? The Farmer driving around his fields, cutting sileage.

(Wave...)

Note to Self: Take better/closer photo tomorrow at lunch.