The Gnome Did It

The Farmer loves surprises. He often comments that he can't wait until I leave again on a trip so he can do more projects. While I know I'm helpful...I'm good at holding things and handing him tools...and we work well together, there's something The Farmer finds gleefully exciting about surprising me when I come home.

Hey, this girl ain't gonna complain.  

So last week when I was in Portland for the afternoon and got a text adding "dry erase markers" to my shopping list, I figured something was up. 

It was.

I came home to this...

And this...

And this...

And this...

Gotta love The Farmer.

And not just because he hung all these items in my pantry and laundry room. I mean, there is this too. 

I then promptly broke open my newly purchased dry erase markers and left him a note showing my appreciation.

I also needed him to do one teensy tiny more thing...

Of course, The Farmer has denied involvement in any of these projects. So I blamed Carl, the imaginary boyfriend of our imaginary maid, FiFi. Oh, have I not told you about her? Yes, she is a real imaginary maid.

But, no, Carl wasn't to blame, said The Farmer.

Instead he blamed The Gnome.

Sounds good to me. I'll blame anyone The Farmer wishes if only to have The Gnome complete more projects while I have a leisurely lunch with a friend in the Big City. 

The Gnome did it. In the laundry room. With the drill.

Boys and Their Toys

The Farmer got a new toy this week. 

I think it looks like a giant spider. 

But no, it's a tedder. (Not a tetter...at first I thought Tet Offensive and realized I was a nerd. But this is spelled differently and has nothing to do with Vietnam.) And no, I didn't know what a tedder what until I met The Farmer, so don't worry if you are still wondering what the spider-y looking machine does. 

But before I can explain that we have to get this thing off the trailer. 

The Farmer used the SkidSteer and looped that safety strap around the two forks of the forklift. 

Then he added a safety chain to the front...just in case. Because, yeah, you don't want to scratch the paint job.

I normally drive the SkidSteer for The Farmer on jobs.

There was no way I was driving that machine today!

Safely on the ground (phew!), The Farmer started playing with his new toy. 

He had to play with the big arms that spin. Fancy!

They also lower to the ground and add two more tedders to the sides, which increases The Farmer's capacity to ted the fields by about 50%. 16 feet wide...wow!

The tedder is a vital part of haying. Day One of haying you cut the field. On Days Two and Three you ted the field, which essentially turns and fluffs the hay, allowing it to dry faster and evenly. Then after it is dry on Day Four (hopefully) you rake it into wind-rows and bale it. Dry hay is important because you don't want to bale wet hay...it has to be completely dry. This is why you bale hay only on sunny/hot days. If the hay is wet it can combust and start a fire.

You wonder why barns burn down? Not from little boys playing with matches. From wet hay.

So each of those disk-y things have pairs of forks that rotate and fluff the hay. And this new tedder has those hydraulic arms with two more disks of forks for a total of four tedder disks. 

Again, fancy!

After The Farmer was done playing with it we had to figure out a place to put it. We had unloaded it in the driveway that was out-of-the-way but not out-of-the-way enough.

Our solution?

The middle of the barnyard circle drive...so everyone could see it!

And yes, a few folks did stop by to see the new toy. They heard The Farmer had one and wanted to see if for themselves. 

Boys and Their Toys!