How to be a Hairy Beast: #beastmode

The kids are so So SO happy the hay is done and they have their field back. 

   
Run the Beasties, run the Beasties…

 

… run the hairy, Hairy Beasts….

So, my girl dog learned a new trick. 

  
Yup, that’s the ATV her shadow is perched on. Riding. How #babybeast rolls. 

Quotable: choices

Words are the tangible expression of thoughts and feelings. And we’ve heard from various quarters that words matter. That they have meaning, they have influence, and can in turn shape our feelings, our emotions, the atmosphere around us. Our thoughts, feelings, emotions, the atmosphere around us shape the words we choose to use. I know this to be true in my own experience.

It’s as much true for the words we say out loud as the words we repeat inside, in our head, to ourselves. It’s a powerful thing, this self-talk ticker-tape.

The good news: words don’t just happen willy-nilly.

We get to choose them. Intentionally.

Deliberately.

 

Choice. It’s a powerful thing.

There’s  a lot going on in my life just now. Personally, professionally. When I take a step back from the intensity of it all and just observe for a minute … I’ve been in similar seasons of staring down mamba jamba all.the.ALL.the.things. to-do lists, lists that have kept me awake at night and given rise to far more serious consideration of taking up a coping mechanism not very healthy for me than should be warranted.

It’s true, thinking leads to a state of being. I’m thankful I’ve made a concious decision to edit my choices. To edit my words. And very heavily censure my self-talk ticker-tape.

I can’t change the circumstances, but I can change how I react and respond to them.

I choose to focus on the things I can do, not the things I can’t.

I choose to see the opportunity in each new day.

I choose to not be overwhelmed.

What do you choose?

Quotable: grassed up

Now that Hay Season 2015 is successfully mowed down, I can turn my attention to other things on my list. In this context, I don’t mean the rest of the always-populated list of #farmchores. 

No, I mean a list of a different sort. My 101 Bucket: 101 Things To Do in 1,001 Days. Because if there’s no deadline, there’s no pressure to prioritize, and take action. “Someday” isn’t, in turns out, a specific enough descriptor that actually gets things done.   (The count down timer’s set for Christmas 2017. I’m over a year in and due to update the list. Stay tuned.)

Anyway, I digress. Number 68 is to add a quote per week to my quote book for two months (or, eight weeks).

This one is just too perfect a segway from the Adventures in Haying series to pass up:

 

credit: Kelly Hood

 
What quotable resonates with you this week?

“It’s ALIVE!”

“It’s ALIVE!”

Say that in your best B-grade monster movie actor over-the-top anguished voice. Because it is. Alive. The List. The To-Do list. Farm work. Chores. #daylightsburning

Finishing up the hay finished that project.

Number three on the revised list, it’s a living, breathing thing, mind, number three on the revised list was to cut the grass on the neighbors side of the north fence line.


This is a significant project for two reasons:

  1. Neighbor lady is widowed Old People. It’s just the right thing to do.
  2. Over-ripe grass on a hot summer day on an electric fence is a fire hazard.

It is hard work, this fence line. The ground is uneven and rutted. Normally I do this job with Willy the Weed Whacker (22hp push), but alas, ole Will wasn’t up to the task this year. So, Percival the Push Mower got a chance to get out of the shop.

  

First outing for Percy in over a year. Acquitted himself quite well. Don’t tell Willy, but Percy gets this contract going forward. Far fewer tangles and sputters.


Seven days on the big tractor, no problem. Three hours with the push mower, I’m stiff getting up from the chair tonight. Uffda.  But for all the sweat and manhandling of the mower, I must say it’s quite gratifying to look back at the finished work. And to not worry about grass on the fence line starting a fire.

#babybeast would like to report schwimming x2 today. She’s a very happy dog.

Adventures in Haying: day 7

 And on the seventh day, she rested. 

Well, it wasn’t technically a complete day of rest. The Baler didn’t finish yesterday, so I had an opportunity to flip a section I was concerned about one more time. 
  
After that, the pups and I had  a nice stroll around the field. 

  
I love the mid-morning. It’s brilliantly nice, but not too hot. 

Stonehenge level: you’re doing it wrong. 

   

One little, two little, three little hay bales, four little, five little, six little hay bales…

Being out in the field, all day, it’s tough work for a dog. And for the seventh day straight. All work and no play is not good for a #hairybeast. Schwimming?

  
Once the Baler arrived and got started for the day, it was on to cleaning up corners. Forgot to mention that yesterday–sometimes the corners are a little dicey and you have to pick a line. That often means some stuff gets missed. So, cleaned up corners. 

Schwimming?

  

Baler’s done, 22 ton. Yay! Two more than last year. And happy customers. Or, more accurately, happy customer horses, goats, and mule. And everyone will come back next year. 
Schwimming??!!??

  
Yes, the pushy dogs got their way. Twice. 

Don’t mind admitting I trundled off and napped away the early evening. Now the pressure of getting it all done is off, I find I’m tired. It’s been a long week. A very long week. 
  
Tomorrow is a sleeping in day. Don’t think it will be too hard to convince the #hairybeasts.