Always Something Funny Around Here... Part 1

So part 1 of the story began Sunday night, just before 10pm... Shawn and I had just finished playing a couple games of Scrabble and were tired... we went upstairs to shower and get ready for bed. It was chilly, so I started shutting windows and blinds and when I got to the bedroom window that faces out on the driveway, I can see a vehicle pulled to the side of the road with its lights on. Being nosy, I watch for a couple minutes then realize that not only is there a vehicle, there's someone walking around in the ditch in our front field, just on the other side of the trees.

I call Shawn over to verify this and indeed I'm not just seeing things. (yay!!) Immediately, I'm a little mad and consider yelling out the window to get off my property. I think "Jeeze, I moved out of suburbia to get away from people, now get away from me!" I'm feeling kinda offended and cranky. I decide I'm gonna go out there and confront them and see what's going on.

So I grab my sweater and run downstairs, grab my keys and boots and Shawn and I both get in the van and drive down the driveway. It occurs to me before we get there that perhaps they hit a deer or something and that possible scenario plays through my head... and makes me a little less angry.

As we go down the driveway, we see something obstructing the end of our driveway... as we get closer, it looks like... hay? We drive down as far as we can, then get out and approach the pulled over vehicle. We can hear the people's voices, but not see them as the headlights are blinding us. Once we get close I holler out "Hello?" They respond and then I ask "Did you lose some hay?"

"No, its not our hay, but we're loading up our truck, we could use it for our horses." Our eyes are then starting to adjust and we can see a bit more of what's going on... all along the front of our property there's bales of hay and loose hay... down in the ditch there's more! The guy is down in the ditch and bringing bales back up to the road and then loading them.

I send Shawn up to the house for flashlights and when he comes back, it makes a huge difference and we can really see what's going on. All together there must have been 20 - 30 square bales that someone lost. So the people have their truck loaded and say they'll be back for the rest, they just live up the road a bit.

Shawn and I start to kick all the loose flakes into piles... pull the loose hay off our mailbox (which now leans to the side a bit more than it did!)... pull the loose hay off our garbage and out of our black recycling box. We drive back up to the outbuildings and get my plastic manure fork and my metal garden fork and head back down.

Shawn climbed down in the scary ditch with the metal fork and pulled up some more bales and we set them on the very edge of the ditch. Its quite steep down into the ditch there and the grass is really long and is matted in many layers... Shawn figures at many points there that the grass layers are like a foot thick... so its very springy and hard to walk on. I stayed up at the side of the ditch, holding the light ;)

So we wait for the people to come back... and it seems to be taking a long time. We start to discuss whether WE want to save any of the hay for ourselves or not. We decide that we'd rather not, as we don't have a good place to put it right now, it'll just get damp or wet and ruined... and we don't really NEED it right now... Shawn wonders how much the hay is worth... I tell him its going for about $3 a bale around here right now. He thinks this is very funny that its so cheap... he wont be laughing when and if the time comes and we have more mouths to feed and he finds out how quickly they can consume / pee /poop /waste $3 of hay ;)

Then we hear more voices... and see a light coming down the neighbour across the street's driveway. They have 2 ponies and an assortment of dogs and kids. I call out to them and they've come out to see about the hay also. They are worried that hay left on the road will attract their ponies and they will get hit. They mention that they are well aware there are holes in their fences and that its entirely possible the ponies could leave.

They brought some big clear plastic bags with them and they start filling them with hay. They express an interest that they'd really like the rest of the hay, but have no way of getting it back up their long driveway. It starts to seem like the first people might not be back. I don't really want the hay left on the road in front of my house... maybe it would attract deer... they'd get hit... I'd feel bad... or maybe I would have to clean it up or something unpleasant... I'd really rather it go away and someone get some use out of it.

So I suggest that we could put some hay in the van and take it up for them. So we fill the entire back of the mini van with bales and loose hay. We only have the two front seats in, so there's plenty of room and we get a whole bunch in. We pack it tight and then there's still a few more bales and loose stuff. Just when we're about ready to drive it down their lane, the original people show up and want more.

The original people are annoyed that someone else got some hay... the people across the street are annoyed that they came back... everyone seems really resentful of everyone else and suspicious... really weird...so of course, I say things like "lots of free hay for everyone" and I help throw the last few bales into the original people's truck... then its all cleaned up and they leave.

Shawn and I then go down the neighbour's long driveway and park up near their barn. They catch up on foot and they say its ok ot just unload it there...so we do.

While unloading, I hear they are getting 2 more horses and I ask a bunch of questions... they already have the pony mare and her almost 4 month old colt... and the 2 new horses are both STUDS. One stud they are planning to keep and the other has some complicated future ahead of it that involves a friend trading the stud for a mare or something.

So these people, that admit they KNOW there are breaks in their fence are getting 2 studs... one stud at least long term... and they plan to breed the pony mare to the stud they are keeping. Jayne, are you getting a clear picture of this??? ARGH!!

But I'm polite, I try really hard not to say anything judgmental... I don't offer any advice... I don't express any concerns... I dump the hay and we get going.

I can just imagine how this might play out though. Good grief.

So that's my funny little story about someone that lost some hay and the scavengers that emerged to "clean up" the hay.... it reminded me of how we used to put stuff we didn't want at the curb at our old house and within an hour, sometimes minutes, sometimes we didn't even get it all to the curb, someone would swoop in and claim it.

Also a good reminder to not put things near the road you actually WANT ;)

I'm still curious how someone could lose 20 - 30 bales and not notice... not come back... not clean it up... seems weird to me... guess they realized it wasn't worth all that much $$ either!!

So yesterday, I spent the morning with the shop vac, then the dyson vacuum cleaning up the van of all the hay residue and the dog hair that was already there. It cleaned up really nice... in the morning when I took Shawn to work, it looked like a barnyard on wheels... when I picked Shawn up at 5pm, he wondered if I'd traded the van in for a similar, but cleaner, one!

I made another trip to TSC yesterday and bought another black rubber stall mat. Now, with just the front seats in, the whole back of the van is matted in 2 pieces. With Jess gone, we don't really need the other seats in, the van is much more useful to us this way... for carrying fencing, hay... goodness only knows what else!!

Plus the dogs get good traction all around the back, which they like... it also helps protect the van a bit from stuff getting into the carpet and from scratching things up. Being as its in 2 pieces, it wont be too horrible to remove for those few times when more seats are needed. As I said to Shawn, its about as close to a pickup truck as I can get right now... sad but true ;)