Wow, that's hot!

Just noticed the headlines from the kievpost website Garry was on earlier today- Explosion on Dnipropetroesk tram on Monday- 8 injured-  Turns out that it had nothing to do with the bombings last month, in which four people have been arrested apparently after trying to get paid millions for not setting off more. In fact, it is reported that this explosion was caused by a hunter carrying gunpowder in a case which exploded because of the heat. It was hot yesterday morning when I picked the peas, and by afternoon when I hung out the laundry it was like a wall of heavy hot air hit you when walking out the door.

Garry was hot yesterday as he stacked the first wagonload of hay himself, nine bales high in the afternoon. He called me to drive over and bring some cold water to drink, while they were waiting for Serosia to bring them a second wagon. Garry had raked the hay in the morning and thought it would all fit on one load, but there was more than he thought. They made 250 bales off the new seeding across the highway on its first cutting- there was some ragweed growing there with the alfalfa, but he says the cows think it looks good to eat. Before lunch Maxim baled some hay for some people, as he explained to Garry last night, there were two pieces side by side with people standing waiting to grab the bales as they came out of the baler, Max was traveling from one side to the other so the bales with one's hay would come out on the other's side of the field so they would run back and forth behind the baler, returning "their" hay to their own side of the field, with the other guys doing the same in the hot sun. Many people are getting the guys to bale their hay, with it compressed into bales they can store much more if they keep it inside a shed.

This morning he unloaded them into the barn with the assistance of a couple young guys, since Maxim had to leave by 6:30 this morning to go take his tractor exam (its true- Maxim may finally be getting his tractor driving licence, I'll believe it when I see it!.) The bales are lighter than the first ones they made this year, but they had trouble keeping up moving them across the hay mow and stacking them, so Garry would jump into the mow and help stack so they could catch up .Garry was back in the house for breakfast by 8 am, he got a shower to cool off, and yet another spinach-based treat, you wouldn't believe the crop we are getting this year with the drip irrigation in the garden.

I took a photo when I brought them some water while waiting for a second wagon yesterday

This guy didn't last long throwing the bales off into the mow, he was too slow for Garry- so he took over and unloaded both loads!

Garry hopes to get the second cut done, along with cutting the rest of the new seeding over on this side of the highway, maybe even before we leave Saturday evening on the overnight train to Kiev, since it looks like Maxim will have to bale the straw while we are gone; the wheat (and so the staw) will be ready early this year. We will be taking a 23 hour train trip from Kiev to Budapest to attend our mission conference, and then flying to Canada for Seth's high school graduation and Josh's wedding to Krissy on the 30th, returning the first week of July.

Well, I have a list a mile long to finish before Saturday, plus this morning I am turning the raspberries Garry got as a gift while breeding a cow Sunday evening into jam...