Deep Summer in Iowa

Many years ago I read a novel, Deep Summer, by Gwen Bristow. Its setting was during the early 1800's on a plantation in the Deep South during summer. The author aptly conveyed the feeling of thick, heavy humidity and heat which blanketed the landscape, and permeated the homes and lives of the story's characters. That's all I really remember about the book, no other details come to mind. Right now, here in Iowa we're enveloped in similar overwhelming heat and mugginess. It's good for the crops......supposedly you can hear the corn grow if you're outdoors on a hot, humid night.



The photo shown here, one of the first taken with my new digital camera (sorry, I can't seem to get the photo to upload......imagine a green-striped farm field) shows where I spent all afternoon on Saturday driving the tractor pulling the hay baler. Not a bad place to be, since the tractor had good air conditioning. The guys unloading the bales had a much rougher time of it, as they labored and sweated out in the hot sun. Round and round the field I went, keeping an eye on the green swaths of hay being gobbled up by the rotating tines of the baler. Watching is important to make sure the baler doesn't get plugged up, even though it means getting a stiff neck from looking backwards all the time. Sometimes other things will go wrong, like the twine will stop tying around the bales correctly, or a pin will shear on the flywheel. Then I have to stop the tractor and assess the situation, fix it if possible, or call Husband to come out and help. Fortunately, nothing like that happened on Saturday, the baler operated smoothly like clockwork.



As I bounced along and steered the tractor, my thoughts wandered and I imagined that the bales are like the days or years of our lives. Each one being molded, shaped, and tied into a block of hay which then gets deposited in the wagon. When the wagon gets full......well, that's it folks.......a load of days and years gets dumped out and put away.



Make the most of whatever moldings, shapings, or tyings come your way today!!