Hauling Hay the Crane Way

Saturday morning we all woke up around 6:00 and headed south to Salina. We went straight to the farm and started helping Larry, Mark, and Judd haul hay. Matt and Kelsey go to Salina and work on the farm alot, but I don't go down very often and when I do I usually stay at the house and take care of kids, so it was a nice treat to go to the farm too. Matt and I were married for 6 years before we had kids and I used to help at the farm all of the time with Matt, but since we have had kids, I usually have to stay at the house and take care of babies. It is so nice that Kendal is old enough to sort of take care of herself at the farm now so that I can go too.


When we got there, Judd was driving Mark's truck with a load of hay from the field into the yard. He was doing a great job, but he was more than happy to let Matt take over. Watching Judd drive made me remember the days when I used to drive the old HUGE International truck with the hay elevator hooked to it while my dad and brother Glen loaded the hay bales onto the bed of the truck. I remember that steering wheel was HUGE! I loved driving it and also loved driving the tractor with the trailer hooked onto the back of it while my dad and brother picked up the rocks in the field. My dad used to call those ROCK CONCERTS. Yeah right dad! I have to selfishly admit that when Tori got old enough to drive the tractor I was so sad and MAD because then I had to walk behind the tractor and help pick up rocks! Oh, those were the days!

This is the way the process worked on Saturday. We drove the trucks and trailers into the fields where Mark loaded us up with hay in Mike's skid loader, we drove into the yard where Larry unloaded the hay with the tractor and we did it all over again. In the picture above, I was driving the old brown duelly. It is in horrible shape these days, but let me tell you, 13 years ago Matt had that truck shining! We went on dates in that thing and we actually took a trip to the Manti Temple in the Dually! Anyway, I was driving the brown dually with an old trailer loaded down that is on the left side of the picture. On my first round trip the trailer broke and I was out of a job. I then jumped in with Matt and we had a really good time just talking while he drove like a bat out of Heber just to keep up with the process! He and Mike would dust eachother as they passed in and out of the fields. They were like little boys playing games. They were racing so there wouldn't be very much down time for Larry unloading the hay and Mark loading us up.

I told Matt that I should have gotten a better angle on this picture. That piece in the foreground is a manure spreader. My dad has a better name for it though.

Here is Larry, my father in law welding the trailer I was pullling. He fixed it well enough for me to make one trip, but after that Mike showed up with his HUGE trailer and this older one broke, so it was put away for the day. I was secretly happy because I got to ride with my Matty and actually talk with the feller for a few hours. Imgaine that!

Here is Mark in the skid loader loading me up. Man, Mark has got some moves in that thing! I think he could have done a back flip if he tried hard enough!

Kendal loved playing at the farm and enjoyed the morning riding with me and Matt. Kelsey rode with her uncle Mike and his twins Adri and Alissa and had a good time too.

I meant to get a picture of me in the old brown dually, just for kicks. That poor old truck was beautiful in its prime, but now, I don't even want to describe it, it may make me cry. Okay, here I go - one of the duals no longer exists, I think its hips must have gotten too close to a fence post or something, its tail lights hang out of their sockets like popped out eye balls, you know what? This is making me sad, honestly, I better stop. So imagine a picture of me in a beat up old truck with this caption under the picture. I was driving very slowly on my way out of the field with a falling apart trailer full of hay being careful not to lose a bale as I jumped my way over the furrows when Mike drives up to me in his new Dodge going mock 2 with a nice big trailer and says to me with a big smile as he flies by with the air conditioning blasting "There isn't anything sexier than a brunette in a farm truck!" and then he waved and flew up the field so Mark could load him up with hay. That would have made a great addition to my post, so just imagine it for me please.

After we hauled all the hay in 3 hours that Matt said would have taken at least 3 days to do when he was in high school hauling hay with the bale wagon, we had to go back through the fields and put the gated pipe back in place. I grew up with sprinklers, hand lines to be exact, so this was a new deal for me. It went pretty quickly with everyone helping until we ran into a few problems about 1/2 way through. I let the guys take care of that. Kendal was crying and hot and needing a drink.

Kelsey and Judd were even very helpful, they were put to work closing all the gates. Kendal, Alissa, and Adrianna just walked, played, and after awhile whimpered. It was a hot day.

Here is Mike, Matt's brother and his two little girls, Adri and Alissa. They love going to the farm with their dad and with Grandpa.

It was a fun day working at the farm together with everyone helping. Matt said he loved how fast we hauled all that hay and how fun it was to have so many there to help and play together. Kelsey loves going to the farm and playing with cousins. She is a farmer girl at heart.

By the way, the Crane way isn't always the easiest or right way, but it sure worked out great today! We have a joke that the Crane way, meaning Larry and his male offspring's way (Mindy is exempt because she is a woman and she is very smart and efficient) is usually the hardest, most complicated, inefficient, and worst way of doing something.