Oh, October; you witch, you

So far October resembles the Wicked Witch of the West. But we're only days into it; maybe Glinda will show up yet. Better yet, bring on the Good Witch of the North, with her 'extremely kind and gentle' nature and colder weather. Because, folks, this is not what October should look like!

It is, however, very good weather in which to haul hay, which is what Rick and I spent Sunday doing. ALL DAY. The client with whom he is trading out hay for vet work lives two hours away; we had to hand-load the truck and trailer; we had to RE-load a third of the trailer on a narrow downhill two-lane road between two blind corners (some Good Samaritans helped) after a strap failed; we stopped to buy more straps to tie down the load like it was a rabid King Kong so we could make it the rest of the way home; then, after a bite of supper, we unloaded and stacked the 144 bales into the barn.

After the trailer load in the previous post was stacked

The pickup load was added later, post-'catscan'

After Sunday's labor was finished.

Rick and I survived Sunday (no thanks to the able-bodied 20-year-old; multiple challenges on that front), but Bing did not survive Saturday. He hadn't been able to stand for a week, but was bright and alert, eating and drinking, until that day. He went quietly, as he lived. Bing's fleece is the only one of this year's clip I haven't sold; I think I'll have it processed into roving to spin myself.

I intended to put together the first stage of my breeding group on Sunday, but the hay marathon prevented that. Yesterday I worked and last night Rick finally got Bing buried, so it wasn't until this morning that I finally got to play my version  of "52-card pickup." But I'll save that for the next post.

In the meantime, here are a couple reminders that fall is here, typical or not:

Wet oak leaves at home, last week

Pretty colors after agility class last Thursday

Stay tuned for "12-sheep shuffle" next at . . .