Oh, happy day!

It's national
















doughnut day.


I heard it on the radio this morning and took it as an excuse to eat doughnut holes (and share them with the newsroom, too).

How wierd is this?

I'm blogging from a hotel room in South Carolina tonight after attending a workshop all day today. I left Shelby around 7 a.m. and drove until about 10 a.m., when I arrived at the conference center. After a long (but really good) day of meetings, I drove to my hotel, checked in, took a glorious nap (as you'll recall from my New York City entries, I love doing this) in a fluffy bed (I also have a thing for featherbeds).

I woke up three hours later, then went to the mall across the street to do a little walking around. I bought Gracie a new collar because she keeps breaking hers. (This new one is guaranteed for life, which will probably com in handy, considering she's been through four collars in three years.)

Around 8:30 p.m., I went down the street for dinner at a Chili's. I placed my order and started looking around the restaurant while I waited on my food, looked up and saw someone who looked really familiar. The first name registered with me as Matt. I couldn't remember the last name to save my life. So when my waitress came back, I confirmed that the waiter was, indeed, named Matt and had her send him over.

Turns out, it was Matt Tryon, who graduated from Gardner-Webb a semester before I did. What are the odds of that happening? (For those of you who know him, he's in grad school for advertising/PR.)

Anyway, I was really glad to see a familiar face and get to catch up. Yea Matt!

Saturday evening part two

Keeping the hay away from the cows is a challenge when the barn we're unloading into is located inside their fence. It takes a bit of creativity to keep them away from the trucks and trailers we're unloading. Once we're done, we close off the barn with gates so the cows don't pilfer it overnight.

he cow standing by itself in one photo was really bent on getting some of the fresh bales and had to be shooed away several times. He's even licking his lips in the photo.

The two women in the last photo are my mother (left) and my aunt, who were taking a break after we brought a load back to the barn.

I also had a bit of a surprise when I carried a bale from the trailer to the stack in the barn. When I sat it down, a snake's head and body were coming out of the bale... I dropped that one and backed away a few steps before I discovered that it was really dead and that it had evidently been hit by either the mower or the bailer. Its eyes were still open, so I made the boys take care of that bale. It was too freaky.

How I spent my Saturday evening

You guessed it... hay season continues.

This time was a lot easier because part of the field was shaded and we were using a much more open barn, so it's easier to breathe through the dust.

The first photo is of a load of hay coming out of the field. (I'm taking it from another truck.)

The second photo is of my cousin Jeremy, who is going back over the field to glean any leftover hay and turn it into a final bale or two.

The third photo is of two loads of hay waiting to be put into the barn.

Although the work is hot and heavy, it feels great to go inside when it gets dark, take a shower and just sit. It also makes you appreciate iced tea, air conditioning and cold showers.