We have hay!

Today started out well as we got a phone call from the garage to let us know that our Surburban was ready to pick up anytime. We have been without the Suburban for 5-6 weeks now. This is the second garage in that time and the one that finally got the job done. The call came just in time too as today we were scheduled to go pick up our hay in Virginia and the Suburban is our heavy tow vehicle.

I had tried to find some Orchard Grass hay local to us but those that I had found that grow orchard grass were currently out and couldn't quarentie any more until the end of May. We needed some before then so I started to look further out. Finaly, someone on the alpaca classified yahoo group I belong to posted the contact info for a hay dealer in Virginia. A Google map search showed his farm, Allendale Farm Hay and Straw, was about two hours North of us. I called him up and confirmed the pick up of 50 bales of orchard grass and the day we could come up to pick it up. Which is now today!

So, Neil, the kids and I went to pick up the Suburban and then came home to empty out the big trailer of the wood we had stored in there. Once we set off it was a nice easy drive to Allendale Farm. But, I guess we were later then they had expected so we had to wait for them to finish loading another truck & trailer before we could load ours. They do not keep the normal size square bales in stock. Instead they store their hay in either large round bales or large square bales and then they rebale the hay to your order while you wait. We needed to wait about an hour for them to finish with the truck ahead of us. They were nice enough to allow us to take the kids up to their yard behind their house were we could let them out of the car and play. They was a great tree swing there and a huge boulder to crawl and play on. Just about when the kids were runny low on patience it was time to load up our order. The process they have setup to rebale was really neat to watch and I loved being in the baling building and smelling the hay around me. Neil on the other hand sneezed the rest of the afternoon. We didn't have to do anything but watch the process as one guy ran the baler and another loaded the trailer for us.

By the time we left there, stopped at a grocery store and then made it home it was after 8pm! So, needless to say we didn't get much else done today. Oh well, we had a nice drive, got our hay and fun with the kids and that is all that matters.