Making the Load 1999 - L to R - Lenny's friend driving, Bo Kolakis behind the bailer, Jason Caceda and Tommy Poulin stacking bales, Lenny Thomas behind the cart retrieving a bale.
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This Summer Lenny Thomas had some help when he hayed Margie Pickering's field - BOY POWER. Bo Kolakis, Lenny and his friend arrived on the day the hay needed to be baled and stacked in the barn. Judy and I rounded up our boys and some of their friends. About 350 bales total were loaded onto three carts, unloaded, carried and stacked in two barns. The bales looked to be about 3 foot bales - some light where the hay was coarse and "weedy" - some real heavy (40-50 pounds?) where the grass had been green and thick. |
Alex Kelly unloading a cart.
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The boys attacked the first cart with vim and vigor. Judy and I had warned them that it took "real muscles" to push hay around. Naive about hay, but filled with boundless energy and enthusiasm, the boys took charge and started tossing bales. Part way through, activity had slowed somewhat, and there was much more rolling of hay bales than tossing! Margie was enjoying the scene from her chair as Matriarch. Somewhere in there Lenny showed up to ask "How you all doing?" |
Jason Caceda - King
of the Mow in the Rafters.
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| By the end of the first cart, a true appreciation for the life of a farmhand was evidenced by all. Hot - sweaty - pricked - scratched - red faced - bodies took up various reclining positions around the barn breathing hard without saying much. |
Tom Poulin done haying for 1999.
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Now it seems that Lenny became somewhat of a hero to the teenagers that day - a Paul Bunyan of the hay field - able to lift bales in both hands and clear acres of hay in his path. Well ... maybe not quite, but Lenny works hay all summer long and his muscles are real, not just "buff". The boys recognized that and gained lots of respect for anyone who could hay for more than one day!
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Steven Poulin unloading a cart.
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Virgil Vaillancourt stacking bales in the barn with Jason Caceda by the roof rafters. |
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