HAY!

So much of my life is worry about hay, which is so essential to the equine diet. Ten days ago I stopped by Mr. Hardin's house to drop off a check for the last delivery of 33 bales and asked if he had large, horse quality round bales. He said he did, so I asked for one and he delivered it two days later. Asia, Babe and RalphtheWonderPony have been gnawing away at it ever since, but I still fret that I'll run out of hay. I'd been cutting back by two flakes a horse to stretch it out, which is a fine balancing act because cutting back too much can lead to colic. Hay really is the staple of their diet, much more so than grain. I made a point of telling Mr. Hardin that even though they had the round bale, that if he had any more of the square bales, please sell me whatever he could.

About twenty minutes ago the dogs went crazy, barking and running out the doggie door and they kept barking, so I knew it wasn't a squirrel or an errant Florida skunk ape wandering through, but it was Mr. Hardin in my driveway, unlocking the padlock I keep on the gate. He had a trailer with 25 bales of gorgeous, coastal bermuda on the back. So, he, his friend Hubert, and I unloaded and stacked the 25. I put them next to the nine bales already in there and a good portion of my tiny, 12'x12' hay shed is now taken up with heavy, large bales of hay.

It's such a relief.

Yes, my checking account just took a hit and at the end of the month, too, but I have hay. I'm happy about that, but in my next life, I hope my all consuming passion doesn't eat.