Random Thoughts VIII: The Ocho
- Thread starter CycloneRulzzz
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For some reason this made me think of a vampire mom breastfeeding her child. My mind is weird like that sometimes.
DH said detasseling was the worst job. I argued baling hay was worse but he helped with that one time and said detasseling was still worse.
Thanks, I almost added more about my appreciation of it, but knew it could be assumed.
Baling hay is hot, heavy and dusty work; mowing hay is hotter, heavy and dustier. But detasseling was the worst as far as I was concerned. I would go home at night and not be able to fully extend my fingers and my forearms would be screaming at me*.
*And my nips at times. :wink:
It's even worse for short people. You can get claustrophobic - dead air, no breeze, can't see over the corn to see landmarks...I hated mapping soils in cornfields. Booooooo that. Didn't help much that my mapping partner was about 6'5".
DH said the combo of morning dew and late morning heat/humidity is what made it especially unpleasant. Plus all the paper cuts and chaff everywhere.
By the time I was about 14-15, I was unloading wagons by myself. So I'd have a massive right arm by the end of the summer from swinging all the bales onto the elevator. And my hand would be the same thing of not being able to extend fingers.
But then I'd have to go milk and that sucked.
No contest for me on those two. At least when you were throwing hay bales, you could see your progress. When you detasselled, that field went on f-o-r-e-v-e-r.
One massive arm and one massive foot. You were a hunchback away from ringing church bells in France.
I never detasseled because they didn't do that out where I grew up but I baled a lot of hay. Throwing bales on the wagon was work but the worst part was up in the mow grabbing bales off the conveyor and stacking them in all that heat and dust.
I avoided the mow like the plague. Start of summer bales are dropping at you from 15 feet up and the dust was awful. And it's hot and dark.
End of summer you're up in the rafters with the angry hornet's/wasp nests, the bales are piling up faster than you can get them stacked, and it's still hot and dusty.
Agreed. I would rather be on the hay rack in the sun all day rather than in a 110 degree mow that was so dusty you could barely see from one end to the other.
I just told someone yesterday that the best pop I ever had was a warm Squirt that I had stashed in the twine box one day. My mouth was so hot and dusty that even that warm pop was heavenly.
The other fun thing about baling hay was the times you'd pick up a bale and a snake would slither out (or in). The absolute worse was putting up red clover. Needed to wear long sleeved shirts with that crap.
If only BDK were around for this convo.
Full disclosure I never did any of that but full respect those that did.
Full disclosure I never did any of that but full respect those that did.
Old fashioned hay baling setup back in the 50s & 60s in Texas...fastest way to empty the men with the forks out of the wagon was for a rattlesnake to come through the chute into the wagon. Tends to make the snake a mite testy...
Luckily never had to detassle but bailed hay a lot. It sucked but was a hell of a workout. Pretty sure if I would do it now I would have a heart attack and take breaks every 10 minutes.
Both equally bad but built toughness. You don't appreciate most things/jobs until you go through those types of scenarios.
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