the hay mow swing~

As I was mowing the lawn this morning ... yes ... this morning ~ I was out there by 7:30 finishing up what I didn't do last night because the mosquitoes were so bad ... so I was out there this early morning because it's suppose to be in the 90's today and I didn't want to deal with the heat later on. 

Me and heat don't mix well. Okay... that came out wrong ... "the heat and I".

I always feel like a slab of bacon in a hot frying pan.  I told the loved ones if they see me flopping around on the ground outside, chances are it isn't a seizure or anything ... it just means one side is cooked and it's time to flip me over.

Any hoooooooooooooo ~

While riding around on the lawn mower ... the mind gets to wandering about.   The tire swing ~ hanging from the basswood tree started it.  It conjured up some great memories for me as a child swinging from the ropes and swings that we had hanging from trees and buildings as a kids.  One really cool swing that we had was the rope hanging in the barn's hayloft or haymow as it was often referred to.  It was suspended from the barn ceiling on a pulley system that was once used for a big hay fork that was used to put up loose hay in the mow. 

There were two places built in the barn for hay storage.  One was the upper loft and then there was the lower; where the walls were  supported by two support beams that consisted of heavy poles the width of the lower area.  These poles were about 9 feet off the ground... the upper loft floor was about 10 feet up ... going up to about 20 feet ... the height of the hay mow ceiling.  Also, out the back of the barn was a big hole cut out of the barn wall about 6 feet square ~ about 8 feet up off the ground where Dad would throw hay out for the cows in the winter months while there was hay in that section instead of having to climb down the ladder from the upper loft to throw it through the door.

Being raised on a farm ... and having a lot of time on our hands to figure things out for ourselves to make fun ... my brother Randy, cousin Brian, and my sister Colleen and I were pretty good at doing just that.  One day we were up in the barn swinging from pole to pole on the rope when Randy suggested we figure out a way to swing OUT the hole in the barn from the upper loft.  Mind you... we were just kids... foolish kids... full of ideas... foolish ideas... at that age when we knew it all!

AND... I don't know why ... but I was such a guppy!  My brother and cousin could talk me into trying anything ... at least once.

Also, it was summer time.  By this time of the year almost all of the hay from the previous season has been used for cow feed and the new crop hasn't been  put in yet.  The lower loft is empty once again ... meaning you had to be a little more courageous swinging on the rope between the poles because it was once again a 9 foot drop under you with little hay to cushion a fall.  There were still some bales of hay in the upper loft that had been piled to one side to make room for the new hay coming in.

Now Brian and Randy... put together on scheming up just the right angle to approach the hole in the barn wall.  Also, in there plan was just the "right place" to put your hands on the rope so you wouldn't hit them on the barn wall as you went swinging through the opening on the wall.  They had it all figured out... the mathematical geniuses that they were.   Now all they needed was someone to grab the rope... crawl up to the top of the stacked up bales on the upper loft to get a good swinging start ... and see if the plan worked.

Oh it worked okay ... but somewhere in the plan they forgot to tell me to scrunch up my legs so they wouldn't slam into the wall at 90 miles per hour to prevent me from swinging through the opening and making me lose my grip on the rope and propelling me back into the barn where I hit my head on the support pole on my way down to the hay-less floor. 

Oh those were the days! The Good Lord did watch over us!!!  How we ever survived some of the games we played ~ and if Mom and Dad only knew of some of the games we came up with!! 

~ and I wonder why I suffer with arthritis as an adult and have under gone six knee surgeries from knee caps that didn't develop right because I broke both of them (another story ... it didn't happen from the hay mow swing ... although that little incident could of been a contributing factor).

Until next time...
So it goes in my neck of the woods.
~mel