Fire!!

What a weekend!

It was the weekend that will forever be known as 

"the weekend that Tin Lizzy (our 1953 Ford tractor) went up in smoke".

as well as a patch of our hay field.

Let me start at the beginning of the story....

We have had several weeks without rain.

Our hay field had grown to about 10 inches since its last cutting.

Fearing that it would dry out and the hay would be lost,

we decided to cut the hay and bale it this weekend.

I started on Friday afternoon with a tractor like this (borrowed from our dairy farmer neighbor).

Slightly intimidated by its size and all those buttons and levers,

I climbed aboard with the haybine in tow.

Gaining confidence with each pass of the field, I increased my speed

and turned up the radio (yes, this tractor has a radio!)

Round and round I went...

and 4 hours later the hay was laying drying in the field.

Becky decided that she would do the raking on Tin Lizzy Saturday.

While she traversed the field, raking the hay into neat rows,

Hubbs and I decided to rest a bit on the front porch, reading (sleeping).

We awoke to the sound of the phone ringing in the house, but did not answer it in time.

Then, my cell phone (in my pocket) went off.

It was Becky....calling from the hay field.

"Tin Lizzy is on fire!" she said. "Bring water, I am afraid the hayfield will catch!"

We jumped out of our chairs and ran to the gator.

Off to the barn to fill up buckets, we sped down the lane.

When we arrived at the hayfield, we found our dear old tractor's tires engulfed in flames.

The fire had broken out around the area of the brake....beneath the driver's seat.

Becky was unharmed, but Ole Liz's tires were toast

and the paint had burnt from her body.

We put out the fire on Liz

and extinguished the burning hay.

Then our neighbor towed Liz out of the hayfield.

With another borrowed tractor, we finished the raking.

And by the end of Sunday had all the hay stowed in the barns.

Becky's horses enjoyed the process,

as we carried bale after bale to the elevator

to be stowed upstairs.

Believe it or not,

with two new tires and a little work

(and a bit of paint)

Ole Tin Lizzy should be back to work in no time.

After all, we need her to pull the manure spreader and the brush hog.

We have a newer John Deere that mows and has a bucket.

Yes, no farm is complete without at least two tractors, it seems!

All I can say is "Never a dull moment!"