Of Hay Bales and Heart Attacks

Sometimes the drama.......
            We start out the weekend with a passel of kids for some good outdoor fun with horses and farm chores. The hay was cut and getting ready to be baled.
       By Saturday night we had 6 kids, three elderly folks,three women and a stack of large pizzas. I was passing out milk and animal crackers to the children. My step mother Jo Anne walks through the kitchen talks to me, takes ten steps into the living room and collapses on the floor. She had enough strength to call out to me to call an ambulance. I grab one of the house phones. One of the kids had pushed a button and no dial tone. I holler for someone to find a cell phone. 911 was called, my stepbrother was fetched from his place on the farm. I sent the kids out on the patio and by the time the first responders were starting to roll in the kids were on the cellar making ambulance sounds. I herd kids and dogs into the studio while the other adults dealt with the ambulance and stuff. It was a heart attack and a bad one. She was life flighted to the city had a stint put in a couple of hours later. Stable...thank God.
      The hay started getting baled on Sunday afternoon. All the kids were gone but one. Paula and I and 10 year old Terra get 50 bales up that night. I lift bales but know better. I sleep with a heating pad around my wrist. That bad break from that bad landing. Terra goes home.
    Monday rolls around no help in sight. Paula brings her 90 year old mom. We feed her and Dad before heading out to the field. I take only one glove to keep me from using my left hand. Paula loads I drive the truck and trailer. I pull the bales off with one hand while Paula stacks them in the barn.
    Lunch for the parents and us. They are doing fine. Mike shows up to finish baling. We get another trailer full and put in the barn. We get slower. It's 4 and we fill the trailer again. Help shows up. We count bales left on the ground and decide to sell 50 bales. A few phone calls later we have folks pulling up to pick it up. My niece brings dinner for us all. We are done, tired and relieved. We have 200 bales up for winter. It starts raining after midnight.
       Jo Anne is being released from the hospital today.