Mustang Saga

This isn't horse related, but I joined in a little competition yesterday. John and some guys from work were planning a "Biggest Loser" competition over the next 3 months and I decided to do it too. I'm not real competitive but I figured this will keep me from quitting, and there is a cash pot for the winner. I'm thinking maybe some chinks are in my future, if I can kick some butt. The guys have a lot more to lose, except for one of them, and they're guys, so they drop weight easier (statistically). I don't know... I think I still have a chance.

So... How's this for a workout. Here's a hay shelter, and I'm standing at the truck, which is as close as I can get it. I dragged on my toboggan, one-by-one, 19 bales of grass hay and 4 bales of alfalfa.
Then, once dragged, I had to hoist them up into the truck, which was made harder than usual by the fact that the bed was at the level of my waist, thanks to the snow packed under the tires. The alfalfa bales weigh 85 pounds or so. I almost didn't get them up there, had to try a few times on a couple of them, but I persevered. (And I made sure to do those first, before I was tired. Lesson learned from last time.)

Followed those with 19 bales of grass hay, climbing up into the truck to stack them, then back down to get more. I did this all by mine own dos. (Which means "all by myself" in my toddler neice's language.) John offered help twice but I turned him down.

Check out my stack:

Yep, it's messy as heck. The baler wasn't very friendly this last year, made some awful lopsided bales, and I'm lucky I only broke one bale in the process today.

Then I took it to the barn and stacked it there. Which was a whole different process, as I had to carry them rather than drag them, but at least I wasn't hoisting many of them upward.

The horses got very excited when they saw me with all that hay (mostly Cisco, he's a P-I-G). And I'm a pushover, because I gave them some of that broken bale.

My friend Melissa just called and she unloaded a ton and a half of 135 pound bales today, and she's about 20 years older than me. She just rolled them out into stacks 3 high, but still, it kinda belittles my accomplishment!