A Penny A Bale

Life In The Boot

Yesterday they  baled square bales on the pasture I can see from our balcony. They do rounds bales on the other pastures that are further away. They have done it the same way for the eight years we have been living here. The first year I watched them as they went through the routine of picking up the bales. The father walked besides a low trailer being pulled by a tractor. That first year, the tractor was being driving by a boy about  eight years old. It bothered me that the father kept screaming coldly , "Slow down!" Or "Speed up!".

I tried hauling hay when I was in high school. If my memory serves me correctly, we worked as a team of about eight guys. We were paid a penny a bale each. So if we picked up, loaded and unloaded 1500 bales, we each made 15 bucks. It wasn't all work as a lot of time was spent riding back and forth to the barns. The worst part was the itching. I only did it once.

That little boy that was driving that tractor eight years ago has grown up. Now he walks along side the trailer as his little brother drives the tractor. Nothing has changed as he also was  constantly  screaming , ,"Slow down!" Or "Speed up!"