Thursday 11 October 2018

...and then the hay arrived.......


Wallop! 
Down they came, with one bale spinning its way towards me ...


........ fortunately it bounced against the letterbox, spun round, and came to rest in the flower bed which is now no more. 

Both me and Maz watched it gallop towards us. Neither thought to move. We could have become quite squashed if the letter box had not saved us. 
Lester was more alert though, ...... he quickly reversed (top photo)
But the letter box will never be the same again and the flowers in the flowerbed are definitely now no more.

And here are the bales before they took their tumble....


..... fifteen in total, stacked high, as you can see. 
In the past farmers have delivered the hay bales on a flat backed trailer pulled by a huge monster of a tractor, then they unload the bales one by one using the tractor's equipment, but they were local farmers. This farmer came from a distance away, did have a big tractor (he said) but preferred to use the lorry for speed.

Anyway, time to off load....
lorry backed into the space between house and sheep paddock, 
up we go...

.... off they all came.....


...... job done!

So then all we had to do was get the jumble of bales into their winter positions and covered.
Thought we had a few days of dry weather so we could take our time. 
We didn't.
After weeks of hot, dry, weather rain clouds suddenly appeared out of nowhere mid afternoon, so we raced the rain to get the job finished. It was dark by the time we dried off indoors. 

Doing such jobs on the farm always feels satisfying, and this one was done with good humour even though the wind was blowing and the rain was pouring down, but saving the hay from getting soaked,  and therefore spoilt, was the priority. 

-------

And two day later I was lying in a dentist's chair having two teeth extracted, which was another job which needed doing. (abcess brewing). I can't say it was the best of experience to have, especially since my ability to speak French seems to evaporate in certain circumstances, but not to worry, I sort of got the gist of what the dentist was saying, especially the part about raising my hand should I feel any pain, which I didn't have to do despite the pulls and pushes and the sound of breaking teeth and the grumps the dentist showed because the teeth did not want to leave the home they have had for many a long year so he did have a struggle on his hands. 

It did take a long time, or so it seemed to do, but it was probably quicker than I thought it to be. 
Trying to stay calm was the key, thinking good and happy thoughts was the key, but this I found difficult to do with the 'goings on' which was happening in my mouth, so I took to singing, not in a proper 'open mouthed' style because my mouth was already occupied, but in a sort of hummy way which kept my mind occupied sufficient to get through the experience without creating a fuss. 

I did have to lift my hand up once though. It was when I opened my eyes and saw a white piece of what looked like string stretching betwixt my mouth and the dentist's hand. 
'Crikey' I thought, 'he's going to pull the tooth out with  that string', which put me into a bit of a panic mode, but not much of one because I shut my eyes and went into humming mode again, and continued to concentrate on that rather than what the dentist was doing.  
But the tooth was now gone away forever, and he was stitching up the hole with the string, that's all he was doing,

I was prepared for pain afterwards, but two days later and it still has yet to arrive. 
I was wondering if the fact that I have learnt several ways to sustain a relaxed mind during times of possible dreadfulness being done to me has helped my body cope better and heal faster. And I do ask the Universe (God) for help as well, being mindful that there is a greater force looking after us, and that all we have to do is ask, and then be willing to accept the help in whichever way it comes. 

So now I have a huge gap where once resided two back teeth. Apparently I can have two new teeth planted in the jaw, but I shall leave thoughts of having that done until another time. 

Smiling through, that is what is best done when things are going beyond your control,  and keeping the head occupied by thinking of something else rather than focussing on what is happening in the now, I have found this helps as well when I find myself in a difficult position especially in regards to my health.

Off to cook lunch now, so saying bye for now,

Vx

12 comments:

Mama Pea said...

Thinking of your dental procedure, you are a strong lady! Mind over matter as they say. And being able to get through your time in the chair in such good shape causes me to send much admiration your way!

Don't know if your wise and optimistic frame of mind would have saved you, though, if you'd been smooshed under that unceremonious dumping of large hay bales! ;o) One would sure think the delivery man would have had a better way of unloading. Sure would have saved the two of you one heckuva lot of work positioning the bales where they needed to go!

Barbara said...

So glad you weren't squished by the errant hay bale! That looked rather scary.
Also glad your extraction went well. Hope it all heals up quickly for you.
I like your advice of "smiling through". Not always easy to do (particularly at the dentist) but, it does help.
All the best to you!

Vera said...

MAMA PEA, the way in which the hay bales were delivered was a surprise, but we always have to re-position the bales, but at least these bales were made up of first cut hay so were lighter than the ones we usually end up with....at least our tractor could lift these and with a bit of effort we could manually push them!

As for the visit to the dentist......I survived! Wahoooooo!!!!!

Vera said...

BARBARA, 'smiling through' takes effort but it does keep the spirits lifted up, and also helps to calm the soul!
I was glad we weren't squished as well, next year when the hay is delivered I shall make sure I am somewhere else!

Toirdhealbheach Beucail said...

Kudos on the Dental Surgery! I admire your fortitude.

The large hay bales seem highly dangerous in general to me (an unexperienced eye, to be sure). Too big, too heavy: Lots of things can go wrong.

Vera said...

TOIRDHLBHEACH BEUCAIL, bouncing hay bales are unsafe, but normally they are safe to be around.......unless they are being hefted about by the tractor. Being on a farm has its risks though, especially with the cows and their horns or the inclination of the sheep to make high leaps when wanting to get out of a situation which is not to their liking. I was hit in the chest and sent flat to the ground by one such sheep. Not to worry though, accidents can happen anywhere no matter what environment you are living in!

minwks said...

Well Vera, Real life, described by you with humour and acceptance. What adventures and challenges you face each day. It certainly keeps the mind and body on the move.
It has been such a mild September and now October in France - hope the winter will not be too fierce.
All the best.
Janine

Coco said...

Congratulations on surviving both errant hay bales and dental surgery! You´re an inspiration to us all.

Rhodesia said...

Hello I am running a bit late but I have been without a computer for almost 2 weeks. I could not take it in immediately for various complicated reasons, and then when I did I was told that the hard drive had crashed out completely and they could save nothing. Thankfully most had been backed up but ………. I now have a new hard drive and I am slowly trying to put everything back.

I have two quite big spaces in my teeth but the cost of having anything done puts me off. I just have to remember to smile with my mouth closed when there is a camera around !!!

Take care and have a good week, Diane

Tommo said...

Bonjooah! Local dentist whipped out a couple of my gnashers recently so I know how you felt in that dentist's chair. Yes, the sound of cracking as a back tooth departs the jaw is really scary. I hope you've recovered.

Vera said...

DIANE, been offline myself for a while, but now back again.

My dentist said that I could have artificial teeth planted back in my gums to fill the rather large gap, but I am living with that gap, and it is at the back of my mouth so can't be seen, so, like you, I might not bother with having the work done.........!

Vera said...

TOMMO, it wasn't the actual cracking of the tooth, it was seeing the long piece of string that stretched between my tooth and the dentist that made me think he was going to pull the tooth out with the string!

Hope you have also recovered.