Feeling Rich
What makes you feel rich? Years ago when we were still in school, feeling rich meant walking into town and buying a strawberry sundae for dessert. And not having to share! We talked about how wonderful it would be when we could go into town any time we wanted and have that strawberry sundae. Now that would really be rich!
Then later, feeling rich meant no kids sick for a whole week. Feeling rich can have something to do with how much money you have but it doesn't have to. The kids not being sick was more a luxury of being in control of my time than anything to do with money.
When we lived in Simonton, TX, felling rich meant two things. The first was a huge pile of firewood. That house had a huge fireplace with only limited control over the flow of air so we burned through an awful lot of wood in a winter. Once we acquired horses, being rich was having a barn full of hay.
Now that we have livestock, having hay is important - just like having rain occasionally and not having too many nights with the temperatures in the teens. Yes, having a barn full of hay makes me feel rich!
I have bought hay from Larry Janicek for the last 25 years. He and his brothers have hay fields scattered throughout four counties in this part of Texas. Some are fairly high and some are on bottom land. Some are large and extensive and others are small. The fields are far enough apart that one or more of them generally get rain if it rains at all. Some years they have more hay than they can sell/store and other years its slim pickings.
This year was odd in that we had lots of rain in the spring but a very dry summer. They managed to bail some round bales, which are fine for cattle but not for horses, but didn't bail any square bales until last week. Larry said its about the nicest hay he's ever made. While the timing of everything was somewhat unusual, it all worked out for clean sweet smelling and perfectly dried coastal hay.
As of yesterday morning at about 10 am.... I'm rich! Its 150 bales of richness sitting in my barn. Yes, the winter will be just fine.