The Ranch gets extra hands

Today we were going to drive out to Waverly to pick up hay. A buck and a half discount if we picked it up off the field. COOL! However, it started to sound like work thinking about pulling forward, parking, jumping out of the truck, running back, stacking a bale into the trailer, then dashing back to the driver's seat and doing it all over again. So this morning I taught the girls to drive. No biggie. They took to it like fish to water. Not too many kids learn to drive pulling a horse trailer.

So we got to the first field and Casey climbed behind the wheel...and she'd pull forward and I'd yell "Hold up!" and she'd take her foot off the accelerator. I'd toss a bale into the trailer and Joe would stack it. Then I'd yell "Go Ahead!" and she'd pull up to the next set of bales. In about 5 minutes we had 30 bales in.

On to the next field. Hannah climbed behind the wheel. Same instructions. Only she wouldn't just let up on the accelerator -- she'd JAM on the brakes (ala Project Runway -- hasher reference). Joe would get bounced against the stack of hay, then she'd tromp on the accelerator and nearly toss him out the back of the trailer. But it really saved time.

And they were thrilled. Chip was hoping he'd get a turn -- easy enough to explain that we only needed to go to two hay fields. Really will have to hide the car keys when we're not home now -- they've got the drivin' jones and want to get back at it asap.