Life on Regal-Hill by Gail Hillriegel

While waiting for hay to dry here at Regal-Hill, George has been working at wood. One day, while he was cutting up wood to bring up to the house to be split with the wood splitter, he noticed an interesting wildflower across the stream that he hadn’t seen before. As soon as he got a chance he went across the stream and picked some of these flowers and brought them up to the house.

We finally have had some good hay weather here at Regal-Hill. The tractor has been busy mowing the hay down while a few hours later another tractor goes through and teds the hay, helping it to dry faster. Tomorrow it may be tedded again and raked later in the day, and then baled if it is dry enough. Round bales would be faster but ours will be the small, rectangular bales since they are easier to handle and more saleable for us.

Life on Regal-Hill has not been very exciting lately. We have had the same old rainy weather, or prediction of rain, so you had to plan your workday around it. Frankly I am tired of it. It has been going on way too long. The vegetation still needs sunlight even if it is getting sufficient rain. Why can’t the weather understand that?

The weather continues to be iffy here at Regal-Hill, but one day we decided to mow hay anyway. Even though showers were forecast, we didn’t get any rain. As it turned out, George was able to get it dry enough to bale. We still need two, but if possible, three good days to dry hay safely and thoroughly. No one can take the chance of spontaneous combustion and a barn fire. There is another harvest all ready in many fields if only the weather would dry up.

Thunder continues to enjoy being here at Regal-Hill. This morning he was at the door ready to come in after spending the night outdoors with the heifers and beefers. He does seem to prefer being inside when the flies are the worst. The other night, as soon as he was put outside he took right off walking fast, but as soon as he got to the laneway he began to trot wanting to get up in the pasture as soon as possible. It was enjoyable to see him flex his muscles and be so anxious to get to some green grass.

We have a new resident here at Regal-Hill. It has four legs, stands about 16 hands high and neighs as well as eats hay and some grain, but especially carrots or carrot-tasting treats. You guessed it, a horse.

Life on Regal-Hill has been hot, humid and busy. Hay is flying and weeds are growing. Needless to say who is doing what, George or me. Last Sunday’s rain was greatly appreciated, even though I had carried water and watered some flowers and some of the vegetables. All the plants looked so much better by Monday.

A few weeks ago I mentioned in this column that we had many cats and kittens here at Regal-Hill and were hoping to give some to a good home. Well, it has taken awhile but presently we have six less kittens than we did. However, there are quite a few more yet to be adopted. Apparently my mentioning it and Allegra’s sign by the barn has let some people know we have kittens to give away.

The 2008 Major League Baseball All-Star game is expected to take place Tuesday, July 15 at Yankee Stadium in New York City. Also known as the Midsummer Classic, baseball’s superstars will gather to play as one team from the American League, and the other team is made up of National League players. This will be the fourth and last time this game has been played at Yankee Stadium, since they are getting a new stadium.

I can’t believe that we are still getting showers most every day here at Regal-Hill. I really messed up yesterday. I thought it was going to rain; since it was so cloudy I didn’t do any wash. I thought I would be able to do it between showers today, but today looks even worse as far as getting rain. I hope the weather will improve by the Fourth of July, as it would be so nice to at least have a picnic to celebrate the day.