Hay

We seem to have entered into the rats' ass of summer.

The air conditioner can't keep up, the goats aren't interested in grain unless they are 'hand-fed', the dog panting could be mistaken for a death rattle, my flowers look like droopy boobs and the Stranger Things marathon is in full swing.

After spending some time in the livestock barn, I noticed Willow was the only one without hay.  I'm aware goats need 'roughage', but leaves and grass should be doing the trick, right?  Besides, I've read hay is like $60.  Therefore, I'd haul grocery sacks of tree leaves into the goat barn for Willow's 'roughage'.  I'm sure Ross wasn't embarrassed at all as I'd pull tree limbs out of my sack to feed Willow walnut and hickory leaves.  

Poor thing probably felt like the poor girl in the lunchroom...

Even if I did buy hay, where would I store it?  How would I transport hay from the parking lot to her pen in the goat barn?  Bails are pretty big and heavy.  They're tied up with twine, so that's gonna make a big mess when the twine is cut, right... or do I just rip handfuls out?  

Why didn't I ever learn how to do this?

I bit the bullet and bought my first bail of hay this morning.  

It was $5.

Clearly, I'm clueless.  

Luckily for me, I don't have a fancy car to worry about messing up.

Ross noticed me walking into the fairgrounds with 2 handfuls of hay.  

He seemed excited I wasn't carrying a plastic grocery sack.

He explained the whole bail should separate into quarters and offered to cut a quarter off to bring Willow in the barn.

Fortunately for him, I travel with a corkscrew/knife at all times.

He returned with a quarter bale of hay which the 'goat lady' in the barn said was ALOT of hay for one goat.  Apparently, a goat needs a softball size amount of hay each day.  

Worst case scenario, she gets bloated.

Welcome to womanhood Willow.

In the meantime, my van smells like hay and I need to figure out how to transport it before my next grocery haul.

First world problems, folks.