hay there!
yesterday katherine and i got together to work on this alleged halloween party we're having this weekend. we went through all the decorations and supplies we bought a few weeks ago, we worked on the menu and our grocery shopping list, and decided that today was the day to get some of the less time-sensitive shopping out of the way. item 1 on the list: hay bales for the pumpkin patch!
off we went to the nearest pumpkin patch, where we noticed some very high pumpkin prices, and no mention of hay bales for sale. we almost chickened out and left, but we figured it couldn't hurt to ask, so up to the desk we went, and they told us the bales were $15 each. perfect! cheap! we'll take 3! so i went to get the car while katherine paid. they sent a guy over to load the bales into the car, with the plastic sheet i requested (i am not stupid i did not want hay all over my car). we laid out the sheet and he picked up the first bale to put it in the car. um, it was big. REALLY BIG. STICKING OUT THE BACK OF THE CAR BIG. oops. how on earth would we fit 2 more in there? a little finagling and in they all were. visibility? who needs it! i got in the car, sneezed, and katherine helped me back out into the street. off we went! cut to katherine's house...
as i'd been sneezing and itchy most of the way there, i told katherine i would need gloves to get these bales out of the car. she brought me some old crusty gardening gloves, which i put on, and attempted to tug at what appeared to be the least-firmly-lodged bale. no movement. i pulled harder. still no movement. katherine said, "maybe you should push it from inside." so i tried that. NO MOVEMENT. "katherine, these weigh about 9000 pounds. what were we thinking? can you go find your dad?" while she was gone, i contemplated what the rest of my life would be like with 3 bales of hay sticking out the back of my car.
finally, katherine's dad came to the rescue and pulled out the bales one by one. we both tried to help but he shrugged off our attempts. with the help of a rolling plant stand, he got all three bales up to the top of the driveway, where he stacked them and i covered them with the big plastic sheet from the car. did i mention we got hay EVERYWHERE?! the bales basically disintegrated as they moved, leaving a trail of hay wherever they had been. there was a trail of hay marking the path where we rolled them up the driveway. katherine's dad had to get out the leaf blower, for crying out loud.
the moral of the story is: don't buy hay bales. i know it may sound like a cute idea for your halloween party or other fall festivities, what have you. but don't do it. i know they are pretty cheap, especially compared with the overpriced pumpkins. but DON'T DO IT. unless you have a pickup truck and are a big burly man and have a hand truck to call your own, DON'T DO IT.
ok, i've got to run, there's a shopvac calling my name... it wants to know what hay tastes like.
off we went to the nearest pumpkin patch, where we noticed some very high pumpkin prices, and no mention of hay bales for sale. we almost chickened out and left, but we figured it couldn't hurt to ask, so up to the desk we went, and they told us the bales were $15 each. perfect! cheap! we'll take 3! so i went to get the car while katherine paid. they sent a guy over to load the bales into the car, with the plastic sheet i requested (i am not stupid i did not want hay all over my car). we laid out the sheet and he picked up the first bale to put it in the car. um, it was big. REALLY BIG. STICKING OUT THE BACK OF THE CAR BIG. oops. how on earth would we fit 2 more in there? a little finagling and in they all were. visibility? who needs it! i got in the car, sneezed, and katherine helped me back out into the street. off we went! cut to katherine's house...
as i'd been sneezing and itchy most of the way there, i told katherine i would need gloves to get these bales out of the car. she brought me some old crusty gardening gloves, which i put on, and attempted to tug at what appeared to be the least-firmly-lodged bale. no movement. i pulled harder. still no movement. katherine said, "maybe you should push it from inside." so i tried that. NO MOVEMENT. "katherine, these weigh about 9000 pounds. what were we thinking? can you go find your dad?" while she was gone, i contemplated what the rest of my life would be like with 3 bales of hay sticking out the back of my car.
finally, katherine's dad came to the rescue and pulled out the bales one by one. we both tried to help but he shrugged off our attempts. with the help of a rolling plant stand, he got all three bales up to the top of the driveway, where he stacked them and i covered them with the big plastic sheet from the car. did i mention we got hay EVERYWHERE?! the bales basically disintegrated as they moved, leaving a trail of hay wherever they had been. there was a trail of hay marking the path where we rolled them up the driveway. katherine's dad had to get out the leaf blower, for crying out loud.
the moral of the story is: don't buy hay bales. i know it may sound like a cute idea for your halloween party or other fall festivities, what have you. but don't do it. i know they are pretty cheap, especially compared with the overpriced pumpkins. but DON'T DO IT. unless you have a pickup truck and are a big burly man and have a hand truck to call your own, DON'T DO IT.
ok, i've got to run, there's a shopvac calling my name... it wants to know what hay tastes like.