As it turns out, we have not really gotten any significant rain for our fields this monsoon season. Now don't get me wrong there has been rain, some severe flooding rain, but not for our fields. At one point the rain came down so hard and fast that it couldn't soak into the desert fast enough and flash flooding almost prevented me from returning home one afternoon. The Greene Wash was running at 3 feet and there was no way I would attempt crossing anything like that in my Toyota Prius. There is a rather round about way to avoid the wash, but the road runs high above the wash and is a rather frightening 60 foot drop. As the rain water runs off this high road the sides erode making it very dangerous if you were to break away the edge of the roadway. Ironically, we had only gotten approximately a 1/2" on our fields, as the rain all fell just north of us.
It rained just the other evening. It was a powerful downpour in the city of Casa Grande. I was very frightened that we would have wet hay and felt devastated. I contacted our neighbor and we hadn't gotten anything. I was very relieved, but we sure haven't caught any breaks in the "free water" allotment.
We put up about 25 ton of hay this past weekend. I experimented with higher stacks, trying to maximize the space under the hay barn. I am getting rather spoiled having my car under shade this season. It is truly amazing the temperature difference in the car when it is in the shade versus direct sun. I will be busy scheduling deliveries for the next couple weeks. Of course, Donald will be busy loading and unloading hay, which will be exhausting in the heat we are having currently.
I am trying to find someone to help out around the ranch with some of the more strenuous tasks that I can't managed. With Donald working as much as he does for his "real" job, many of the tasks fall to me and I am not capable of doing many of them. My first lead panned out, but fear not, I have another lead. It is discouraging not being able to make any progress, only maintaining (and barely at that).
We had to have the baler "tuned up." And when we started baling this current cycle things were not going well. The bales were bursting open because of the string adjustment and the wiper arm. I had to deal with the service guys that were sent out to re-adjust the baler. I suppose most guys don't expect a woman to be out doing farm work and these guys didn't seem sure as to how to interact with me. I found them patronizing. I don't fault them, it is probably a novelty to deal with a woman in such circumstances, but it is offensive. It took them around 4-5 hours to finally get things baling properly.
As a result of their intentions to just bale one row of hay to test the baler (that didn't prove enough since they failed to get it adjusted in that length of time), and then another, and then another.....they ended up baling erratically. What I mean by that is they chose random rows to bale and ended up dropping bales into windrows that then had to be rolled off. When I bale a field, I usually come up the eastern most row and then return down the middle. Each looping pass is repeated this way starting to the east and returning just west of the last baled row. You can only turn the tractor with the attached baler to the right, so you are limited to the pattern to take on the field.
By the time they got done testing the baler, the rows were a disaster for me. When it came time to run the bale wagon through to pick up the bales, which also turns to the right, the bales were in total disarray in the field. After you have developed a routine and time is of the essence, this is not appreciated in the least. What normally can be a comfortable ride in the air conditioned cab of the tractor, picking up bales, turned into an aerobic workout (climbing up and down the stairs on the cab to reposition bales) and a sun burn to boot! I was picking up bales for 6 hours with a delivery in between and then another 2 hours to finish up at 11:30 pm Sunday night.
The experience of stacking hay with this particular bale wagon is nerve racking. You really are as tight as a guitar string anticipating the crash of the stack. Knowing that the stack has to be rebuilt for the next to have a chance at staying upright, leaning on the last stack, is enough for me to do my absolute best manuvering and placement to avoid. By the time I got done, I could not get to sleep for hours.
I met with the mosquito guy today. He incorporated me into a trip from Texas. I am excited about the possibility of decreasing the mosquitoes by 90%. Yep that's the percentage he quoted. Not that I could figure out any real quantitative measurement of that (I'm sure there is some way, but I'm not standing out there counting them!). He told me the real problem is my neighbor's dirt ditch that is located just to the south west of us. He showed me the larvae that consumed the available standing water in the ditch left from my neighbor's watering this weekend. He told me in this one relatively small area, millions of mosquitoes were developing. UGH.
There are two products forms that we will use according to his plan; granuals and briquets. The granuals will be spread over the neighbor's dirt ditch a day or so after he waters (I will have to coordinate with him to see if he is willing to cooperate with this). These will also be spread over our fields just after a cutting cycle on dry ground. After watering, we are to deposit the briquets into the port holes where standing water accumulates at the head ends of our fields. He told me we were doing a good job at managing the water to minimize the time that it stands on the fields. I was pleased, for this has been our intention. The briquets are designed to last for 90 days. They are reactivated each time they are in contact with water. The granuals will need to be re-distributed every 30-45 days. He suspects that this may be lengthened for our fields don't seem to be the culprit for the mosquito egg deposits.
We do have 3 different types of mosquitoes, with elaborate latin names. Two are what he referred to as vectors, meaning they have the potential for spreading West Nile Disease. The one that we have the most of are not carriers, but have the unique gift for laying eggs that remain dormant until water arrives. It seems that through the past 6 years of irrigating and the addition of neighbors that irrigate, we have increased the population of this particularly gifted mosquito. The vector mosquitoes are the ones that would be developing in my neighbor's ditch. As he described the population explosion, these 100.000 mosquitoes breed and each have 100,000 more and they each have 100,000.....and if they didn't hatch this watering they will the next opportunity.
He developed a plan for us that would be the least expense for both product and equipment. He explained that there are better ways and more convenient ways to distribute, but this plan will keep the cost to a minimum. He also recommended a "knock-down" product that we can put in our sprayer that we currently have, for times when the wind blows the mosquitoes in from distant fields and they grab hold of things on our property and hang around for blood meals. He recommended having this handy.
He was an interesting fellow that has traveled all over the world to mosquito-problem areas. He has survived West Nile Disease and had frightening statistics on the other mosquito-related diseases that are prevalent even here in the US. He was able to talk about the mosquitoes by their names and geographic locations, life cycles, diseases carried, and other such information that just succeeded in making me itch!!
I am hopeful that his 90% decrease is accurate. I just can't see continuing our work here if it will be overrun with mosquitoes preventing us from getting our work done, let alone enjoying an evening under our star-packed skies.
Time to go and get the meter reading for the books.
