It's been a big week for me.

It started off last Sunday. The pastures needed a good bush hogging, and our neighbor, Terry, was kind enough to let us use his tractor and ten-foot bush hog to mow. While showing us the finer points of bush hogging, Terry decided some of the pasture was good enough to cut for hay. After he sectioned off the area he didn't want to cut for hay, I took the wheel.
I can't help it. I have a thing for tractors. Especially big ones. Chris never got a turn on it. I got the north pasture mowed in a fourth of the time it would have taken on our little International.

Terry baling hay.

Thursday, I went to help butcher some chickens. (!!!) I won't lie. All day Wednesday, I kept trying to find excuses not to go, and when I woke up at night, told myself I would be too tired. But I went anyway. Stephanie raises chickens for meat, then hires some Mennonite women to come help with the butchering. They bring the plucker and the killing cone, and everybody pitches in...

After we were all set up, a little Mennonite boy crawled into the chicken run, grabbed a chicken and handed it to his mother, who dropped it upside-down into the cone. Stephanie took the knife, and off came the chicken's head. Then she handed me the knife. After checking to see which side of the knife was a sharper, I gave it a go. Four or five chickens later, and a whiff of chicken poo, I realized I might need a break.

The chickens were then scalded and plucked, and the ladies very patiently showed me how to gut them. Everyone had a slightly different way of doing it, so it took me a while to get the hang of it, but eventually I felt at least I wasn't butchering the already butchered chickens. I drove home with dried chicken blood spatter on my arms and jeans, feeling like I had conquered a big dread of mine.

Today, we went to visit an old friend and had some fun on the shooting range. Yup. It's been a pretty good week...