Hey! Hay!

Hey Hay!

My seventh day in West Virginia solo (without my gals) which is not my usual thing, but I've been busy if you've been following the major cleanup of our lot in Grafton, 48 miles and 90 minutes to the West. Job complete I packed up and headed to our home on the Lake. For all the talk of floods and washouts, other than a 75 foot oak tree that had its roots washed out and tipped over from the steep hillside making it all the way across the road smashing the guardrail on the opposite side of the road. By the time I made it through the beast had been cut free leaving huge stumps on both sides. On the way home I took a different route. To be safe. Got to the WV/MD line and there was a little sign about a Detour Road Out. Five minutes north before I could head south to head east again. Floods in West Virginia don't fool around.

With four properties to care for, three in WV and one in MD, I'm always thinking, planning, WORRYING, about my next project. Keeps me busy. From getting bored. Ha ha ha ha ha. After having four loads of topsoil delivered, spread, seeded, mulched, I hoped I was done. No, I was not a "few bricks short of a full load." I was "one load of topsoil short of a completed lawn." So I stopped in Oakland and ordered my fifth (and final!) load. Al (my buddy who is directionally challenged) wasn't working today, so his buddy will be delivering the load. I gave him directions. I don't have to meet him at the Liberty Gas Station.

I also decided to get one (1), a single bale of hay to cover the more vertical sections of my lawn. Remember, WV/Slopes/Water/Washouts? and while I don't have to worry about my HOUSE washing away, grass seed...well it is a more likely prospect of floating away. So I decided to stop at a local construction company, Allegheny Industries. It was on my way to I pulled up the their office and went inside.

Tell you what. The lady behind a desk told me, "You need to go to the main facility, this is just the billing office." She gave me directions and I head four miles down the road. Main Facility! OMG this was WV at its best. Probably ten acres of huge garages and trucks and bull dozers and bobcats and backhoe and warehouses and...stuff. I pulled up to a small door that was open and a light inside. It lead to an office with a desk, but no one in sight. Another door lead to a larger office in back with shelves and shelves. "Hello" I called out and thank God a voice answered. I followed the voice to find a nice woman at her desk. I asked about getting some hay. "Follow me," she said and I did into another even larger room with this huge (and I mean HUGE) crane inside with a guy laying underneath it. "Go up those stairs someone will help you."

So I go up the steps to find a door. I knock first (that's only polite) and hearing nothing open it tentatively. A young man is on the phone. I step inside and wait. He's talking to someone about building a bridge and needing I-beams 20 footers, and "flat plate 1/2' to cover 40 square feet." Big stuff. Important stuff, and me here wanting a little old bale of hay. He finishes his call, hangs up, "What can I do for you feller?" Timidity I ask about securing a bale of hay. He looks out the window overlooking the HUGE garage below. "Go downstairs and look for C.T. Can't miss him, he'll have a bandana on."

So I go back down the stairs, into the HUGE garage and there is C.T. bandana and all talking with another guy. "You must be C.T. I recognized you from your bandana," I told him. "I am what do you need?" "A bale of hay, I was told you might have some." C.T. looks at the other guy, "I think we still have some in the trailer." "Yup!" and they hop on a golf cart, (both of them) and instructing me to wait head off in search of a bale of hay. I stroll over to my truck to wait. Ten minutes pass and sure enough here they come a bale of hay precariously balanced on the roof. They made it to about 50 feet from where I was standing when they hit a bump and thee bale bounced off. C.T. jumped off, his driver asked if he wanted to load her up, "I got it," and he grabbed the bale by the strings and walked towards me.

"Just throw in in back," I told him and he did. "How much do I owe you?" "Aw, it's the last bale, you can have it," he tells me, adding, "Just take that Clinton sticker off your bumper." I laughed ,"I'll probably take them ALL off," (being in Trump Country and all).