Yeah, I know...

...I was complaining about the heat.  But a friend called, and instead of wanting to go to Dinky's (the local weekly sale barn), he decided that this evening would be the time to bale the last of his oats as hay.  He and his son-in-law had cut the patch earlier in the week.  Now, with that impending 40 percent chance of rain looming, he felt like he'd better get it all baled.

So, braving the heat and humidity (about 106 and 65 percent humidity) we commenced to baling.  Well, the son in law did the baling and I followed along tossing bales as they came off so the horses wouldn't stomp them the next time around.  I also went along and tossed any missed parts of the windrow over into the next one.  Oats have rather smooth stems, and the baler missed a bit here and there.  Right now, every bit of hay is needed and is worth baling.  Below are a couple of shots of the afternoon.  Once the horses were tired out, we pulled the plug and headed in.  The horses were watered and fed, then we were.  Supper was great, with everything fresh from the place, except the hamburgers and noodles!  We had slaw and tomatoes, new fried potatoes, sweet onion slices, tomato slices, peaches and strawberries...all washed down with big glasses of sweet tea.

In the morning, we'll load all the bales onto the hay wagon and haul them in to the barn.

Despite their huge size, the heat really sapped the six draft horses.

Hot and dusty.  The team of six plod along, pulling the baler.

The next photo shows a couple of things.  First, it depicts one way the Amish adapt to some modern equipment.  You can see the steel wheels inside the rubber tractor tire treads.  The rubber is bolted to the steel rims.  This is permitted among the Amish, as the tires do not contain air.

This photo shows the unique arrangement for the wheels as well as the PTO drive.

The next thing to note is the power drive for the baler.  It consists of a used two-speed truck rearend.  The business end of the differential points rearward and not forward as it would if in use in a vehicle.  That point where the universal joint would normally be located has a pulley attached.  That, in turn, connects via a chain to a power take off (PTO) point.  You can see the two connected pulleys and the universal joint from the baler attached to the PTO.  This type of set up allows the user to operate most any PTO driven implement.