Thread by @homemadeguitars

I got completely winded and too dizzy to work out doing hay. This is scary. If I can't make hay I'm done.
I'm in resting. I couldn't even unhitch the girls, they're in the barnyard with full cart.
Old age and climate change.

It might just be heat sickness. 89°, full sun, physical labor.
Still sucks.

I'm feeling better now. Inside, in the shade, A/C on, ceiling fan blowing on me, on my 2nd 17oz bottle of chilled water.
Scared the shit out of me, and - that's all I got. Skin, and bullshit.

I got the girls unhitched from the cart, took their bits out of their mouths, and turned them loose in the barnyard still harnessed but not hooked together. I'm doing better.
Thanks for your love and concern, all my friends.

I had to run into the near edge of the city, and the poor donks had to wear their harness all that time.
When I got home they were at the far edge of the barnyard, but by the time I got through the barn to the stall door they were there.
Unharnessed, a few treats, everybody happy

4. We had a howling gullywasher while I was gone. We had it were I was, too. I was worried my Subaru might blow off the highway.
Yes, really
The new weather. Everyday summer thunderstorm.
So all my hay is wet, including the cart-almost-full. I didn't even get one single cartload

5. But I was worried about the elderberries on the dry hill yesterday. The gullywasher at least partly filled their water swales, so I'm pleased.
Donkeys don't mind rained-on hay as long as you don't let it mold. The loss of nutrients still leaves enough to satisfy their needs.

6. So tomorrow morning I'll be out on the 8N turning all the windrows. Wet side up. Sunshine.
The soil they're laying on holds a lot of moisture, so it will take a few turns over days. Roll the windrows up and down the hill. They get braided. Harder to get a small gob.

7. But I walked away alive. And - tonight I fed the donks new wet hay fresh out of the cart, and they thought that was just fine.
Life is good.