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Yesterday was another scorcher of a day. We were on a mission though. We had volunteered to drive Levi and Mattie to Pittsburgh for their second youngest son to be seen at the children's hospital there. Because it is a holiday week, they had trouble finding a driver. 

We were up early. We needed to be in their driveway at 6:30. I set my alarm for 4:30, but was awake at 3. We got there and there had been a change. Levi could not go. 

Hay had been a problem for all farmers here. A week ago, we were having one storm after another. You can't do hay in the rain. This week, with a long stretch of hot, dry days, everyone cut their hay, Levi included. Unfortunately, it needed an extra day in the field to dry due to the humidity.

We use balers, but the Amish do it differently. They fork the loose hay onto wagons, where kids are waiting to stomp it down as it comes on board, one fork at a time. Then it is pulled to the barn. They have a 'claw' on a arm and pulley system. The huge claw is dropped on to the hay wagon to pick up a big wad of hay. It is pulled up, hand over hand, swung over to the hay mow. The hay is dropped and it is once again stomped down so that as much hay as possible can be tucked away for winter feed. 

It is labor intensive work and in this heat, a hard job becomes even more grueling. A couple years ago, we were sitting on the porch. Levi was telling us that he had a strange experience. He was working in the hot sun and sweating up a storm. Suddenly he noticed that he wasn't sweating. He got a severe headache, followed by violent shakes. He had to stop what he was doing and lay down in the shade. "It always starts when I stop sweating, though," he said.

I could not believe my ears. It had happened to him before? I taught these classes in the military. "Levi, I said, "people die this way! What you are describing is the first stage of heat stroke." I explained to him about sweating being his body's way of cooling itself. When your body has lost enough water and salt that it stops producing sweat, your body temperature begins to rise. Just like a patient with a high fever will get violent cold chills, a heat stroke patient does the same. This explained his violent shakes. Everyone on the porch was listening intently. "If your body temperature goes high enough, it will kill you. All of you need to keep yourselves well hydrated when you are working like that." I explained the difference between water and sports drinks. 

Tim said, "we still have time before the Dollar General closes..." and just like that they were up and headed out. They take things like this very seriously and have been sticklers on hydration ever since. 

Anyway, Levi could not go to Pittsburgh because he had hay down. Although the oldest boy is a grown man now, he was not going to leave his children to do the job alone.

Mattie was worried about this meeting with the surgeon. She wanted Levi there to make any decisions with her. We picked up her mother on the way and drove just over two hours to get there only to discover that the appointment, made months back had been rescheduled to next month to accommodate the doctor's vacation. No one had contacted them to tell them this. 

Very frustrating. They were very apologetic but it didn't change the fact that it had been a wasted day.

We drove back home, determined to make the best of it, getting groceries and stopping at the Goodwill. 

As we pulled up, the haywagon had just been unloaded. Everyone came across the road tired and sweaty to grab a cold gatorade. Levi wanted to know what the doctors were going to do. 

I said, "weeeeelllllll..." and explained. Mattie was inside directing the putting away of groceries. 

Levi took off his hat and mopped his face with his handkerchief. "No...that's not right!" He exclaimed.

Mattie came out and said, "I was glad you were not there..."

Anyways, tonight we are doing a 'frolic', which is what they call a party after a big job is done. We are taking up hotdogs to roast, all manner of toppings, a roaster full of sloppy joes, potato salad, chips and a homemade ice cream cake. Afterwards, we will have sparklers and fireworks. 

A sad thing. A young Amish man was coming home after a long days work last week after those bad storms. He noticed three horses laying in his neighbor's field. He notified the neighbor that something was wrong. As he went back to investigate, he stepped over a barbwire fence. An electric line was down, and he was electrocuted. The horses were dead although they were nowhere near the fence. 

We knew him because he was part of a team we hire for construction work in town.