For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for July 18, 2012

Chores at home will seem easy.

This must be also why my Amish foremothers never wear jewelry: sure, they make you of the world, but don’t want to lose them while working.

I lifted bales of hay while working on a kibbutz. That is the WORST kind of farmwork and the bales itched and often there were tiny bugs in the hay. I’m surprised that Michael is allowed to do this kind of work – they are REALLY heavy.

Actually, probably to fit the strip, but the bales look rather small, especially those on the trailer, which is also short, wouldn’t hold many. Of course, for the little guys, this is a real load.

Those look to me to be straw bales and depending upon straw of what they might be considerably lighter that hay bales would be.

I bet they won’t go there to visit again any time soon!

OUGHTA TRY BUCKIN’ ’ ALFALFA…90 LBS PLUS

Just go with that pirate look.

Started Slingin’ hay bales when I was 10. Never did me any harm. That’s one of the reasons I was 185 lb. at the START my freshman year of high school. Had the football coaches droolin’! LOL

Nothin’ wrong with lookin’ good while doing hard labor! ;) I was a camp counselor after high school . . . . tromping through the woods and lakes all day long . . . and I always wore makeup. A few of the other female counselors didn’t think well of me at first because of it. When I ended up being a harder worker than the rest of them, they changed their tunes.

tote that bargelift that baleand if you drink a little scotchyou gonna land in jail —Ray Charles

What do they do when the Pattersons aren’t there?

Someone didn’t do their research. Bailing Twine goes the length not the width of a bale. Just sayin’.

HAHAHA … just read Lynn’s notes, and apparently in the original run, people let her know exactly what I just said. LMAO I lived too much on the farm I guess.

What kind of “vacation” is this anyway???

Worst vacation ever!!!!!!

I’d rather bale hay or straw than cut hogs any day.

Forget the ear rings! You’re there to work! She must’ve thought she’d be in the kitchen all day. ;) As for yesterdays strip(which I missed)….I think the hog farms smell the worst. Summers when we would go visit my Grandma in North Dakota, Dad would always point it out, “That stink is the hog farms”…And that was miles away from it! Blegh! But I agree with ewalnut, sometimes I’d rather smell the farm than the chemicals sprayed around here to make people grass green, etc. The regular farm, not the pig farms. YUCK! And yes, I love driving out West…The open sky and watching the storms roll in. Mmmm. :)

It also depends on how soon after cutting the hay is baled.

You’re not there for a fashion photo shoot, Elly! No one cares if you have earrings on, so go help out!

Been there, done that. Always seemed like the baling had to be done on the hottest day, and done before the next rain!Added excitement came when a black-snake would go through the baler. Usually put them in a foul mood!(Ever been bit by a hay bale?)Wasn’t unheard of for a ground-hog to hide in the windrow and go through the baler, unknown until the bale was opened next winter.(Skunks would be detected sooner)Most baling now is done by machines that make the huge round bales, which can be moved only by machine. Cuts a lot of labor from the process.

Cutting the hogs was also another hard day, especially when there were 600 of them, 300 males. By the end of the day, one would be worn out, but each pig was a fresh battle.(I refer to it as an “unfortunate accident.”)

Makes me sooooooo happy that I’m a city girl!

No, she’s just femininity personified. In other words, she’s a girly-girl.

I almost felt a chorus of Ol’ Man River coming on after that first panel….

My dad worked at an exhibit farm. His muscles were so huge from baling hay. That’s not the kind of work for a little boy like Michael. And I have a feeling Elly’s other earring is inside one of those bales.

Of course it is. It’s a funny scene for me, too; I was just pointing out that I can see why Elly would care about her earrings when she’s about to get down and dirty helping out with the farming chores. :)