Recalling Haymaking After the Flood of 1944 - In My Father's Own Words

This spring season has been one of the wettest on record which has thrown some hay baling off schedule. This week, I discovered the notes when Dad retold of one of the rainiest springs in his memory. I decided to publish it as he told it.

            There was a big flood on the same land as 1923. Due to the flood, Pop did not get his alfalfa cut until June. I came home from Europe the last of May in 1944. Pop cut his alfalfa with a 6-foot mower pulled by a team of horses – Mag and Morgan.

Grandpa Gates with Mag and Morgan

            Ernest and Virgil Rice baled it right out of the swath without raking it because the baler was the same width as the mowing machine! (Ernest was my mother's uncle and Virgil was her cousin.) It made 100 bales to the acre. The 15 acres of alfalfa made 1500 bales! The alfalfa had been “irrigated” by the Arkansas River’s flooding so it was about 3 feet tall. It was a bit stemmy but made good feed.

            I helped Pop stack it. Then he got 1” by 12” lumber. The boards were 16 feet long. We covered the hay with the boards.

It almost cost me my girlfriend, Bernyce. When I got home from Europe, I didn’t go see her, instead I just started helping with the hay. (Remember “snail mail” was the swiftest method of communication. There were no phones in the Bend.)

Dad identified Grandpa Gates as the man halfway

 up the haystack. The person on top is 

unidentified. This haystack method of forage

 storage predated the innovative square bales 

baled in 1944 by Ernest and Virgil Rice for Grandpa.

Mother, a spunky 19-year-old, was upset because he had written all during the war but made no effort to contact her when he returned to the Bend. Her parents were very loyal to returning servicemen. Their gratitude compelled them to let the heroic young men know. My grandparents, Gladys and Calvin Smith, made plans to welcome him home. Grandma told Mother she should go with them to see him – just out of appreciation. Even her father, the more reticent, introverted parent, seemed eager to thank the airman who had just returned stateside. Of course, her father had served in World War I so he knew the sacrifice military service required. Mother went reluctantly but remained very quiet. Her only comment was, “He talks very fast – like the English.”

            Mother recalled Dad apologizing for working in the hay instead of coming to see her. My grandma, an indomitable worker herself, approved heartily of Dad putting up the hay instead of contacting Mother. My grandma, Gladys Rainey Smith, categorized laziness as one of the seven deadly sins!

• Every cloud has a silver lining  - with no fertilizing in those days, Grandpa still had a bumper crop of hay, probably because of the flood.
• Genuine love readily says, "I'm sorry."
• Business before pleasure - Living life often requires we do the important over what we wish we could do, especially if we want to eat or in Dad's case want the cattle to eat in the winter!

In most aspects of life, if we are willing to work hard and say "I'm sorry" readily when it is needed, we can realize success in our work and our relationships.

Note: Dad mentioned their farm being flooded in 1923. Here is a link about the impact of the 1923 flood on the Gates farm:        https://bernadeanjgates.blogspot.com/2015/01/did-warmest-january-in-oklahoma-during.html