Want to know what it's like to be a kid in Lyman County?
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Thump, thump went my bike tire as it bounced along the gravel road leading to my dad's grain bins.
We live on a farm not far from town, so I ride my bike around the grain bins a lot. Today my friend Jaime and my sister Kylie were tagging along.
I wasn't surprised when Kylie asked to go outside to ride our bikes around the farm, because she loves to do that kind of stuff.
Jaime and I agreed to go with her and we headed out by a big pit, which was accompanied by a bunch of hay bales.
Kylie wanted to go in the pit, because we could see, what we thought was a deer skull, and we wanted to check it out. I stood there and peered down at the skull. You could barely make it out through all of the thick brush.
Then, Jaime had an idea. "Maybe we could see it better on the other side of the pit," she suggested. "If we are lucky, we may even come across a path into the pit."
Kylie agreed and they ran around to the other side. When they got there they yelled, "You can see it a lot better form over here. Hey! Wait! I think I see a little trail leading to somewhere down in the pit. Come on Jordi! Come over here!"
I took my last glimpse at the skull, and started walking through the tall grass. While I was walking I yelled out, "OK, I'm coming." Not bothering to use the trail, I glided through the large, overgrown weeds.
I took another step and realized that I had stepped on something. I looked down and a frightened, bewildered glare crossed my face.
I was standing on the wing of a turkey! With the turkey's free wing, he was flapping around frantically! His wing was flapping as fast as it could flap, and he was right between my legs! His body was brushing against my legs!
I jumped off the turkey and started running as fast as I could. I saw Jaime and Kylie's confused faces as the turkey flew away. While I was running, in the very corner of my eye, I saw why the turkey didn't fly away sooner. I saw a nest, a turkey's nest, which was overloaded with eggs!
I jumped on my bike and started pedaling as fast as I could, steering for home. I looked back fearfully and I saw that Kylie and Jaime were trailing me. They weren't going nearly as fast as I was though. It seemed like I reached home a mile before them.
When I got home, I walked inside and told my mom what had happened. I was still shivering with fright, when I ended my story. When I was done explaining the story to my mom, Jaime and Kylie jogged in.
I had explained the story once more to my dad, Kylie, and Jaime, when my dad said, "Let's go see those eggs. I can drive the four-wheeler down there."
"I don't really want to go," I said.
"Oh, come on!" Kylie pleaded.
"I guess," I added reluctantly. My dad rode the four-wheeler while Kylie, Jaime, and I rode our bikes. I located the spot where I stepped on the turkey, and sure enough there was a nest of eggs there. We counted the eggs and there turned out to be eleven of them. They were pretty cool actually!
We rode our bikes back home, and a few days later we went back to the spot. The nest was GONE! We've decided that the mother must have moved them, but it's a mystery!
A True Story By Jordi
It was a warm, summer day and my friend Ashley was over at my house. Also, my sister's friend, Jaime was over at our house.
Well, I wanted to go outside to jump on the hay bales. Ashley, Jordi, and Jaime all agreed. So, it was decided. We would go outside to bounce on the bales.
We all got our bikes and rode down on the gravel road to the bales. Jordi wanted to get there first like usual, so she went ahead. She reached the hay pile a lot sooner than the rest of us, so when Ashley, Jaime, and I got there, she was already on the bales. I was just getting on when I suddenly detected something black and white on the bales! I thought it was ALIVE! Immediately, I knew what it was! I started screaming, trying to warn the others. "GET OFF! GET OFF! GET OFF!" I was SO scared that I was going to get sprayed or get bitten, since they have rabies. Jaime and Ashley saw what I was talking about and ran to their bikes. Jordi, however, did not hear us. She was too far away.
Jordi watched Ashley and Jaime getting their bikes. "Why are they leaving so soon? We just got here!" she wondered. "Well, I better go check it out." So slowly, taking short steps, she started strolling toward Ashley, Jaime, and me.
Then, she saw it. She ran as fast as she could to get off the hay. When she was finally off, she came running up to us, and asked angrily, "Why didn't you tell me there was a skunk in the hay bales?"
By Kylie
I’m
Aaron, a twelve-year old “farm kid” with an amazing summer adventure!
Last June, I went out to our farm with my dad one afternoon, which was
not an unusual event for me, because I like to go work with him.
He and other members of our family-farming operation were baling a hay
field north of our farm. I rode along in the tractor with Dad,
carefully noting what he did, and dreaming about doing it myself someday.
We had been out in the field for only an hour, listening to our favorite
radio station and sharing stories about being a kid, when we received a call,
telling us that Dad should go stack the bales. My heart stopped when I realized
that I would now have to operate the tractor and baler by myself!
My dad told me to run the tractor and baler for a few rounds in the
field, while he watched and gave me more directions.
Soon I had a pretty good
idea how it worked, and drove Dad to the other tractor so he could stack the
bales. At the time, I thought I would only have to run the baler for a short
time that afternoon. I was badly mistaken!
I baled in that field for another three miles! When we finished, my dad
told me to follow Matt, the other baler, to the next field. I thought he was
kidding at the time, but soon became aware that I was about to embark on a new
summer adventure.
When we got to the next field, about four or five miles away, Matt and I
started baling again. We finished that field a few days later. I traveled all
over Lyman County last summer to bale the hay fields. I learned the baler inside
and out. Of course, there were more
people than just Matt and I. My
brother and a few other guys had to cut the grass, running two
cutters.
Half way through the summer, another baler was brought into the
operation, which really quickened the process.
Stacking all the bales, and then moving them all home to the farm to use
as winter feed stretched into the Fall months.
I really enjoyed my summer baling, although it was often grueling work. I
had to get up at 8 AM and go to bed at about 11 PM every night.
By Aaron