Hay there! Everyone is noticing the price of groceries these days, and it seems they just keep going up and up! I’m no economist so I can’t get into the reasons why, but have you seen the cost of hay these days! No? Well let me tell you, the cows and horses aren’t happy when they go to the hay store. According to an article on the MyCaribooNow website, according to the B.C. Cattlemen’s Association, hay prices across the province have nearly doubled, which is making life a little more costly for ranchers. Last year’s drought didn’t help. It all adds to the cost of our groceries and is a good introduction to my story of two city boys who went to buy some hay. I was one of those city boys, and the story takes place about 45 years ago. I had just moved to the South Surrey area and was meeting the new neighbours in a brand new subdivision. We neighbours had a lot of things in common, we were facing the same challenges of planting a lawn and garden, building fences to keep the dogs in, and generally getting to know the area. I was told by a friend of mine to keep a lookout for an old friend of his, a firefighter with the Vancouver Fire Department. He too had moved to the suburbs to start a family. Time went by and eventually, I did meet my new neighbour, the firefighter, let’s call him Glen. As we got to know each other I discovered he was quite an athlete, he played on the Firefighters Soccer team, which I was quick to jump on and give him some shots about how firefighters played soccer, crib, and volleyball all day. Of course, I was joking, and he realized it and took it in good humour. We all know how important the job of a first responder is, and he was always quick to let me know that. One day I saw my new neighbour/friend coming down the street and he was on crutches! I stopped him and said “Oh, no! What happened to you? Did you fall off a ladder?” He just said, “It’s nothing!” But I pressed him for details and he sheepishly said, “I stepped on a volleyball!” Well, let the hilarity begin! No wonder he didn’t want to tell me what happened. Haha, well that was the start of a very long and happy friendship that lasts to this day. Now, back to the hay. My youngest son got a rabbit for his birthday. Why he wanted a rabbit I’ll never know. But as soon as it joined the family I knew it couldn’t live in the house with us, so I built a rabbit hutch in the backyard. I also knew it needed some kind of nesting material in the hutch so I called my friend, Glen the firefighter, and asked if he would come with me to get a bale of hay for the rabbit hutch. He said sure, and off we went to a place just down from Art Knapps where I had seen a sign that said hay for sale, and a big flatbed truck full of bales. As we drove there I asked Glen how much he thought a bale of hay cost. He had no idea, so we started to guess. Two city boys with money in their pockets but not a clue in their heads. Could it be 5 bucks? 10 bucks? I told him I was willing to go as high as $20 which was a fair piece of change 45 years ago. We got to the farm and found the farmer and I said, “I’d like to buy one of your bales of hay!” He raised his eyebrows and said, “What are you going to do with one bale of hay?” I said, “Well my son has a pet rabbit and I thought it would make nice nesting material.” The farmer let out a sigh and said, “No, what you want is straw, hay is too expensive and too good to use for a rabbit’s hutch!” So I said, “OK then, we’d like one bale of straw please.” As he went to the barn to get the bale, I started peeling off a few dollars and remembered that my top price was going to be $20. The farmer came back with the bale of straw and I asked him how much I owed him. He said, “Give me a dollar and we’re square.” A buck! Little did he know I was willing to part with a 20 dollar bill! To this day I have no idea if that was a good deal or if we paid too much. Hay, we’re city kids, what do we know from straw? Till next week... Wayne |
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