Chapter 41 Harvesting Pasture Grass

  In the morning when Wu Song got out of bed, he also got up. Wu Song's small bed was a leather hammock woven by Huai En with cowhide. The cowhide was cut into strips as wide as fingers and then interwoven. After the entire hammock was completed, a circle of leather tassels was left on the edges around it, which looked very beautiful. Even his mother praised Huai En for being clever and handy.

  The Thomas family and Nancy were very satisfied with their work at the ranch. Most of them were idle, but they still managed to find things to do. Old Thomas would often patrol the pasture, check on the poultry house, and inspect the cattle. He could tell you about each cow by name. Andrew and Wayne would spend their free time in the warehouse weaving lassos or making water collars. They would look around the ranch to see what was needed and find something to do with their hands. Nancy took great care of every sheep and also helped with tasks like cutting cowhide during the day. The most leisurely person on the ranch was actually Gwain, which made him very satisfied. When it came time to pay wages, each person received an extra $300-400.

  After getting up, one person and a monkey brushed their teeth, had breakfast, and then rushed to the greenhouse. They pulled out two carrots and handed them over to Wu Song. Wu Song quickly washed them in the water tank, and then Ju An walked ahead with his hands behind his back. Wu Song followed behind, carrying the two carrots. Once, they were seen by their mother, who commented that Ju An looked like a small village official. Wu Song was following closely behind, like a lackey, which made his sister laugh for several days.

  When they arrived at Ma's house, they let out the bean grass and Snowflake. As usual, Wu Song groomed them, cleaned their hooves, and fed them carrots. Bean Grass was in a bad mood every day, but would eat from Wu Song's hand while showing disdain for him. Only Snowflake had a good temper, allowing Wu Song to jump on its back, brush its mane with a comb, and ride it. Whenever Wu Song got on Bean Grass' back, it would buck and bite, never calm.

  Brushed the horse, saddled up, ready to run two laps. Since Wu Song returned from his trip, he discovered that he had a talent for riding horses and has been putting on two saddles every day. Wu Song can ride Xue Hua (Snow Flower) without reins, just by tying the reins to a pillar and using voice commands to control the horse. Although Wu Song's posture is not elegant, with his arms wrapped around the pillar and squatting on top, it cannot be denied that he sits very stably and has great balance.

  Just got on the bean grass, rode for a while, and saw Dad, brother-in-law, and sister returning together on their morning ride. In front of Dad's horse was his mischievous grandson Rongrong, and in front of Sister's horse sat her restless little monkey Tongtong.

  Ranran saw Ju'an waving his hand and said "Good morning, young uncle".

  Before he could respond, Wu Song was already standing on Xue Hua's back, also waving his hand and making a "heh heh" sound.

  Tongtong saw Ju An and used her hand to rub her red face, saying: "Little uncle and Wu Song are big lazy worms, they got up so late, even later than Tongtong".

  "Little uncle is not only lazy, but also has a bad memory. Who knows, one day he'll go to the supermarket in town and forget what ice cream is, that's not good."

  Tongtong immediately puffed out her cheeks and said: "Little uncle is a big bad egg".

  Dad ignored them and said to Ju An: "Didn't Thomas say he wanted to cut the grass for winter use today? When are we going to go and take a look?"

  "Wait a bit longer, we have to wait until they settle the cattle and then start. Also, we need to check the tractor first."

  Dad finished speaking and urged the horse to move forward, my sister and brother-in-law also smiled and whipped the horse to follow Dad. As they walked away, Tongtong still made a face at Ju'an.

  Rode a horse for a lap, ran so hot all over, just came back, unloaded the saddle of snowflake and bean grass, put the two guys into the horse group, free to move around.

  When they arrived at the warehouse, they found that Old Thomas had already pulled out the tractor and was reversing it.

  Dad, brother-in-law and Andrew were moving the large lawn mower, nearly six meters wide, fortunately it had seven or eight wheels, otherwise the three of them wouldn't have been able to move it. Tiger Head and Garlic Head were wagging their tails following Ranran and Tongtong, occasionally picking up something from the ground to eat. Upon closer inspection, the two little ones were holding a beef patty in their hands, munching away. Seeing Ranran bite off a piece of half-fat beef and spit it out onto the ground, Tiger Head picked it up with one mouthful and started devouring it.

  They rushed up and lent a hand, the four of them working together to shift the mower over, then waited for Old Thomas to bring the tractor over.

  Andrew motioned for everyone to scatter, then directed Old Thomas to back the tractor up. Once the tractor was in position, Old Thomas jumped down and helped everyone hook up the mower's hitch to the tractor's rear towing hook. After it was hooked up, they also connected several thick control cables from the mower to the tractor's cab.

  Just as everything was ready and they were about to leave, old Taylor drove up in his rickety Toyota pickup with Jerry and Emily.

  Taylor put down the two little guys and chatted with them for a few words before saying goodbye to everyone. It turned out that his ranch was also preparing winter pasture, and they had already cut it for two days.

  Uncle Tom and his sister's husband, as well as Andrew, all drove four-wheelers. The little ones were shouting to follow along, so old Thomas put them in the cab of the tractor on the big fenders over the back wheels. Luckily it was a large tractor with wheels almost as big as an adult's, or else they wouldn't have fit these few little guys.

  A group of people carrying garlic and tiger head, after a good while, finally arrived at the pasture selected by Old Thomas. Here is a large area of relatively flat grassland, where the grass grows vigorously. What more can be said? The space produces it, and it must be good grass.

  Old Thomas got down from the tractor and carried the little ones down one by one. The whole family stopped their four-wheeled motorcycles, and the little ones immediately ran onto the four wheels and started playing on them. Hu Tou and Suan Tou circled around the four wheels.

  Thomas drove the tractor and tried to cut a few times, then Andrew adjusted the cutting height again, and started cutting. There was basically nothing left for the rest of the people to do.

  Andrew walked over to the cut grass and looked at it carefully. The cut grass was all neatly lined up in rows, like a row of hay pads. Andrew also came over, picked up a piece of grass and said: "It's just a bit dry, then we can use the baler to bundle them together, wait for them to dry in the shade, and then put them in the granary."

  "Ju An asked: 'How much are we prepared to give up'."

  Andrew pointed to this large area of grass and said, "This piece, as well as another similar place, basically every place comes back three or four times, more storage points, prepared for unexpected situations."

  Just as they were chatting, suddenly Jerry shouted: "Rabbit!"

  Just as Gu An turned his head back, he saw a gray rabbit emerging from the grass. At a glance, Old Thomas had already turned the tractor around.

  Jerry had just shouted when Hu Tou and Suan Tou rushed up, the two dogs chased after the rabbit and took off, and the four little guys also got down from the wheels to cheer on Hu Tou and Suan Tou.

  In no time, the little rabbit was brought back by the garlic head and thrown at Ju'an's feet. Ju'an picked up the rabbit and took a look, surprisingly, not even the skin was bitten open, but the whole head was dangling down, probably because it was bitten by the garlic head and its neck was broken. After stroking the garlic head to praise it, he handed the rabbit over to Rongrong: "Cheer up, catch a few more, and tonight grandma will cook braised rabbit meat for you."

  The little guys immediately came to life, standing together on the four-wheeled motorcycle and stretching their necks, looking around in all directions. Even Wu Song followed suit, sticking his head out, and at a glance, several groundhog holes were visible with the wind blowing through them.

  After Andrew and Thomas took turns mowing for a while, Ju An and her brother-in-law and father also tried to mow for several rounds.

  At noon, my sister drove a four-wheeled vehicle and delivered lunch to everyone. There were two thermoses of hot coffee and tea, followed by a large pot of braised beef and twenty or so small pancakes. Old Thomas and the others have also fallen in love with this Chinese-style meal. The warm pancakes wrapped around the fragrant soup and the tender red-braised beef, the flavor was incredibly delicious.

  After lunch, they continued to work. The little guys brought back two more rabbits with the tiger head and garlic head, and even caught a wild duck that came from who-knows-where.

  Old Thomas looked at them for a while, then took the wild ducks and several dead rabbits away, cleaned up and prepared to cook them for dinner. As he left, he told the little ones that these would be enough for tonight, and not to let Hu Tou and Suan Tou go hunting again.

  As I was sitting there watching my dad mow the lawn on his tractor, suddenly Jerry yelled out "Look, a red-tailed hawk!" I looked up and saw two white specks circling in the sky. Since moving here, I've seen hawks pretty regularly - mostly bald eagles, which are also the national bird of the US, as well as golden eagles from time to time. Occasionally you'll see one soaring overhead, so we have to keep a close eye on the chicken coop and other things with the dogs, protecting them from these birds.

  As for Little Jerry's cry of a red-tailed hawk, it was the first time I saw it. Two white spots crossed and circled, one suddenly dived down, then flew up again, and then flew far away.

  As for what it looks like, Andrew didn't get a clear look. Only after asking Little Jerry did he learn that red-tailed hawks usually appear in pairs, with white bodies and black spots, yellowish-red tails, and some reddish feathers on their chests. Unfortunately, Andrew didn't bring his binoculars, or else he could have gotten a good look.

  In the evening when I got home from work, there was delicious braised rabbit meat and roasted rabbit that Old Tom had specially made, as well as potato stewed duck blocks, which everyone enjoyed eating. My dad also nostalgically sighed, saying it's been a long time since he last ate wild rabbit meat, and when he was young, he often saw wild rabbits, but now they're all gone, and some are even domesticated rabbits, which don't taste the same.