Complex Numbers

Hay Now

This would depend upon their political affiliation.

PROMPT November 10^th

Your neighbor’s hay crop is ready to harvest. Everyone in their family is sick and their Combine is broken. How do you respond to this situation?

Okay, no, not really. I'd help out regardless.

I'm actually not unfamiliar with combines or the process of harvesting field crops... though my experience is likely outdated now.

First of all, if my neighbor's a farmer, then I'm a farmer. In reality, this is too much work, which is the reason I'm not a farmer. But in this hypothetical situation, then I have farm equipment and I'd just use that.

Often, small farmers don't own their harvesters -- they'd have a tractor, because that's useful year-round, but a combine is something most farmers use once a year for a couple of days, and it makes more sense to rent one or participate in a cooperative. You know, like communism.

Or, maybe I could fix the combine. Like I said, I'm not without experience in that area, though a) the latest models have to be fixed by the company that sold them, which is bullshit and b) that's too much like work, too.

The real issue here, though, is: it's a hay crop, not wheat or barley or corn. The main purpose of a combine is to separate grain from straw (basically). No grain, no need for a combine. Hay-making is usually done by a reaper (basically a giant lawnmower), rake (also a giant one that you pull behind a tractor), and baler. First the mower does its work, then the hay needs to cure for a couple of days; the rake organizes the hay into windrows, and then the baler picks it up and poops out bales.

All of that sounds like a lot of work, but you're basically just sitting on your ass driving a tractor, so unless something breaks, it's just time-consuming.

Picking up the bales, though... well. That's a major reason I got off the farm as soon as humanly possible.

You might say it was...

*puts on sunglasses*

...the last straw.