Second cutting of hay went late into the evening on Monday. The weather has not been cooperative since then, however. The cut hay was rained on, so it had to be tedded (the cut rows stirred and spread out to promote drying by air and sunlight), then raked into windrows again. With luck it might get baled this afternoon. A little rain that wasn't enough to fill the usual puddles, barely enough to push up a new crop of dandelions, meant two extra trips over this field at a considerable cost in fuel and labor plus wear and tear - this is what separates life in rural America from the cities. We like things to go smoothly as much as our urban brethren, but our expectations that such will occur are tempered by the frequency of this sort of experience. One learns patience - among the cardinal virtues - or one lives and works elsewhere.