“One, two, three, LIFT!” My brother
and I step back from our efforts. The moonlight casts a pearly glow
over the field of hay, and a coyote howls in the distance. Before
us, massive and beautiful, stands a monument to the gods. It is Stonehenge,
made of bales of hay. We are standing in our neighbor’s field, shuffling
quietly to take in the entire structure. He does not know we are
even out here. One ton of hay, stacked into pillars, with a ring
of bales around the top. He will be surprised, to say the least.
We have actually done him a favor by gathering all his hay to one area.
My brother and I admire it for a long moment, and then take off for home.
The next day, I hear rumors of aliens.
Everyone got a good chuckle out of that
one. I received a picture of my neighbor standing next to “Hayhenge”
with an arm pointing to the sky. He was smiling. Someone asked,
“How in the world did you get the idea to do something like that?”
The truth is, I do not know. I drove by a hay field, and it occurred
to me that a hay structure would be amusing. Stonehenge popped to
mind. The opportunity presented itself, and I took the initiative.
I grabbed my brother, and, after some careful planning, we tiptoed in that
night and built Hayhenge in a couple of hours.
It was a lot of work. We tried stacking
the bales, but they kept falling down. My brother began to despair,
but I would not be beaten. After some deliberation, I had the idea
of building scaffolding from other bales. It worked perfectly.
Now it was just a matter of putting in the work to stack one ton of hay
into a majestic monument. To put bales up high, we built a staircase
from other bales. When it was completed, Hayhenge stood tall and
serene amid a sea of alfalfa.
The wonder of Hayhenge was that it began
as a spontaneous urge. I took a funny idea and made a project out
of it. I planned everything. It had four lines of symmetry.
The altar pointed due north. The entire structure was aligned with
the path of the moon. After that, my brother and I worked diligently
to make things just right. Hayhenge was a sturdy structure which
I am sure would have lasted for eons had our neighbor not hauled his hay
to the barn later the next day.
Hayhenge is a prime example of how I solve
problems. I begin with an opportunity and take the initiative.
I make plans and modify ideas until everything falls into place.
Creative insights help make the project run smoothly. Finally, I
employ my plan with the meticulous precision and the hard work it takes
to make everything work. A sense of humor helps bring it all together.
