This week’s farming update from Ben

The rain predicted for Wednesday morning evaporated before it got here. We just got sprinkles. And it’s still rather cool. A bit under normal temps. Growing degree units are still above normal, thanks to the early spring. Corn is already knee high, so that’s good. It’s almost canopied meaning that will keep the weeds down. The soybeans are maybe 6″ tall. Long ways to go for canopy for them. The co-op sprayed the soybeans for weeds this week. 

One of Kelly’s co-workers was in a bicycle accident and has broken her clavicle. Her collar bone. And you all know there’s not much to do about that. Strap it to your chest and go about your day. This woman was back at work two days later. Typing with one hand. She’s a very busy person in the first place, and she said she was home staring at the walls, so she may as well be at work. With one hand. Been there, done that. 

I was at a business the other day, and the clerk was typing with her two pointer fingers. And I thought again, thank goodness for 11^th grade typing class. And I chose that myself; Mom and Dad didn’t even push it on me. And back in the 1980’s I don’t know why I would have thought that? But good for me. Glad I did. I’m still trying to learn the numeric keyboard without looking at it. 559096 3940 175 5607259357028593164 That was me trying to type out some familiar numbers without looking. It’s 85% accurate… Not quite good enough for my accounting though. 

My brother-in-law is missing his left pinky finger. He says the Q and Z aren’t a big deal, but he sure misses the A.

I had election judge training this week; regular and head judge. And since I’ve been doing this for 20 some years, there’s not much to keep it interesting. So I turned it into a game of judging their grammar. They talked about when your vote has been “casted“ really? Casted? And at one point she said something was done “correctionally”. I spent a long time thinking about that. Is correctionally a word? I wanted to look around the room and say ‘did you all hear that? Is that what she said’? One guy talked about the “Safe At Home” program, but it sure sounded like he was saying “Save At Home”. Hmmm… Call me judgemental.

The farm this week has been odds and ends. I threw out a bunch of wildflower seed expecting rain. So now I’m out there with the water tank in the back of the gator getting that watered– fingers crossed. I figured if I didn’t water, it wouldn’t rain, and if I did water it would, so I watered. And it worked! We got just over half an inch on Wednesday afternoon. 

Monday evening the dogs were barking at something down in the feedroom. Kelly had gone down and opened the door but didn’t see anything. At one point, Luna came and literally got Kelly. Clearly indicating she needed to come back down there. I went down to get some corn and when I turned on the auger to load more feed into the wall bin, a raccoon climbed out the top of the bin. She bounced off my shoulder and tried to make a get away. And there was the dogs and this raccoon at my feet. I have had my close encounters with raccoons before and didn’t really need another. At least I didn’t scream like a little girl this time, I just tried to get out of the way. Corn auger is still running, corn is spilling on the floor. It was a whole big thing.

Padawan is at a(nother) new job, so Padawan 2 is coming out to help. He’s been around before and he’s a good kid, too. I took the mower off the lawn tractor, sharpened the blades, replaced a spindle, (the bearing supporting a blade), changed the oil in the tractor and cut more grass. P2 replaced a carburetor on our secondary lawn mower, and we worked together replacing a fuel line between the tank and the fuel pump. Although it’s still not running. Hmmm….  While he was doing the carburetor I replaced the sediment bowl on Kelly’s C tractor. And that still leaks too. Geez, batting zero on these projects. P2 had success replacing a door latch and gas strut on a tractor door. We moved stuff around in the shed and got the corn planter and grain drill parked away until next spring.

We spotted this big moth on a tree. 

The summer festival season has kicked off. It was the 152 Annual Viola Gopher count on Wednesday and Thursday with a parade and fireworks and a street dance. Daughter’s group usually goes to the parade, but she wasn’t really interested. She told me only lazy people go to parades. I tried to explain I didn’t think that was exactly true, but I had trouble not giggling and she’s not interested in rational explanations anyway. She likes to move, not sit and watch a parade. We let her stay home. 

It’s also Elgin Cheese Days Thursday – Sunday this week. Carnival rides, food trucks, and more dancing. I drove through Elgin on Thursday, on my way home from getting more parts in Plainview. There were a lot of garage sales, and two little girls selling earrings on a boulevard. And the local strawberry farm has fresh strawberries. Oh My Goodness they’re good. They make my knee’s buckle they’re so good.

Peas are being harvested and guys are planting soybeans following the peas. 

I needed a few new farm shirts, so I dug to the back of the closet, found a couple with long sleeves I haven’t worn in years. Cut the sleeves off and they’re having a new life.

Driving home from Plainview, I heard Spike Jones singing “Chloe”. If the title doesn’t ring a bell for you, allow me: A phone rings, he answers, he says, “You don’t say. You DON’T say. You don’t say.” Hang’s up. The band says, “Who was it?” Spike replies, “He didn’t say.” Then later, phone rings again, same bit. Again they say “Who was it?” “Same guy.” Makes me laugh every time. I looked up the song on YouTube. Following Spike Jones was Cab Calloway and the Nicolas Brothers. Now those guys could dance!

Kelly is hosting a ‘movie on the farm’ night for her work people. The Residents and Fellows in the Pathology program come out and we do a bonfire and show a movie on the side of the crib. This will be the fourth year. First year got rained out. Second year was sparsely attended. Third year was in September and it was so cold and rainy we moved it into the shop and machine shed and showed the movie on the shop door. It was a good crowd and they all had a good time. This year looks like sunny but cool weather. She gave them a choice of movie and I haven’t heard what it will be yet. They do a popcorn machine, a root beer keg, they got vanilla ice cream, and the fixings for S’mores. P2 and I got out some tables, and straw bales for seating, cleaned out the garage, and he cut grass.  

And then Sunday is Father’s Day. 

Happy Fathers Day Dad’s!

ARE YOU JUDGEMENTALLYIST?

WHAT MOVIE IS GOOD FOR OUTSIDE?