I Made It Rain!

Well I actually managed to finish crop spraying today without the rain spoiling my plans. The wind got a little extreme but I was so close to finished that I pressed on and got it done. Unfortunately ran out of herbicide mix with a few acres left to go. Didn't feel like driving back nine miles to mix up another batch for a few acres today in the heat and humidity.
Then I made it rain. Seems I only have to hitch the tractor onto the hay baler and the clouds roll in. I thought I'd get this bit of hay around the yard rolled up in bales before it got soaked but there was so many green patches in the swath that I had to quit. Green hay in a bale is not a good thing. Leads to mold and spoilage which is good for neither man nor beast.
Anyway,the hay that remains in the swaths now is thoroughly soaked with this evening's thunderstorms and violent light show
A rainy year will grow a lot of hay but it becomes a real challenge to get that hay put up in good quality between rains.

July 1 Canada Day

I'm old enough to remember when July 1 was still called "Dominion Day".
I spent it as I often do, working a field of summerfallow. Hadn't noticed how striking the big white clouds in the blue sky were until I put this picture on screen. I'd likely been too busy watching the grass and trees to see how much they were moving. Trying to judge if the wind was dropping enough for me to go to work on the job I really needed to do, spraying flax for weeds. Between high wind, high humidity and threatening clouds I have had no luck spraying for days now. I don't recall ever spraying for weeds this late but thats the kind of year its been, everything just a little late.


I did get an early start on haying, cutting some with the swather this week. Its faster than using the old 7 foot mower but the big swaths usually take a long time to dry and need turning with the rake to speed up the process. I really need a hay conditioner but hesitate to spend the money on my small "hobby" herd of cattle. I turned the swaths this afternoon. That usually brings on the rain.

We have had a bit of a break in the rainy weather and fields are drying up. Roads slowly improving and getting repaired although a few trips through with the gravel trucks soon rut them up again. Not sure how I am going to get the grain out of one farm as both trails are under water last time I checked. I really don't want to have to try and pull a loaded semi of grain out of the mud. I'm sure the trucker doesn't either.

Last night there was a bright display of northern lights (aurora borealis), the first I have seen in a long time.

Cockshutts at work.

My day so far. This part went fairly well. I'm putting in time catching up on yard jobs while waiting for the fields to dry enough to try and get back to crop spraying. As bad as it is here, I really can't complain much compared to the people to the south of us in  North Dakota where a lot of our water is headed.
The wet conditions here make the country green and old machinery shine. The cloud formations create some amazing sky pictures when the sun finally comes out.
Markets and falling grain prices continue to defy logic as reports keep indicating that there are far fewer acres planted than normal and there won't be any excess grain to trade.
More rain last night has pushed crop spraying back a little more and turned some of the road into a rutted quagmire where only 4 wheel drive vehicles dare to venture.

More Chicken Stuff

On this first day of summer here is a video of some new Bantam chicks at the food dish along with a cat or two. Its interesting how they can eat side by side, those chicks would make an easy meal for the cat but they never try it. No doubt the memory of being attacked by angry mother hens keep the cats resistant to the temptation.
Weekend rains have raised the water table in the south and contributed to .....
More flooding in Sask.
We thought last year was bad but its looking like 2011 is going to be a repeat, maybe worse. Some of the roads are a real adventure to drive now. Hauling grain or any other heavy loads is not an option. Still some people will tell you that we are never more than two weeks away from a drought in Sask. Thats hard to believe now.

Another Lazy Farmer

I've been meaning to post a few more of the "Lazy Farmer" cartoons but lately have not had the time. Seeing as this is a rainy day I thought this one was appropriate. He makes a lot of sense about the rain clouds. Once the rain starts to fall, the suspense is over. I don't have to stand out in the yard scanning the sky to try and decide if I dare dump the couple of thousand dollars worth of herbicide into the sprayer tank in hopes the rain will hold off long enough for me to spray it out on the crop . About 3 hours. Yes, when its raining I can park the machinery and concentrate on other necessities of life. The weeds will keep on growing but theres nothing I can do about it , for now anyway.
I like the philosophy of this old lazy farmer but never seem to get around to putting it into practice. Too many things need doing and time passes quicker with every year so I can hardly keep up. Although I am planning to adopt his laid back lifestyle once I get a little more caught up in my work.
Disclaimer.......any resemblance between this cartoon lazy farmer and The Real Lazy Farmer  is purely co-incidental and in name only.

Are We Really Better than Animals?

I have to wonder after listening to and watching the disgusting display of post game riots following last night's Stanley Cup hockey game in Vancouver. Not a big sports fan here but in the tractor all day with the radio going its impossible not to hear whats happening. The news went to live coverage of the riots in the streets after Canada lost to Boston. Burning police cars and smashing store windows , then looting and destroying the business.
As is often the case, alcohol fueled most of the event even though liqour stores were closed in the hours before the game started. It didn't help apparently.
Plenty of injuries, tear gas and rubber bullets by the time the streets eventually cleared. Now for the clean up. Vancouver has earned a lot of world wide publicity over this event but not the kind they would like I'm sure.
 Post-game insanity
I had to stop watching eventually . Seeing the smiling grinning faces of the hooligans as they destroyed property and taunted the police was just too much to take. This was animal behaviour and they need to be treated as such. Plenty of pictures and videos were taken of the event so hopefully the perpetrators will be harshly dealt with.
In other news, long days in the field are slowly getting me caught up with work. Flowers are blooming and crops are growing. Weeds too so I am hoping to spray a few acres today before the rain hits tomorrow.

Repairing the JD

This looked like a huge repair job yesterday after the front axle collapsed. I was actually starting to look at replacine the whole machine but figured that would be taking the easy way out. After almost 20 years I know this machine inside and out and it probably knows it's way around the yard better than I do so I went ahead and tackled the job.
It turned out to be easier than I expected. Easy, weldable metal and a bonus, I now know how to remove and replace the front axle of the tractor.