More Living Sky

Once again our "land of living skies" did not fail to impress me. Thunderstorm moving across the South while I was still in the clear watching the sunset. Made for some interesting photos and video. And of course an opportunity for some more "Mercury photos". That lightning strike picture is actually a freeze frame from the video. It was many miles away but still looked impressive. No rain fell here. There have been some wild storms in the South with hail and a tornado or two. Plow winds as well.

More Spraying 2020

Finally able to unhitch from the sprayer a few days ago now that in crop spraying for weeds is done. Good (lucky) timing as the heaviest rain held off til a few days after I finished. Crops are in pretty good shape here and growing well.

Hitched up to the  haybine now in hopes of cutting some hay.

The link between food production and fossil fuels (w/ Quick Dick McDick)

Some common sense comments from the man behind the youtube videos. Very articulate and informed. Trying hard to educate the general public that does not have a clue where their food comes from or what is involved in producing it.

The Sixth Of June

June 6 always means "D Day" to me as it did to my dad. He missed out on it by about a month but did get over there in time to see the devastation left of the battle. Burned out Sherman tanks and dead bodies of animals (and a few humans) were quite the shock. He said he did not have much hope of ever getting out of there alive. Somehow they fought their way through the next months til the war ended in May of the next year.
I've posted some of his memoirs here over the years but have been pretty slow at posting the rest of them. I am lucky he wrote down his account of his journey and saved photos of the places he was and the people he saw along the way. This photo was taken on Wangerooge island after the war ended. Dad at centre and Alec Abel on the left. I got to meet Alec in later years.

In other news, last fall's harvest is done as of a week ago today. That dry dead straw just disintegrated going through the combine and the wheat was the driest I've ever combined. It won't be worth much, just a little less loss in a poor crop year. And here is the video.

Probably not news that the wind is still blowing like a hurricane trying to tear everything loose. We did get one nice quiet day this week and it was yesterday. I went at it as hard as I could and managed to get two fields of chem fallow sprayed. Might have done more but heavy fog made for a late morning start and the 30 miles of road driving, at 14 mph, used up a lot of time.

Too Busy to Blog

Its been steady work here for the past two and a half weeks. No rainy day breaks so I just went from anhydrousing, straight into seeding. When that was done I got on the swather and cut the field of wheat that laid out all winter. Picked it up with the combine today and was fairly happy to be done. No deer antlers in the tires. Found one. Hot and wild wind blowing the swaths around. Then cloudy skies threatening rain so I was pushing it to the limit to try and finish. Thanks to my "harvest crew" we got it all done and machinery moved back home safely.
Might slow down a little tomorrow, unless its quiet enough to run the sprayer. Then I'll be on that as the weeds are growing fast. Early canola is emerging and hope the flea beetles don't find it. We had signs of frost in low lying areas a few nights ago. Early potatoes might show a little leaf damage. Late potatoes are not in the ground yet but hopefully soon as I can get a chance.
Long days and short nights meant no time to edit and upload videos to youtube but I've caught up a little the past couple of days including this one of yesterday's swathing wheat.

Spring 2020

Finally some spring like weather this week. Warm, in the sixties a few days and as of today, 24th April, most of the snow is gone. Surprisingly wet in the fields considering how little snow we had. Guys were combining last week trying to clean up last fall's leftover harvest. It went ok with the ground still frozen solid but this week not so good. I see muddy ruts as the frost comes out of the ground. So I'm leaving that wheat field a little longer in hopes of avoiding getting stuck with the swather and combine.
Dry fertilizer delivered this week as well as a tank of anhydrous ready to go. The auger complained with shrieks of protest as we started unloading fertilizer. A bearing seal had separated allowing fertilizer dust inside.. By spraying oil on it I was able to limp along with it to finish unloading the semi. Always a worry wondering if the auger will break down in the process of unloading.
The repair was more than I could handle eventually requiring three of us to get the shaft and old bearing out of the auger.
The last calf was born 6 days ago and as I feared, I have a new job as a calf feeder. The cow has mastitis or something wrong with her and either has no milk or none good enough to drink. The calf is strong and willing so I've been pail feeding it with milk replacer twice a day.
Great scenery yesterday with the white clouds in blue sky so I shot some driving video and a little drone video as well.

Spring Walk In The Pasture

No, not this spring. I'm looking back at spring of 1988 and 90 in the continuing series of converted vhs home videos. It was a beautiful spring day with snow melting and water running across the dead grass from last fall. My dad and dog came along to check out the scenery. Later in the video I jump back to the dry and early spring of 1988 that would turn out to be the hottest and driest year in my farming history, before or since. Can it really be 30+ years ago?