StillwatersIowa

Yesterday we took a break from our regular activities and responsibilities and enjoyed celebrating together as Karl and Kristin were married at Sully CRC church. Jan and I are officially empty nesters now that all our children are married. Since Karl has always been our Ford guy the couple borrowed a tractor from a good friend and local church member to leave the ceremony in. Kristin made sure her new brother-in-laws had their pickups cleaned up for the rest of the wedding party. Since families need to arrive quite early for all the pictures and preperations that go into a wedding the kids usually end up being all dressed up with no place to go. So they went exploring every nook and cranny in the church. In this picture they are hiding from guest that will soon be coming through the door. The Boender family tends to be heavy on boys so that makes the girls we have special. These are five of my parent's six granddaughters as well as their three great granddaughters. These are...

When I was growing up I can remember Dad saying, "Clean up the house because we're having company". Now days we hear folks say, "We just don't visit back and forth like we used to". I think we still do but just in different settings. Pictured below we are enjoying goodies in our office that Cassia brought us during a recent visit. A few weeks ago Jan and I hosted a PCHS Board/Staff social. That's when the school board, the administration, and all the staff get together early in the school season for a meal and some fun time together. Here a teacher, Mr. Zondervan and his wife Marge are enjoying a Ranger ride with board member Glenda and her husband John. I couldn't remember how long it had been since my Mom's side of the family had gotten together so we had a Rus reunion a couple of weeks ago. This is my Mom, Aunt Kathy, Aunt Bernice, and Uncle Charlie. About a month ago Jan was asked if our cabin had ever been used for a wedding. Well last S...

Karl and Kristin are getting married in a couple of weeks. I received a lot of good natured teasing about an October wedding during harvest. Well in this picture Karl and I are finishing up unloading the last of the crop for this year. The main reasons for an early finish were an early start, less bushels per acre, and a great crew. As I was reminiscing about the last of our six children to leave the house it made me think back 35 years to the last time it was just Jan and I. My first combine was an IH 715 but after a major breakdown Drost Ford sold me a New Idea uniharvestor. It was designed to take off the combine and use the power unit for other jobs such as ear corn picking or chopping silage. We run a Uni from 1977 to 1987. I still wear the belt buckle I was given for buying a new combine. Although the concept was good they should have called it a bad idea rather than a new idea. In the winter of 1973 as a senoir in high school I obtained an FHA loan and borrowed $26000 for a li...

How many times haven't you heard it said, "I can do it myself". Well that's what I thought but sometimes those less demanding jobs would get put on the backburner indefinately. So this week I'd like to introduce you to some folks that make my life much easier because of their partime help. These are my parents and they help keep our office clean and tidy. With all our crew always coming in and out sometimes Mom thinks it's an endless job but that's job security right Mom? It's always fun to have a neat, clean shop but finding the time to put things away and clean up many times gets postponed so Bob comes on Friday mornings and helps clean. It helps me in two ways. First that he cleans and second since I know he's coming it motivates me to finish projects so they are not in the way. For years I would try and do bookkeeping during early morning and late evenings. Needless to say their were times during the year when my desk would get so full I c...

Indian Summer is that weather in the fall after a frost when the days are warm and the nights are cool. It's my favorite season. I'm not sure we've had a killing frost yet but this past week reminded me of how beautiful this time of year can be. I think we've had a first this harvest season. We have 111 day corn going to Eddyville straight out of the field between 14 and 15 percent moisture in late September. I wonder what we'll do with all that LP we contracted. It was also a good week to harvest beans. We split up our workload this week. BJ and Kurt worked on some custom work while Mark, Karl, and I stayed on our own crops. This load of beans is getting ready to go to Cargill in Des Moines. One of my favorite jobs during the harvest season is cleaning up waterways and field edges after the combine. It's a good time to observe and make a plan for what needs conservation work before next year. This is our part time helper Alex doing a great job. We don't ow...