StillwatersIowa

One of things Jan and I look forward to doing together is spending a week in Arizona sort of celebrating our anniversary. The weather is cooler with temps in the sixties but the senery is always bueatiful. We attended a Baptist church Sunday morning in Chandler close to where we are staying. They had three morning services. One of the fun activities while on our visit to Phoenix was attending a Ritchie Bros. heavy equipment auction. Since everything we buy while while we're here must fit in a suitcase on an airplane Jan didn't have to worry about me buying anything. I was able to get a Phoenix Raceway pitpass while attending a race there. It was fun to watch up close and even talk to folks in the pit. Jan and I drove to the southern Arizona border one day and walked into Old Mexico. I asked Hebron if we could take his picture. He sells leather goods to provide for his wife and five daughters. When we met him last year during a similar visit he told me stories of his familie...

Although winter is probably not totally over last week promised a possibility of warmer weather just around the corner. The thunder and lightening last evening is definately a change from the last 8 weeks snow and cold. Jan and I enjoyed bringing Kurt and Emily to Des Moines to pick up their truck as Kurt gets ready for his 2011 custom work season. A sure sign of spring are visits from crop input salesmen. During this visit we purchaced some NH3 to be applied in late 2011 for our 2012 corn crop two years away. On this particular visit the salesman knew Mark liked hot foods and brought him homemade canned jalapenos. What a way to warm up. One day Kurt asked his Grandpa Ferguson if he would sell him his old Ford 7000 tractor. Well sure enough Grandpa thought that would be a great idea. Grandpa did however make Kurt promise he would put a ROPS bar on it for rollover protection. I had to smile when I thought about Grandpa driving it for 40 years without yet worrying about his grandkids...

Sometimes I wish you folks were available so I could ask you what you would like to read about. I thought about putting on the final growth strategy chapter but you've read about that for the last two weeks. I've been involved in helping political folks promote family values this past week but I figure it's kind of hard for you to relate if you were'nt there. I asked Jan what I should write about since it's sort of her blog. She didn't help much. She said, "Just write about about anything. People want to know what your thinking." Since it's Valentine's Day tommorow I thought I'd tell you a story about this couple I know. Late one summer Roger met Diana. They were from different churches and different schools so their first few dates were full of conversations about getting to know each other. It was amazing how much they had in common. As time went on Roger was just happy to have a girlfriend. Diana on the other hand was thinking Roger...

I frequently get questions on working together as a family. Making a family business work requires a predetermined commitment. Sharing the work, the responsibility, the leadership, the ownership, and the caring will avoid roadblocks . All of us need to feel wanted. Sometimes a correctional comment hurts even though it's unintentional. A family working together needs to affirm each other . Over time folks will forget what you say. They will even forget what you did. But they will never forget how you made them feel. Sharing responsibility is a must in working together. A father's goal should be to have his children and grandchildren become better at a job than he was. The older generation should not get caught napping in making a plan for the future. It's so easy to put it off because folks either don't want to or don't know how to incorporate the next generations. It's so true that the jobs on a farm just never seem to quit. Taking time to acknowledge yo...