StillwatersIowa

We arrived at our vacation spot near Waldon, Colorado last Sunday afternoon. This is the cabin we called home for a week. It sits on a ranch in the mountains at around 8600 feet elevation.   Since BJ and his family were pulling the trailer with the 4-wheelers he had to stop more often than the rest of us for fuel. One of those stops was along the interstate in Wyoming. Fortunately I had loaded highway fuel in the back of our pickup for just such an occasion.   This is a lunch stop along the way. Ezra, Elliott, and Zachary are eating their happy meal in the shade. Becky asked if I would watch her kids while she went for supplies. Well, I watched them alright, see how much air they could get bouncing off the beds. We put over 100 miles on our 4-wheelers for the week driving on the ranch and the surrounding trails in the mountains in the National Forests in the area. Some of the guys helped rebuild a corral and check cattle while the girls took a sh...

Summer/2012 has once again showed us how dependent we are on the One in charge of when it does or doesn't rain. We see dead grass, droopy trees, and low ponds and realize there is nothing we can do about it. We also know that the One in charge of the weather is also in charge of our lives. We remember all the times He has taken care of us. Since He is in charge we are going to spend the rest of the summer enjoying each others company and anticipating a harvest. Elliott and Ezra are digging nice size potatoes out of Grandma's garden to take to Colorado on vacation. These potatoes had very little rain. No, I did not find a picture from last fall. This is an early season corn planted April 2 on light soil. We hope and pray the grain from these fields will be a sellable product with heavy enough test weight and free of aflitoxin. The plants on heavier soils are still green. However the maturity is coming along fast with most of the shucks on the ears starting to die. W...

We emptied our office this week so we could re wax the floor and paint the walls. What you see below is the unorganized pile of furniture and office equipment in the shop that needs to go back soon. However if you look close you will also see a box of donuts. Now we could worry about that pile of furniture, or we could stop and eat the donuts.   There are plenty of things we could be concerned about this week. However worrying about things we can't change is a waste of energy. And sometimes we are just stuck in a rut, not a ditch. And if you look around you will find that there is always someone stuck in a bigger ditch than you are. The fact that our first batch of sweet corn is done for is good news for some hungry cows. My friend Rick was back in Iowa this week. Talk about losing the battle and winning the war. God is so using him to keep the moral and conservative issues that are so important to us and our country in the forefront of this yea...

Even though I think this bank thermometer is exaggerating a little it has been a hot, dry week. Despite the brown yards and suffering crops there are some jobs that take advantage of this weather. The corn crop on the weak soils is nearly lost and the later planted corn looks tough. However much of the earlier planted corn on better soils is amazingly continuing to fill kernels. The weather has speeded up the maturity process. It looks like a very good possibility there could be some corn harvested in late August.   With all the pastures gone hay has been in high demand. The boys have been baling grass on shares and selling the bales. This is Brad finishing up a reclaimed coalmine area. Hot, dry weather is perfect for building ponds. This is Mike and his brothers taking a break on a pond they are building for Dr. Mark west of Melcher. We couldn't figure out what or who was shredding the shucks on our sweet corn. It didn't look like it was something a raccoon woul...

Folks ask on occasion, well after the crops are in, what do you do all summer? My favorite answer goes along with their asumption. I'll ask if they have ever seen the 4x4 stickers on our farm trucks. Then I teasingly tell them that sticker means we work 4 weeks in the spring, 4 weeks in the fall, and have 44 weeks of vacation. Many summer evenings in Iowa include swimming in the pond and getting together and hanging out on the dock. Of course it's not summer in Iowa without sweetcorn. Since sweetcorn is kind of wimpy compared to field corn we had to water it to get it started and water it to get it pollinated. After fertilizing in the fall and spring we plant it in intervals to spread out the time it's ready. Even though we spray it a couple of times it can still take some weeding since it doesn't get as tall as field corn and doesn't shade in between the rows. Finally you have to compete with the racoons when it gets ready to eat. Last evening both E...