StillwatersIowa

You've heard the saying, "if you don't like the weather in Iowa just wait, it will change." On Monday we were tiling in the mud during snow showers.  By Saturday things had warmed up and dried up some and we were in the field.   Many times I worry about stuff prematurely. For all my years on earth spring has never failed to arrive and we have always gotten a crop in. When Jan and I first started farming I sprayed a 20 foot swath. Today we spray a 120 foot swath.  I didn't have time to find more kid pictures so I'll just embarrass Mark. The kids used to help get the crop in before, after, and sometimes during school. They would help drive two no-till drills on tractors without cabs or front wheel assist. Times have changed. Today all our children are married. Mark and Stacy just celebrated their 14th wedding anniversary.   Years ago I used to have the kids all pile on a three-wheeler. Today they can join their dad's on a much safer Rang...

Have you ever been driving in your vehicle, taken a turn your navigation device wasn't too crazy about, and heard Miss Garmin say to you," recalculating" Every time it rains again in southern Iowa we kind of recalculate our list of things we were planning on doing in April. I've lost track of spring precipitation amounts however last week we had over 8 inches including a frog strangler on Wednesday. If you see any of the TV news guys please tell them yes, the drought is officially over for now, when they keep asking. So we just keep working on things in the shop. The kids love to help their Dads. Often we create jobs for the kids to do. Jobs teach us all responsibility and help us feel like we've accomplished something at the end of the day. We've had time for birthday parties. This is our oldest grandson, Gideon. He turned 11 this past week. This chisel is a piece of equipment that's used in the fall. Since we have time we are getting...

Mark Twain once said that he seldom saw an opportunity until it ceased to be one. Opportunities   early on look like an empty railroad track. It's easily possible to cross. Either you just haven't thought about why you need to be on the other side yet or you tell yourself that you can cross any time you want. Then situations start to come up that look like you might want to hurry if you want to take advantage of the opportunity. Decisions under pressure of a on-coming obstacle can be dangerous. So many times we wait hoping our opportunity will still be there when and if we get a second chance. Thomas Edison said often an opportunity is missed because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. In farming I quite often need to set goals and make lists in order to be ready for field work opportunities come warmer weather. Winston Churchill said that a pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity and the optimist sees the opportunity in every...

Our grandson Ethan is old enough to be in 4-H this year. He has sheep for his project. A person can learn a lot feeding sheep. My pictures of our activities this week probably won't be relevant to a sheep feeding story. Walter was a sheep farmer and drove AC tractors. I was a freshman in high school and was in need of some income. On the way to Walter's house to ask him for a job I told my dad I thought I was worth $1.50/hour. Walter invited us in for soft Archway cookies and Pepsi. Walter seemed somewhat interested and asked my father what I would charge. When my dad suggested $2/hour I thought the visit was over. Walter said, when can he start?   When I came to feed the sheep one afternoon after school about ten days into my new job I found Walter's two prize bucks both dead. They had been penned separately in a dark corner of the barn and when Walter had showed me how to chore he didn't  mention the prized bucks so I was assuming he was taking care of th...