StillwatersIowa

Good Morning. I hope you are enjoying your Holiday weekend. As a kid I remember my parents calling this weekend Decoration Day. I also remember flags and school being out so I could help my dad every day. Way back when our country set the last Monday in May to remember those who lost their lives fighting in wars. I read an article talking about the wars we have been involved in and American casualties. It said we lost around 1950 Americans during Desert Storm, 4400 during Iraqi Freedom, and 2200 since during Enduring Freedom. During the American Revolution 4400 soldiers died. The article said around 54000 American solders died in the Korean War. It mentioned 90000 died in Vietnam. I remember hearing somewhere else that Americans lost in Vietnam was 57000 so I'm not sure. It's still a lot. I still remember my draft number. The war ended when I was 16. The article said 117000 lives were lost in World War 1 and 406000 Americans died in World War 2. Our parents and gra...

Good Morning. It's Sunday. It's sprinkling and it feels good to have a day of rest. Forgive me if I ramble. I haven't taken the time to think about what we are going to visit about this week. Iowa farmers worked day and night to get their crop in this week. I am amazed at how much can get done in just a week.  I literally spent the whole week in a sprayer. After the crop is planted we apply herbicide to stop the weeds from coming. Karl drove our yellow Rogator 1396 and I drove Cargill's John Deere 4940. We did custom spraying in six adjoining counties.   This is a sprayers control center. The sprayer talks to satellites and the satellites help the operator steer the 120 foot swath without skipping. Satellites also remember where you have been and shuts the spray on and off to prevent overlapping. This same technology is used for seed in corn planters.  Technology gives you the ability to do a better job, especially at night. The only problem is someone ...

Here in Iowa we like to tease each other about living a little too far south. Living south of Highway 92 implies  a person is a little less cultured and a little more laid back. We love it and enjoy our hills and river valleys. Most of the time.  You know you live south of 92 when you pull on a yard, see seven pickups, and no one is home. You know you live south of 92 when the signs on the bridges say, cross at your own risk. You know you live south of 92 when you are driving down our beautiful roads and the deer hit you. (This actually happened to Jan this past week.) You know you live south of 92 when everyone you meet waves whether you know them or not. You know you live south of 92 when the planter and the tiler are getting pulled through the field at the same time. You know you live south of 92 when the only time you tile is in the mud. You know you live south of 92 when you can sit on a tractor in May with a heavy coat and just look like yo...

As I think back on our week I have three different thoughts I'd like to share with you. The first is  just to share what a great team I'm blessed to be a part of. The second thought is to share a couple of pictures of some unprecedented May weather. And finally a story about a rough looking young man who came and asked for help.    Last week Saturday the soil conditions were showing and the weather forecast was predicting that we were going to be able to get in a couple of days of field work.  So our crew went pretty much non stop from early Monday morning to early Thursday morning finishing custom anhydrous, dozing, drilling, cultivating, planting, spraying, tendering herbicides and seed, and helping customers in the seed shed. They say a pat on the back is just a couple of vertebrae away from a kick in the pants. I've experienced both and can tell you the pat on the back is way more effective. So I'd like to recognize and thank our team that helped...