StillWatersIowa: Every Week A Journey

Good morning. How was your week? If it was like ours there were days when you felt you were on top of your game and things were happening. A lot of work was being accomplished.

Then maybe you had times this week as I did when there were obstacles that slowed you down. Interestingly those obstacles cause you to see things you don't always take the time to see.

As we go about our duties from week to week in our routines we don't realize how fast life is happening. Then we look back and think, whoa, it's been 30 years. That's how long ago this picture was taken. It was harvest time during the early 1980s on the Mottet farm along Hwy 92 just east of Osky. This young fellow is sitting on the hood of a single axle grain truck which hauled all our grain. We could haul around 275-300 bushel, just one of today's hopper fulls. Today BJ and his wife Cassia and their 5 children are busy with life.

Mike is busy building terraces. This week he worked for his folks cleaning terraces and putting the dirt back where it came from up the hill.

A couple of afternoons we switched from harvesting corn to beans. Soybean yields have also been better than expected. Then we would switch back and be harvesting corn again by the time Cargill/Eddyville opened at 6am.

Since we have 5 large hog sheds to haul out this fall with just one wagon we decided we had better start taking advantage of dry fields and start hauling honey. For those of you not from Iowa, honey is hog manure. Honey makes corn, corn makes hogs, and hogs make honey.

Anton got his finger slammed in the combine door latch this week. The local ER thought it would be better to see a hand specialist so his parents took him to Mercy in Des Moines where they put him to sleep and got him fixed up. He was a real trooper.

Some of you are thinking farming is too dangerous an occupation for kids to be around. I always considered it a blessing to have our kids growing up helping and I still consider it a blessing to see those same kids now raising our grandkids helping. It's just as possible for kids that stay inside all day to get their fingers caught in the kitchen door. Then before you know it those kids are 20 years old and wonder what life is all about rather than having those early experiences that help them make things happen.

Our local Cat dealer invited us to try out a different color combine this week. It was a fun experience. The fellow on the left is the same young man sitting on the truck hood a few pictures back and his little guy is in the combine wheel.

How many folks can you get in a jeep? Well one afternoon after Cargill closed early 9 of us fit in with several lunch boxes as well.

Speaking of Cargill, we spent a lot of time there this past week as it is getting busier with increased harvest activity.

Most mornings by 6am opening there were 50 semis waiting to unload. Quite often drivers would end up visiting while they waited about yields, moisture, markets, harvest, and the week in general.

As harvest activity increased Cargill/Eddyville had to shorten there days to limit wet bushels to what they could use in a day. So we would spend extra long days loading trucks to be in line first thing in the morning.

You got a copy. Ten-four. We have two-ways in all our vehicles to talk and plan with each other. All the girls have bases in the house and can listen if they choose to know what's going on. Sometimes working at night I think about what I'm going to talk to you about. Sometimes I talk to God, thank Him for the week, and ask Him for wisdom and advice.

Overall we had another productive week working hard together and putting in some extra hours.

Saturday morning it started to rain some. There is nothing more timely than a Saturday afternoon rain. It helps you slow down and get ready for Sunday rest and worship. So Saturday noon I reserved the room in Tasos Restaurant and our harvest crew including many of our semi haulers enjoyed lunch together. It was a good ending to a busy week.