StillwatersIowa

Good morning. It's hard to believe the days are already getting shorter. Sometimes, especially in wet weather, a person gets to feeling behind. I decided I better start enjoying summer. It will soon be over. Monday I helped Jan watch grandkids while they went swimming.  We have had a wet week with some farms to our south getting 7 to 9 inches of rain in a 24 hour period. This is a bottom southwest of Lovilla. Most roads were covered for a while and some bridges are still closed because of all the water. So what happens on the farm during a wet week? Well we started to build hay racks since our old ones were 30 years old.  We ended up building or rebuilding three of them and may do a fourth if it keeps raining. It's handy to have storage on wheels. It's also nice to have good racks when folks ask if they can borrow them.   We put in lot fence for Kurt on his farm near Leighton.  Kurt is considering custom feeding buffalo and tha...

Happy Father's Day. It is such a blessing having a Christian father. It was a God given gift being a father. It's been a joy to see our sons and son-in-law be loving and caring fathers.   So how do you win at being a good Dad to your kids? First of all love their Mother.   As a younger father provide for your children. When they are grown if you are able help them make connections and share opportunities with them. Make sure you as a father are approachable. Be an example in opening up your life and business to others you may be able to help. Rich's Food Corp. It was a privilege to have you visit.  Teach your kids to be gracious and generous. Thanks for a wonderful supper Ken and Ruth. Nice meeting you Mr. and Mrs. Carol. Good of you to drive your folks, Sheri.  As a father give your kids responsibility and teach them to work. It will not only make them assets to society but God's kingdom as well.   Fathers, attend church with ...

Have you ever been asked for advice or a solution and you really weren't sure what the resolution or the answer to the situation was? A story is told of a man a long time ago in a far away land that died. His wishes were to divide his estate between his three sons. His instructions were that his first son was to receive half. His second son was to receive a third. And his last son was to receive a ninth. The father's estate consisted of 17 camels. So the sons got together and started to try and figure out how to divide up the camels according to their fathers wishes.   Well the harder they tried the more frustrated they became and they started becoming angry with each other. As you know you just can't split a camel and it was looking like their father's wishes just weren't possible. The sons agreed to go ask a wise old woman in their village for help. The woman listened, thought for a long while, and finally said, I don't think I can help y...

Many years ago my Uncle Sam used to talk about "torns and tistles" when he was my Sunday School teacher. Of course he meant to say thorns and thistles but couldn't say his th's.  He was telling us about the struggles of life that were promised to Adam and Eve when they disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden. God told Adam he would have weeds to fight by the sweat of his brow when farming.   A sour dock is a nasty weed that produces thousands of seeds and can reproduce in road ditches and fields in a hurry.  A Canadian thistle multiplies underground through it's root system and is very hard to kill.  A wild cucumber starts growing late in the season and likes to hog down crops by harvest time.   We're adding our second round of nitrogen to our corn crop. Jan's sister is a nurse and when tending patients used to say, "you want to stay ahead of the pain" when giving medication. When raising corn you want to stay ahead of it's N...