Half of this first visit in 2019 is kind of a rewind of our past year. The other half is the blessing of looking forward to brand new opportunities. Below is our family picture in July of 2018 when we vacationed together near Ouray, Colorado.
As the years speed along our grandchildren are growing up. We had a couple of birthdays this week with more coming. Every segment of life and growing up is a blessing with exciting opportunities as well as challenges.
Last January BJ was laid up with a ruptured disc in his lower back. Thanks to a miracle Jan and I met Dave in the spice isle of a grocery store in Grand Cayman who told us about how his wife had just had a disc replacement surgery there. Disc replacement is not yet legal in our country. Spinal fusion is still how it's done here.
After meeting Dr. Scott and team from Tennessee by phone and email BJ and Cassia were flown to the Cayman Islands in February where BJ had a disc replaced with the hardware you see in the picture above. After a couple of days in a small hospital and a week stay on the island they came back home to continue their busy lives. BJ was soon back in a tractor and planted corn in April. He is getting along very well. As you can see in the picture below he is helping carry a freezer out of Kurt and Emily's basement.
On a Sunday in early February at our church potluck I received a call from our local fire chief. He was asking for help in fighting a large fire at a feed ingredient business on the east side of town. After getting the track hoe moved and still in his Sunday clothes Mark spent much of the afternoon digging out hotspots in the burning building while the Pella Fire Dept. kept water spraying on him and his hoe.
Because the leg and mill were saved the company decided to rebuild and construction is continuing almost a year later.
2018 was an interesting year. This picture planting corn was taken on Friday, April 6. The following Sunday morning we woke up to a cold windy morning and received several inches of snow. We were ridiculed for planting so early. As the spring finally warmed up the corn plants sprouted, emerged, and grew just fine. The field tasseled and pollinated ahead of the dry summer and was an excellent yield.
On April 25 of last year BJ, Cassia, and their family moved in their new home after their old one was destroyed by fire just one year earlier.
During the growing season we had just 12 inches of rain in 2018 south of Oskaloosa. North and west of town we had nearly two times that amount which is more normal. Much of that rainfall came before June.
Around mid afternoon on July 19 Pella and Vermeer Manufacturing were in the line of a tornado that destroyed a couple of factories during it's dealer days when they had around 400 guests visiting. Another 2018 miracle was that there were no deaths and just a few minor injuries. That tornado continued in the air following the Muchikinock Creek. The high winds leveled corn fields in a two mile stretch clear to Ottumwa including a farm we farm on the Eddyville flats.
With a relatively dry summer harvest started early. Around the last week of August. As you can see in the picture it also started to rain. We had 23 inches of rain during harvest this past fall which caused combining crops to last longer than usual.
Another miracle of 2018 was that we had exceptional yields despite the weather. We are currently hauling grain to market, especially soybeans. Our purpose is to sell enough gain to cover our obligations, purchase crop inputs for next year, and look forward to again planning and planting another crop in 2019. Below BJ and I are unloading soybeans at ADM in Des Moines.
We have a law that we are not allowed to mow CRP acres from May 1 to August 1. The sole purpose of this law is to protect the unborn wildlife hatch. This past election year the Iowa legislature passed and our governor signed into law a heartbeat bill protecting unborn humans. The courts have since blocked this law. I realize some of you voted differently than I did. I also realize many of you despise politics. My purpose for being involved behind the scenes in our civic arena is to try and keep our value system intact including families that this country was founded and thrived on.
One week from tomorrow starts another legislative session in Iowa. I'm grateful for folks willing to serve. Many of them my friends including Holley, Ken, and others. My prayer is that we as a culture get back to acknowledging God, strengthening families, and have selfless leadership.
We had a mamma cat have a litter of wild kittens in our farm shop. The mamma would bring her kittens mice from outside just about every day. This winter as I would start my day in front of the knipco heater in the shop this one little kitten became friendly. She started joining her mother outside hunting for mice.
Well, she must have jumped up in a warm pickup motor one morning waiting to get back in the shop. As you can see below that didn't turn out so good and that's the end of that story.
You've heard the saying "the only two things for sure in life is death and taxes". It's currently tax season and our days are numbered. We don't know which year is our year to go from this life to the next one. Many of you have experienced loss in your family the past years. Some of you have already lost family and friends this first week of 2019. Moving forward don't go into another year without an exit plan. That exit plan not only includes looking back and taking care of loved ones but looks ahead and asks Christ for help covering our shortcomings.
In the meantime I am excited about another new year. We look forward in farming to grow another crop. We have an opportunity to enhance old friendships and make new ones. We have a chance to watch and help family grow in all kinds of ways. 2019 will not be successful if I try to tackle things on my own. My faith in God allows me to see the miracles He gives me every year. Have a blessed 2019.
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