Sunday, June 16, 2019

Less Than Perfect

Our sweetcorn patch could be described a number of ways this summer. Words like weak, insufficient, inferior, not enough, behind, less than perfect. We gave it our best shot tilling it in April with good soil conditions and the latest Roundup Ready seed. Our farming window this spring was two weeks in April, two days in May, and the past two weeks in June.
My life often resembles that sweetcorn patch. Less than perfect. Although improving, some corn fields still look pathetic. I'm still working on being a better husband, a better father, a better father-in-law. In the grandfather department I forget birthdays, I miss shooting matches and ballgames. Thanks for the picture Kristin. As a businessman I sometimes forget to tell the folks I work with how much I appreciate them. I get a lot of phone calls and sometimes miss opportunities to encourage folks. A quick phone story if you have time. Since Jan is 64 my cell gets multiple calls a day by folks wanting to sign her up for medicare. For the past week I've responded to those calls by saying that my wife is 45 years old and then ask them if they are implying she looks like she's 65. Most immediately hang up. Others promise to update their records and then hang up. :)
Last Sunday evening family and friends celebrated Rachel's 15th birthday. This is Cassia and BJ's porch on their home that replaced the one they lost to a fire in 2017. It was a good time.
We worked in some more haying this week. The humidity was low and the hay got baled in good shape.
Poor Henry had a less than perfect day on Monday. He was hauling corn to DFS with his tractor and wagon when his IHC 1086 got a fuel leak and started on fire on the east edge of Oskaloosa. Henry and I were elders together in years past. I'm glad your safe Henry.
Late last fall we were at our John Deere dealership and heard the folks that help us haul honey on the sheds northwest of Pella were 38 buildings behind. So while I was in Africa in early December our crew hauled honey hard for two weeks. Winter came and we didn't get finished. So last winter we decided rather than mudding the honey on in early spring we would plant all our crops except 200 acres, then haul the last million gallon, and plant that 200 acres to corn. Well, we stuck with plan A. We just didn't realize it would be June 12 and 13. Our last corn field went in June 14.
There was a lot of replanting to do once the weather straightened out in early June on both corn and soybeans due to flooded acres, constantly wet side hills, ponding on level fields, and seed that just literally gave up after 5 weeks of soggy soils. Thanks Amara for helping out and bringing Andy soybeans to a replant job on the North Skunk River bottom.
To follow up on a story we talked about last week, this is another example of how well extra seed treatment worked on this wet season. This comparison is a couple of 110 day hybrids on the east edge of Oskaloosa. The darker colored corn is treated with an enzyme that creates sugars in the soil. Then those new little corn plant roots feed off those sugars for awhile. The treated corn is also about 6 inches taller. Thanks for the picture Karl.
Karl finds these contrasts while he sprays rowed corn. We are just about finished with second pass corn spraying. Kasey kept busy spraying corn with the JD sprayer as well.
We are caught up adding N to our own acres and Alex is busy spreading for others. Thanks for the picture Kasey. You are a trusting soul.
Friday evening Alex and Kasey had a late night spreading dry N up by Grinnell so after I brought them the parts I picked up for them in Sigourney I ran into town and picked up a pizza for them from Pagliai's. Wow. What a busy place.
Karl stopped by early this morning to wish me Happy Father's Day. Today is June 16. This is a picture he took last year on June 19.
Our church (Osky 1 CRC) did an event this past Thursday, Friday, and Saturday called Mission Mahaska where folks went out in our local communities and did projects for others. Below Gideon is standing on Bradley fastening a brace at a pole barn they were building at Lake View Bible Camp.
I helped Jan feed folks for the three day event. Thanks to everyone that gave time, talents, and money to make this event happen. Thanks to Jill and Sharon for heading up the project. Thanks to Irvin, Royce, Anne, Joan, Sherwin, and others I'm forgetting at this moment for heading up the jobs.
Don't forget to come this Saturday evening to the Oskaloosa square for a Christian music concert. The band from The Bridge Church in Ottumwa will start off followed by Alisa and then Zealand Worship. Phil, the lead singer is from New Zealand and used to play with the News Boys. The band was scheduled to stay at our cabin however due to scheduling conflicts they will now stay in town.
Late last February on our annual weekly visit to Arizona we stopped at Aunt Ruth like we always do. Aunt Ruth passed away. Her funeral was Monday. On the surface one might think her and Uncle Pete were just an ordinary couple with no children who moved to Arizona in 1960. This is true however this ordinary couple did extraordinary things most folks never knew. Like selling their Hudson car dealership and Rus Auto Repair to brothers so they could uproot from Pella and go to Arizona to help friends, Ray and Bernice who had moved there earlier for health reasons. Ray died shortly after moving and Uncle Pete and Aunt Ruth became security and help to a widow and four fatherless children including Rod. Uncle Pete used to say, "I want to show you how to give to others with no one knowing about it. That way God gets the credit". This couple monetarily helped more folks than anyone I know. Aunt Ruth would write notes and later emails all the time. She enjoyed following politics, was a strong conservative, and would send me stories all the time. They helped my parents during hard times. Aunt Ruth is the one that gave Jan and I the old Rus player piano. When she wrote a Christmas letter she didn't copy them off. She would write 50 individual personal letters to 50 different folks. They took their less than perfect lives and lived them to the fullest helping others. If you have time look on Youtube and Google Religion God accepts, Pete and Ruth, and article Rod wrote. Rod was one of the 4 fatherless kids. He is now a pastor at a church in Tucson, AZ.
So wrapping up. However pathetic our patch looks today we plan on making good use of it. I bet it still raises enough sweetcorn for Jan and I. For our Customer Appreciation Supper in early August. For our kids. Maybe even enough to give away to friends.
Today is Father's Day. We fathers and grandfathers have big boots to fill. We don't always get it right and many times feel, not enough, less than perfect. And on our own that's pretty much the case. However with God's help we can be the men God calls us to be. Remember, miracles don't happen until we put our toes in the water like Moses did in the Bible when he took his extended family across the Jordan River. Yes, this is a year we will remember being less than perfect. However those are the years we grow in many ways. If you come to the concert Saturday evening and see us sitting in the square in our lawn chairs be sure to say hello. See you next week.


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