The weather, the workload yet this fall, and the shorter days are all saying it's starting to feel like it's getting late. One of many Yogi Berra quotes is, "It's getting late early". Below Karl and Malaki are watching soybeans unload Tuesday night with the help of new LED lights that Karl recently installed on the bins.
We continue to harvest, often on multiple fronts. Yesterday we combined northeast of Peoria on some of Andy and Amara's crop. About midmorning we moved northeast of New Sharon and worked on some custom work for Jon. Gideon and his friend Emily helped Brad by running graincart south of Oskaloosa and Kurt was in a graincart by Eddyville helping Brent. Soil conditions are barely dry enough and the corn moisture continues to hang around that 22-25% range.
I've been driving semi and enjoy listening to the different instructions and conversations on the 2-way radio. Yesterday morning Mark and Stacy's Ethan was giving instructions from the combine to his younger brother Elijah who was following him in the graincart on their operation while Mark, their dad, was hauling to Eddyville. BJ and Cassia's Gideon was on the 2-way yesterday with Brad and his brother John (in the pic below) helped our crew 3 days this week. I often hear, "you got a copy Dad". My first reaction is to grab the 2-way mike and respond since I've answered that call for 40 years. However about a second later I realize it's grandkids calling their Dads and I smile to myself and realize it's starting to get later in my part of the day to day operations.
Monday I stopped in the house about noon to say hi to the little folks. They were having their macaroni and cheese with hotdogs that they love to have Grandma Jan fix for them.
Once again thanks to the gals for meals in the field. Monday evening Emily brought supper to the crew west of Oskaloosa on BJ and Cassia's Hwy 92 farm. Karl had brought the skidloader over in this pic to clean up an "oops" we had with a pile of corn on the road.
Both our chisel and our honeywagon are hooked up however ground conditions and time to run them are limited.
Since I think it's starting to feel late and since the crop is out on our Denney farm north of Rose Hill I hired Brandon to help out with the hog honey in the hog shed on that farm. Brandon is from the Williamsburg area. Our crew has tankered honey for him before with our semis when he had jobs with a lot of road miles.
Many farmers in our area were able to combine soybeans earlier this past week. Originally we were going to stay on corn harvest with one crew and work on the soybeans with another. However circumstances and that "late feeling" had us go to all soybeans on Tuesday and Wednesday. We got rained out south of Fremont around midnight Wednesday evening. Soybean moisture was from 12 to 14% moisture. Yield was surprisingly good however a touch less than last year. Mature soybean fields already had a few soybean seeds on the ground prior to harvest from pods popping open due to wet weather.
As I sat in front of our knipco heater early Thursday morning, rain was just pounding the shop roof. I started to be in a glass half empty mood thinking about everything that had to be done yet. After my devotions I decided I was going to be intentional about seeing the glass half full and be thankful for everything already accomplished.
Friday morning Jim and Brent invited us out to breakfast at HyVee so about a dozen of us took advantage of the wet morning and enjoyed good food and conversation.
Yesterday morning we had our first killing frost. Since our pond water was much warmer than the air temp we had what looked like steam coming up out of the pond.
Cold weather brings with it another whole set of jobs including starting to plug equipment in at night. It also gives the threat of snow instead of rain. If you think about it there was a large system of snow in the Rockies a couple of weeks ago. This past week another system of snow got as close as northwest Iowa. Thanks for the picture Mark.
Yesterday morning after the first load of Friday night picked corn to Cargill my nephew Ryan called and asked if I was going to stop at the shop for coffee. I told him no, I had to get to the field. After thinking about it for a minute, I called him back and said I would love a cup of coffee for a few minutes with him. Sometimes it just takes me a minute to keep my priorities straight.
As I took a picture through a cracked windshield later in the morning yesterday I thought about how minor a late wet fall is compared to what others have gone through this past year. Some of you have lost loved ones. Others of you are battling health issues. Others of you are fighting your own battles with anxiety or relationships or addictions. I want you to know you're prayed for by name every day. That's what the time in front of the knipco heater is for.
My advice for myself and others is let's take what comes a day at a time. Let's continue to ask our Heavenly Father for guidance and direction. And finally let's do what we can for others who may need a helping hand or maybe just a friend that takes the time to truly care.
My clock says it's getting late posting this morning. Late last evening I was in the shop looking for pictures for this morning and was blessed with company. Grandsons once again needing to work on one of their pickups. I'm blessed. Have a good week.
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