StillwatersIowa

 Fourteen months ago we all became part of a story we never expected. Our attitude over our obstacles determines our future. In southern Iowa most planters were rolling late this past week and life feels normal again. Below Kurt is planting a field for his twin brother Karl on the south edge of Galesburg.  3000 years ago King Solomon said there is a time for everything and a season for every activity. A time to plant. A time to be born. And a time to die. Last Sunday Roger, a good friend of this blog family, overcame all obstacles and went to his heavenly home. Roger and Shirley's oldest son Mike is our lawyer. Mike married Diane who was the oldest daughter of Howard and Joann. Howard had a big impact on my life giving us custom work during our early days. Diane passed away of cancer 9 years ago this past week. Shirley and family, you are in our thoughts and prayers.  A Roger story. About 20 years ago I was pulling on anhydrous ammonia for Roger and Shirley in the field j...

 Trust is a confident expectation of something or someone. Fear, doubt, and skepticism can sometimes sneak in on that confidence. Yesterday, on Malaki's 6th birthday, the yard was bustling with activity. Jacob also came with his dad to help. The McKay family are trusted friends and have helped us for years. They invited Jan and I to their home in Fremont for supper. It was heartwarming to visit and hear their families life story. Cyril is currently pastoring at the Omega church in Oskaloosa.  I'm thankful for being in an occupation that allows the younger generation to participate and help in  preparing for the day. Yesterday there were four little guys helping their fathers. As Jan was pulling on an Amish yard first thing Friday to shop at a plant nursery, a young man was also preparing for his day in the field. His line of equipment started with a tillage tool pulled by a set of work horses. He then had another set of work horses attached with a wagon. And finally a hor...

  Well, it's that time of year when plans turn into actions. Early last week Kurt and BJ both worked at planting corn while Alex got the soybean planter going. Andy, Layton, John, and Mike worked on ground preparation. Joe and Big John ran the seed shed and kept the seed tenders busy delivering to the planters. Are there risks? Yes, of course. A late frost. Too cold and wet. However their is also a risk for too hot and dry this summer. This will be our 47th crop. There have always been risks. However when we stick our "toe in the water" and in faith move forward, there is often reward as well.  Things are coming back to life and starting to grow after being dormant during our winter. Asparagus has always been one of my favorites. God promised Noah after the flood there would be "seedtime and harvest" for the remainder of our world's existence. It's that time of year when many folks enjoy working outdoors. The past year has caused many things like tillers...

Friday morning Jan got up at 5 am and put together a breakfast casserole in a cast iron skillet. She brought it out to the office before we started our day. Thank you Jan and crew. We make a good team. There are two types of rocks in our lives. The rocks we stumble on and trouble us. And the rocks we hang on to during our troubles.  Yesterday I was preparing ground for planting with a Krause Excelerator at the McCracken Farm on the Eddyville flats. This rock you see on the floor of my cab got stuck between two disc blades. I worked on trying to remove it for about a half hour. All I had for tools was a gang wrench. Is it ok to pray for help for little things? Well it didn't just fall out after I asked God for help. But it did start to move. Which gave me motivation to keep trying. And in a few minutes my rock was out of the way and I was back to work.   We are each other's rocks we hang on to during troubles. Often the rocks in our fields (lives) come at the most unexpected an...