What's In Focus

Good morning. Focus is about what we are concentrating on these days. Focus is also about sharpness, perception, and contrast. Being in focus is seeing things clearly as they really are. Below, some of you focus in details and figure I'm checking the guards and sickle sections on this draper head. Some of you focus on big picture and see the sunset. We need both clearly.  

Kristin brought us supper late one afternoon on the South Skunk River bottom north of Osky and west of Lacey. It's a favorite time. Obviously it's about the meal since we don't stop for lunch. However it's also about the time together, seeing the daughter-in-laws, and the grandkids. And remembering to appreciate the time and effort it takes to cook, whether in the office, or in the field.

This picture originally had four semis in it. I'm choosing to focus on our help. They work hard. They get along. They care about our family as well as each other. They are sharp and perceptive and see what needs done. And often after a very busy day, they will wash their equipment without being asked. Thanks guys.

Speaking of washing. In the 1920s there used to be autowash bowls. For 25 cents you could drive your car in a circle in about 16 inches of water. Riding around on rumble strips to shake the mud off from the mud roads they all drove on. The concept only lasted about 10 years.

While BJ and Cassia's John was high speed discing in cover crop he and his dad noticed a brand new track was getting hot on the inside of the guide blocks. CFI tire who sold us the track came out and realigned the front idler sprocket.

The truck I was driving was running hot so Brett from Outer Limits had grandson John, who works there afternoons after high school, help Grandpa out by putting on a new belt and tightener pulley.

Late one night while coming over a dike we broke a spindle on one of our grain carts. It's a tough breakdown and it tears things up. Fortunately Kinze had a new spindle and Kurt, BJ, and Ezra got the wheel back on yesterday while Karl and I cut soybeans.

Yesterday I was combining some really good beans. It was a beautiful afternoon and the soybean moisture was borderline. So I snapchatted a picture of my yield and moisture monitor to the farming crew. The next round I broke down. A set of tightener pulleys broke off the side of the combine. Thanks Josh and Zach for having parts. Thanks Kurt for helping me put it back together. And thank you Lord for reminding me not to focus too much on outstanding yields.

I remember this picture when I was little. Hanging on a public school wall. Hanging in church. Even in a community center in town. It's a picture of the story of Daniel in the lions den (Daniel 6). What I always focused on as a kid were the bones on the floor. Obviously not a good outcome. However what I notice now as a grownup is what Daniel is focusing on. Not on his country that had gone to pot. Not on some power hungry bad guys who were making bad laws. Not on a weak, incompetent, self-focusing king who wouldn't lead. He was focusing "up" at his God. Pretty good example for us I'd say.

Let's wrap up with focusing on some applications and positive suggestions for our coming week. Decide you're going to be in a good mood and smile. Use folk's names when you know them. Help others feel needed and give honest and sincere appreciation.

Jayden and Sydnie took their first bus ride from preschool to Autumn Acres. Thanks for the picture Kristin.

If you have something someone else needs and your not using it, share. It might be machinery, a vehicle, tool, skidloader, camper, cabin, money, or diesel fuel. And do your best not to keep score. As things continue to become hard to get, the more we will have to do this.

Don't focus on piles of stuff. Things break down. Acres come and go. Commodities in a pile have no value until their sold. Bank accounts and money are losing value fast. In my 47 years of farming, big crops and short crops alike have always been "just enough".

Be genuinely interested in others. Talk about your own mistakes before pointing to someone else's. Make the atmosphere around you something others would like to come back to. And give God and others credit for accomplishments.

I once again overslept this morning. Thanks for stopping by. And have a sharp, perceptive, and in focus coming week.