Indian Summer

The hills are alive with fall color of red, orange, and brown. Our lush growing green is gone. We have had a killing frost. We know from our past, winter is coming. We are now in a season we call Indian Summer. We are working hard at wrapping up corn harvest. Jim is unloading corn at Kurt and Emily's place.

Indian summer is a gift. It often means we are on borrowed time. There is a sense of urgency to get the harvest in, to get projects finished, to prepare for winter. Lane is helping his Mom, Emily, scoop up some spilled corn. Thanks for the picture Kurt.

Kudos to our grandkids for helping along side of their other responsibilities. Gideon and Ethan replaced a clutch in one of our semis. Ezra worked along side Matt and I yesterday. The younger kids help their parents. Below John stayed home from school to keep our second graincart running. Rachel gave me a ride to Pella.

Seth and Jenny's family is using our grandkid combine this week to get their corn out near Monroe. Below their daughter Eden for running combine. Good job Eden. And kudos Seth for including your family in your harvest responsibilities. And thanks for the picture.

 

I got stopped and reminded to slow down. I deserved it. Jake was doing his job enforcing the law.

Living in Iowa is a blessing. Those leading our state right now still have a serving mentality working for Iowans. Nationally however I have questions. Who decides it's time for the FBI to raid homes and arrest folks with a conservative view? Who has the authority to double the IRS workers by tens of thousands? Who is pushing gender identity, brainwashing our children? Who falsely tells our medical community not to use Ivermitin (misspelling is intentional) when it works so well on treating this virus over the last two years? Why is there no shame and no consequences?

We had our share of tire troubles this past week. Kudos to Steve for working hard to keep us going.

Our country has lost it's plumb-line. Just a few years ago we were ignoring God. Today as a nation we are defying Him. We are unraveling because life without God is chaos. History has shown us repeatedly this doesn't end well.

We took a fair amount of soybeans across the Mississippi River to Gulfport, Illinois since Burlington was closed.

We are really dry. I think dryer than even this drought map shows. We have experienced dry summers before. But continuing all through fall is unprecedented in my days as a farmer. I'm thankful for good harvest weather. However we will need to catch up on moisture before the ground freezes. Kudos to Jan who has been busy watering our first and second year planted trees.

Congratulations to Mark and Stacy's Amelia who qualified for the State Meet in Cross Country. She runs Friday in Fort Dodge.

Our former Secretary of State was in Des Moines this week. He headed up the CIA before becoming Sec. of State for a former presidential administration. He is "stumping" for some candidates for our upcoming elections. He also has a book coming out in January titled, Never Give An Inch.

About a dozen of us were invited to have lunch with him on Friday. We talked about being divided as a country on many fronts. We talked about our justice department, the department of education, and our military. Mike (I do not omit last names from a lack of respect. I want our visits to continue) has a bounty on his life. He requires constant security. He reiterated there is still a majority of good folks in our country. And we need to stand up and defend the America we love. And keep family in the center of our civilization.

You are probably asking, what do you mean by defending our country? When the federal authorities came after Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane after the Last Supper, Peter decided to defend his innocent leader. He must have had a "permit to carry" because he drew his sword and cut off a guy's ear. Jesus picked up the ear, put it back on, healing his enemy, and told Peter to put his sword away. He said those that live by the sword will die by the sword.

I am praying for an extended Indian Summer for our country. The last two and a half years have been a killing frost as leaders are defying our Creator. We are now living in borrowed time thanks to the grace of our Lord. We are constantly trying to be misled. Use your God-given "head knowledge". Your "experienced common sense". Your "gut feeling perceptions". And your "God given wisdom" as you work to think things through on your own. Thanks for the visit. We still live in an optimistic, rambunctious country. The greatness of America is not yet gone.