StillwatersIowa

What do success, significance, and sacrifice all have in common? They all have different definitions by different folks. They are all achieved by doing what you can with the options you're given. And they all have the potential to make a difference.                               With the doldrums of February making for a slow news week here on the farm, let's share 9 ideas or goals that will help us make a difference in 2025. 1. Start with the right kind of outlook. Smile and stay positive. Help folks feel better about themselves. Compliment others. Proverbs 15:23 says, "Everyone enjoys a fitting reply; it is wonderful to say the right thing at the right time". 2. Always be willing to learn. How do you handle mistakes? Be willing to take advice. In Exodus 18 Moses father-in-law, Jethro, said to Moses, "Now listen to me, and let me give you a word of advice", when Moses was wore out from settling disputes with I...

Life is a puzzle. It is made up of many pieces. Often we don't see the whole picture until we have taken the steps to work on it. Yesterday after lunch Jan asked Elijah, Ezra, and Elliot to turn her puzzle pieces right side up. If your puzzle pieces all look white you might turn them over, sort by color, and focus on the features of your picture. In life that's starting with what you know. This past week we had around 10 inches of snow. Sometimes puzzles go better with help. So do projects. So does life. Having common goals and comradery. Offering and accepting help can make the picture or project come together faster. Alex and Dean are helping Jim install a front fender. We are taking the next step in spraying crops. "Exact apply" comes with 4 main benefits: Individual nozzle shut offs, a nozzle that adjust droplet size as ground speed increases, sprayer turn compensation, and LED lighting on each nozzle for spraying at night. All these features work inside a field b...

There has been a lot of sickness going around this winter, type A flu, respiratory virus, and cold symptoms. I often fight the "hurry virus". What are the symptoms? A compulsive need to rush through life. To get stuff marked off the list. To make another list. I can rush to nowhere. I often hurry up and wait. I can worry about what people are thinking. I hurry to please folks that can't be pleased. Is there a message in this mess? I think sometimes we find our worth in what we do. For me to rest is to read or listen to a book. By the way, did you know a 3 hour NFL football game with a previous week of hype and watched by a third of our country's population only has about 15 minutes of actual live action. 😊 Last Christmas our children gave Jan and I a night out for supper with all of them. So 14 of us enjoyed Mexican at Cantaritos in Pella last evening. Thanks for making the time kids. Thanks for taking our picture Ethan. On Friday noon a family we farm for brought lu...

So, what happens on a farm in February? Much of our time is spent in the shop on nasty days. With Grandson Ethan's leadership we have just removed our 2nd semi transmission. Kasey has been delivering them to get rebuilt. This truck also needs a motor reoverhaul. Cylinder #3 is pushing oil. Cleaning up is a work in progress and happens on nice days. We have a farm where the previous owner backed his 1930s, and later his 1960s line of machinery in the trees as it wore out or was no longer relevant. Unprepared scrap iron in our neck of the woods is bringing $100/ton. We brought in 7 truck loads Thursday. Remember our idea of a lighted star/cross combination for our grain leg that we asked Musco Lighting to help us with? Well the design, construction, and galvanizing process is completed. Now we have to install the lighting, attach it to the top of the leg, and get the appropriate wiring finished. So, is it really the things we hang on to, or the memories those things contain that make...