StillwatersIowa

Have you ever waved at a conductor in a train engine and wondered where he was going, his destination? I know. The dude is probably doing his eight hour shift. However have you ever wondered how he got to driving trains, if he has a family, and where he calls home? That's his journey. We've had 5 inches of rain in April. Our tile are working 24/7. For the most part we've been in the field in late March, and Monday-Thursday of this past week. There has been a lot of lawnmower seat time. When you can mow and think about other things at the same time. Like how so many things have changed on this journey of life. Folks want to think it's faster and crazier. However it was fast and crazy 50 yrs ago. I'm thinking narrower and less horsepower. Our IHC 856 was purchased the summer after my Junior year in high school. A 4 row cyclo planter, the rage of the early 1970s, the spring before my Senior year. The $45/56# bag seed went in the ground with runner openers. The fertiliz...

It's hard not to visit about promises when we see such glorious colors in the sky, and remembering the meaning of those colors. A clear night sky full of stars remind us of God's power. A partial red moon last week showing through a gloomy, cloudy sky reminds us of God's presence. A rainbow after a hard rain this past Wednesday evening reminds us of God's promise. We had another wet week in southern Iowa. Actually the 3rd one in a row. The old wives' tale is proving true about the promise of rain 100 days after a fog. Remember we had a lot of foggy mornings in January. Below the blossoms are promising a good cherry crop. These planters have been sitting for close to 3 weeks. With our current forecast I'm hoping we can run two sprayers tomorrow (Monday), and be rocking and rolling again with the planters on Tuesday. I picked a poor time of day to get a photo of emerged soybeans. However they came up in two weeks and are starting to show up in the row. Thanks for ...

When I was in the 3rd grade we had to memorize a Psalm a week. Not a verse, a chapter. Not as a class, but stand beside our desk when we were called on, and recite it a student at a time.  Monday, we delivered seed to my brother Doug and Ginger's house.  Thursday was the only day we were in the field this past week. John is helping his Dad, BJ, load the planter. "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want..." Psalm 23. This promise helps us stay anchored. Alex sprayed ground going to soybeans, while Karl sprayed either planted corn or ground going to corn. Jim and Dean delivered them product with semi and tenders. Everyone got rained out midafternoon. "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it..." Psalm 24. During the rainy days we had several guests for morning coffee. In business we visited about being anchored with collateral, both finances and relationships. In politics we agreed values and freedoms were firm anchors. These are mama cows Jim had just f...

There have been 69 Easter Sunday mornings in my years here on earth. I don't remember many of them. The first 18 were growing up with parents, brothers, and sisters. Then there were 3 with just Jan and I. Then there were around 30 years of having and raising children. The last two time periods have obviously overlapped, however the last 18 Easter Sunday mornings have been back to Jan and I, witnessing God's faithfulness, in grown children, grandchildren, and even great grandchildren. Change is exciting and scary. I hope for it. Yet at the same time I often try to avoid it. Thursday morning Mark helped me clean trash trees out of a heavy fencerow.  We hope the weather changes. Then we hope it doesn't. After a long dry spell, we had close to 2 inches of rain here in southern Iowa. Jim and Dean spent a wet morning welding stress cracks on a RoGator boom. Before the showers we put in a seed test plot across from our house. We've been planting test plots for 40 years, watchi...