Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Getting closer ...

... just not sure to what. Got the wheat cut,
 planted the double crop beans,
certified acreage at the FSA office, cleaned out the corn planter, mowed roads.  We do still have just a little bit to plant.  Here, I'll show you. Here is a photo from last year with the spot outlined in red.
We've not been able to harvest a crop off this mud hole for years, ever since the ditch quit draining properly. We have planted it, but the water always took it.  We did a bit of ditch maintenance this Spring and I'd REALLY like to at least plant something there.  It may be corn in 30" rows just to prove I can plant something, but I hope the end of this week or the first of next week to plant SOMETHING there.

We did our double-drop beans a bit differently this year, too.  We have not been happy with the stand we've gotten double-cropping for a long time.  Since we only have 45 or so acres we decided to take the time to disk it first.  Soil moisture isn't a problem since it is irrigated.  Looked like this
We're hoping it works out.  After the drills runs though it doesn't look as bare as you might think.  Look at the photo above of Aman planting it.  It will wonderful ... just wonderful. So now we are just doing day to day stuff.  Tomorrow's plans include getting the tree limb out of my front yard that fell the other night, taking mom's cart and charger to Paris and telling them to fix the !@#$ thing this time, and mowing roads ... always mowing roads and watching the skies


Sunday, June 20, 2010

Wheat harvest has FINALLY begun

I'll be honest, I was getting a bit discouraged.  The weather patterns seem to be against us.  We ran the combine to the field Friday and it tested almost 16% with a 53 # TW ... then we got 3/4" overnight.  However Sunday afternoon Sue and I decided to cut a sample just to see how dry it was.  13.3% !  So I filled and dumped one truck before the elevator closed Sunday evening (12.9% 57 # TW) and then filled both trucks before calling it a night
This is the field I was so concerned about in March we thought about destroying and replanting to beans.
Here is roughly the same area this afternoon
.
Don't have a yield yet, but it has to be more than I was afraid it would make.

Oh, and we have had a major systems failure
This could be serious.

I hate breaking in new leather.  First throw it in the driveway and run over it a few days.  Well ... never did it that way but thought about it.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

So How Has Your Day Been ?

It's kind of been one of those days.  Not too bad but I've had better.  Started out OK.  Sue and I put the radiator back on the JD irrigation engine.  Yes, Sue and I.  I possibly could have done it myself, but holding the radiator in place while putting in the mounting bolts would have been difficult.  Anyway, we got it back together and filled it with fresh antifreeze.  We were going to put a bearing or two in the combine but had a little help that distracted us.
Oh, and we had mud puddles, too
 After dinner we looked at the radar.  Not too encouraging.  Sue decided to mow yard until she was rained out.  I decided to mow roads until then.  Good plan until I did something dumb.  Bouncing over a culvert at a field entrance the wheel on the Bush Hog caught the culvert just wrong.  The net result?
Steve Lindley helped me get it in,  I got back with the wheel assembly just as the rain hit.  I took the arm off and took it to ROC.  Oh, did I mention the storm warning NWS issued?  I came home to see this coming over the hill.
Got another .88" at the shed.
Isn't this beautiful?  Wait until the 20 + ft river gets here Friday. All this will be standing in water.
OH **** I included a link to the river stage site.  Since I looked last they raised the forecast to 21.4

As Dad was told one time, "Sonny, you knew it was there when you planted it."

To end the day I was setting in the living room thinking of popping some popcorn after I finished this when the fire pager went off for a car fire.  Oh well, we saved the tail lights. So I come home and finish this as I'm unwinding to find a 21.4 river forecast.

And I just realized I never did get my popcorn I was going to make tonight.

Yep, one of those days

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Do I know how to have a fun Saturday afternoon

Some folks play golf, others set in front of the TV and watch ball games.  Me?  I cultivate milo
  OK, so I'm a bit different .  But it was getting to the point of go or no go
and it really needed it again.  We've had a a chemical failure followed by a less than perfect rescue application.  The first was probably just too much rain which also delayed planting.  The second was because putting 2,4-D on milo is risky and most chemical guys are very cautious when doing it.  But we went from this

to this

so I'm hoping we are successful.  We also have a new company policy.  If the 7210 has less than 1/2 a tank when you start it, you fill it up.  Because this is about the same distance from the end where it died a few rounds later.
Somehow it seems appropriate to use photo 666 to illustrate this.  This is the second or third time this has happened to me with this tractor.  The fuel gauge is optimistic.  It will tell you there is plenty of fuel in it even when there is none.  In fact, if you magnify that photo it shows a 1/4 tank of fuel. Burned a lot of fuel in 2 rounds.

This was after Sue called and said "The radar shows a big line of red coming this way".  We got some fuel, I carried 10 gallons 2 miles across the field (OK, so maybe it just felt like 2 miles), poured it in, bled the air out of the system, got it started, and got in before the rain hit.

Ahh the joys of farming.


Thursday, June 10, 2010

DONE !

We're finished planting beans!  Well ... sort of.  There's 3-4 acres south of Walnut Prairie that hasn't been planted and harvested for several years. Robert did some ditch repair for me so if it drained enough I may try planting it.  And we still have double crop beans to plant. And if the pond dries up Lyman will probably want a food plot planted.  But basically we are done June 10!

Anyway, it's 11 PM, I need to clean up, so Later Y'all!

Friday, June 4, 2010

You're doing WHAT in June?

Did something this week I'd never done before ... Hauled corn in June
 Yes, that was taken June 3, 2010
No, it was not good marketing.  We had problems hauling corn out of the bin this year.  Between posted roads and a full elevator and the yards getting so soft we got a semi AND a 10 wheeler stuck loading, we didn't get done hauling corn out before we started planting it.

Out of 4 tandem trucks the old Louisville is the only one running.  And it is not running well.  Black truck should be done this week.  Parts finally got here.  And the blue truck?
It's still at Ralph's.  I threatened to pull the white truck across the drive until it was done so nobody else could bring in stuff to be worked on that just HAD to be done today.  Ralph didn't discourage that ... but he didn't endorse it either.

Actually we didn't get done hauling corn before we started cultivating it
Aman just loves cultivating
Listen closely to the sarcasm dripping off my voice. He was even less a fan on Memorial Day when, as he was crossing the Mill Creek bridge, the bolts holding the top link to the cultivator frame broke.

Yes, in the middle of the bridge.

No, I didn't take pictures

Made some interesting observations this week.  We planted True's right in front of a big rain. and then it rained.  And rained.
I had Schlagel Posi-Close wheels on row 2, the JS (IH knock-off) closing systems on rows 5 and 10, and the JD True-Vee rubber wheels everywhere else.  Row 5 was consistently better looking than the others.
including row 10
Here is the screwdriver in row 4 looking at row 5 where the previous photo was taken
(yes,the screwdriver was stuck in the ground the same depth)
But WHY row 5 was better than 10 we can't explain.  I'm pretty sure it was the same variety planted the same depth

In the end it didn't matter.  We dug up the whole field and replanted it.  It was a tough call  You'd have a perfect stand next to an area the size of a pickup with 10-20 plants scattered through it.  The other 2 fields we planted the same day with the same identical setup and preparation were OK.  This one, the last one of the day, was not.

So we replanted it Tuesday.   Saw Bob and Dorothy at the restaurant.  Asked if they thought we were silly digging that up?  Bob said "No, I ought to have done the same thing to my field."
Made me feel some better.
Rained early Wednesday morning ... and early Thursday morning.  I'm about afraid to go back and look at it.

Anyway, I was setting here waiting on pictures to load when I fell asleep.  I guess this new chair is too comfortable, because I had a really nice 2 hour nap.  Better finish this for now.  Later Ya'll