Charleston

Some thoughts on our trip to Charleston.

--This was the first time we left our kids for more than 3 days in the 23 years since our first one was born

--The Charleston area has beautiful beaches

--There are many beautiful, historical old mansions to tour in downtown Charleston, along with many gardens

--The plantations around Charleston grew predominately rice, not cotton

--When slaves were brought in from Africa, the ones who know how to grow rice were twice as valuable as the others

--When Sherman marched to the sea, he burned down all the beautiful old plantation homes except one. The rebuilt plantations and their gardens are still beautiful

--The oldest continuously used church in America is in the Charleston area

--There are many huge old oak trees in the area, some believed to be as much as 900 years old

--Charleston figured prominently in the Revolutionary War as well as the Civil War. Charleston was the first to declare independence from the King George - - before the "Declaration." Charleston had their own " tea party" before Boston did. At Fort Sumter in Charleston Bay, the first shots of the Civil War were fired.

--Charleston is the 4th busiest seaport (shipping volume) on the East Coast. There was a continuous stream of container ships sailing in and out of the harbor

--When heavy rains fall in the old downtown, the storm sewers cannot take the water away fast enough (there is a story about this that will follow later)

25

Today was the Old Farmer and his lovely wife's 25th anniversary! Our children planned a celebration for us a week and a half ago and invited family, some of our friends, and wedding party for a singing. We had a good turnout and we enjoyed the evening. Last week we took an anniversary trip to Charleston, SC (I'll share some highlights of that later). So, we didn't do anything special today.

Twenty-five years looks like a long time when viewing it from the front end, but looking back it is amazing how fast it went by. It's been a real blessing and we have much to be thankful for. I was going to wear my wedding suit to church Wednesday night (to the embarrassment of my children), but I couldn't find it. Maybe they hid it from me.

On the back of my engagement watch my wife had this verse engraved.

Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.

Matthew 18:19

Skunk?

In one of machine sheds, we have spot where we store bags of non-burnable garbage until we haul it to the dump. We believe by the smell that we have a skunk living behind or somewhere near the garbage. We have been smelling it for several weeks now, so I decided to use a live trap to see if I could catch it. Four days in a row we have baited the trap with dog food, and four days in a row we have caught an opossum! We have caught big Daddy (or big Mommy - I didn't check for sure) and three teenagers (one pictured below). But still no skunk! We will keep trying and will let you know if we catch it. I'm not sure though what we will do with it if we do catch it.



The snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way.
Job 18:10

Father's Day

I am thankful for my Dad, my Grandfathers, and my heavenly Father. I have been blessed by them and it has been a blessing to be a father, unworthy though I am. I am thankful for the Faith of our Fathers. I hope and pray that this Faith can be passed on to my children and the world.



One of my favorite songs from the early 1970's was Graham Nash's song Teach Your Children performed by CSN&Y. Here is Brooke White and Nash singing it on American Idol.

Yellow Corn

Due to too much water the last few weeks and a shortage of nitrogen, some of our corn fields have some yellow, stunted corn in them. We've finally had a string of warm dry days, so today our fertilizer dealer was able to get us an applicator so we could start side dressing the corn with 28% nitrogen. I had a very productive day, so if it doesn't rain tomorrow we could finish with what needs to be done. Yesterday, I was able to replant soybeans in spots of three fields where they didn't come up. Attitude improvement days.

Wet

Well, summer is here with its heat and humidity. And lots of thunderstorms. It's been raining about every third day. There has been tornado sightings and hail in the area, but so far these have missed us. When its not raining the Illinois humidity kicks in and you get wet from sweat. The air conditioner is working full time. The corn is starting to really grow, but its been to wet to sidedress nitrogen. We are hoping the fields dry up soon before the corn gets too tall to get thru it.
We played carpenter a couple days this week at the new ACCFS building in Morton. The first day we were rained out after an hour, but we got in a full day the next day. I didn't put on sunscreen, so I now have red arms. A good start on my farmer tan.

Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.
Isaiah 28:2