Top Ten

. . . . . wettest years on record. Yup, 2009 made it into the top ten. Normal year-to-date rainfall for central Illinois is 30.3 inches. Ytd for 2009 is 45.1 inches. And it's raining as we blog.

We combined corn last night for a few hours to put some in our bin and get the dryers running. We are still driving to the elevator with empty trucks and hauling corn home to feed the hogs. Today we got three loads picked as we spent a lot of time opening up a couple of fields. The corn is wet, the ground is muddy, and the sky is leaking. By 2:30, it was just too nasty to keep going, so we left our marks on the road and put some very dirty machinery back in the shed for another day.

I guess I'll have to start another book.

And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of all the people: and they said, all that the LORD has said, that will we do, and be obedient.
Exodus 24:7

Finally!

Harvest has finally started for us. We got in two and one half days of harvesting soybeans. They were still a little wet, but we started anyway. As soon as the first field was finished, it was disked, and last night I finished sowing our wheat. It is a relief to have the wheat out of the way, so that we can just concentrate on the combining.

This morning I woke to sprinkles, and then it was cool, dreary, and raining all day. And it continues. So much for harvest this week. Two years ago, this is the day that we finished harvest!

The corn still isn't drying down very fast, and we are having to buy corn to feed the hogs.

Our lender served farmers a free pork chop sandwich lunch at the elevator today. And the WIRL noon show was being broadcast live from there. So since none of us could be in the field, we had some farmer food and fellowship while listening to the market report.

Critters

Its mid October, it's still raining, it's muddy, the corn and soybeans are still too wet to harvest, the machinery is sitting in the shed, and I'm starting to feel like a country/western song.

A couple of squirrels have taken up residence in our corn crib. I'll walk inside in the morning to grind feed and there will be a squirrel sitting on top of the feed mill staring at me. Sometimes they make such a racket chasing around in there when I'm working that it sounds like a whole army.

While catching some baby pigs in an overflow pen in the barn yesterday, I looked into the corner of an alley and a skunk was looking back at me. About 4 feet away. Being unarmed, I chose to back away and leave him alone.

When we replaced our landscaping around the house this spring, we used bark mulch instead of the lava rock we used to have. The cats seem delighted that we put in a giant litter box for them!

I guess we need to get a new dog.

And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.
Genesis 6:19

A Start?

Yesterday and today we finally got out into the field and tried havesting some corn. The corn at home tested 31% moisture - too wet to dry in our own bin. At two other farms, we picked a small load off of the end rows that tested 36% and 40%. So, no corn harvest yet. After a partial day of sun today, we decided to try some soybeans. Around 5:00 this evening they still tested over 16%, so no harvesting soybeans for awhile. And it's supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow.
This past weekend we had a killing frost. Any of the crops that were not fully mature are now dying. We don't know what effect this will have on our yields yet, but it won't help. It will probably slow drydown more and lower test weight.

By the breath of God frost is given: and the breadth of the waters is straitened.
Job 37:10

Oh to be . . .

. . . a duck!

I spent most of the morning outside working in a steady drizzle. Being able to shed the water instead of becoming like a scrub mop would have been nice.
We were sorting and transferring hogs from a hoop building, vaccinating sows and gilts, and driving sows and gilts to different pens. That's driving as in the porcine version of a cattle drive, only much shorter distance and no horses.

Hogs typically don't chase well in the rain.

No animals were harmed for the writing of this blog - although some may have been inconvenienced during the inspiration for it!

I smelled like a wet pig when I sat down at the table for lunch. The old farmer's wife isn't going to enjoy doing laundry this week.

And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.
Matthew 8:32

Waiting

We are still waiting to begin harvest. After a cool, wet week with minimal drying we are hoping that maybe this will be the week. Last week would have been the ideal time to sow our winter wheat, but with no soybeans harvested yet, the wheat will be seeded late. We are starting to run short on feed corn, so we may have to start trucking some old corn home from the elevator if we don't get some new corn harvested and dried soon. We're not even sure if corn or soybeans will go first, so we can't even get the combine completely ready.
This will be the latest start to harvest of my career.

On another topic, last year we had a large fern overwinter in our bathtub. It moved out when daughter #1 got married. This week, a large Wandering Jew moved into the bathtub. It sure is a good thing we don't take baths at our house!

I spend a lot of time these days kicking walnuts. We have a white rock driveway with a large black walnut tree that hangs over it. It is a very prolific tree, and drops half of its nuts on our nice white driveway. When cars drive on it, the smashed hulls/nuts stain the drive black. So, to prevent the staining, I walk the drive several times a day and sweep, rake, but usually kick the walnuts off the drive and into the yard. I get made fun of a lot.

When I was a kid, we used to have to pick up the walnuts and dump them in a pile out back somewhere where the tractors would drive over them and de-hull them. Then we would pick up the nuts (still in their hard shells) and take them to my grandpa. He would spend his winters cracking the shells and picking out the meat. What a tedious job! But he enjoyed it, and some people actually like the taste of walnuts.

And their father Israel said unto them, If it must be so now, do this; take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds:
Genesis 43:11