My new little granddaughter came to visit me tonight (she brought her parents too).  I got to hold her for awhile.  She sure is cute!

How about those Cardinals!  I see they just won their 11th World Series.  I don't think that they were the best team in the National League, or the best team in the majors, but they must have "game".  They kept playing hard and never quit.  My condolences again go out to my Cub fan friends.
Maybe next year?

We harvested our Panola farm this week.  As I was finishing combining the corn, I kicked up 2 does and a fawn.  They are a long ways from any woods, but must like our corn.  We also saw a fox and several pheasants.  In our last soybean field at home there were 4 pheasants and an owl that kept moving over as I made each pass.  When I made the last pass they finally flew away.  I enjoy seeing wildlife in our fields (as long as they don't do a lot of damage).
We only have one field of corn left to harvest, and it is at home so hopefully it will come out quickly.

 Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well:
2 Kings 4:26

Unintended Travel

All in all we had a productive week harvesting.  A short rain delay and a breakdown with the platform did slow us down this past week.  I now know where the John Deere dealer in New Holland, IL is.  I had to run there for a part that our local dealer didn't have in stock.  The previous breakdown, the serviceman brought parts from Minier, my wife ran for a part in Roanoke, and I drove to Lacon for another part!  We've been getting around a lot more than we expected lately.  As of Saturday night everything was operating normally.

We had some pretty chilly nights in the old farmhouse the last couple of weeks, so Tuesday night I started the furnace for the first time.  Its a big, old, inefficient furnace that was installed in the '60s after the coal furnace and stoker were removed.  But it still heats the house to our satisfaction, and only needs an occasional thermocouple and the filters changed regularly.   It always smells of burnt dust for the first few hours after start up.

I haven't seen my grandchild all week.

I don't listen to the radio all that much anymore, except when I spend a lot of time in a cab in the spring or fall.  This week I heard a new commercial that disappointed me but didn't surprise me.  It announced that Sunday is for football and tailgating.  No mention of church or worship or rest.  And of course, you need Bud Light while watching football.
Sports have become America's religion.

 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
Daniel 3:17

Grandpa Farmer

Jenny and Bob officially made me a Grandpa this week.  I am the proud grandparent of a cute little baby girl!  I was fortunate enough to already see her and hold her twice so far.  I love to see how tiny babies are -  especially their little toes and fingers.  I am continually amazed at how intricately God has created us.  Pictures are available here.

What does it say about a man who comes out of Menard's with more groceries than hardware?

We finally were able to combine our earliest field of soybeans so we could get our wheat sown.  We purchased a used no-till drill this fall so we could no-till the wheat in to save some time.  It seemed to go in well, but there is a learning curve.  The corn has dried down and is still standing well.

We had several breakdowns this week with our old combine.  It gets to be a little frustrating, but so far we haven't lost too much time.  Tomorrow morning we will be trying to put the unloading auger back together after replacing the horizontal drive gear case.

Above is an ash tree on the farm showing its fall colors.  Below I took a of picture of a uniquely striped pig I noticed.  Do horizontal stripes make it look fat?

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
Psalm 139:14