Refreshed

The raccoons got most of the early variety of sweet corn that pollinated, the second variety didn't pollinate at all, and the best variety was ripe while we were on vacation this past week.  Not a very good year for our patch or for our freezer.
I had three live traps out and caught 2 cats and 2 coons.  None of them were too happy with me.  Gus found both coons after they were dispatched and they became his toys for days until I could make them disappear for good.

We had a very relaxing and refreshing vacation with the extended family at Shawnee Bay Resort at Kentucky Lake again this year.  I slept a lot, ate a lot, swam a little, fished a little (no luck!), babysat my granddaughter a little, followed the weather and markets at home (no rain, higher markets!), and read a book.  Despite the heat, it was an enjoyable week.  Not all of the nephews and nieces were able to make it this year, so it wasn't as big a group as it could have been.  In fact, Son #1 didn't make it either.  He thought he should save his vacation days for his honeymoon!

Sunset over Kentucky Lake.

I read the book Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefevre, published in 1923.  It is an investment classic, a biography of a stock and commodity speculator in the early 1900's.  Many of the trading axioms, strategies, and market philosophies still apply today.  I was ridiculed for my choice of vacation reading material by many.  But I enjoyed the history and the relevant information.

The earth still needs its moisture replenished in our area.

Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.
Acts 3:19

Stress

Another week of no rain and 4 consecutive days above 100 degrees put the crop under great stress.

Corn leaves curl up in the heat, looking like pineapple plants.

Lower leaves "firing" on these plants.

Cracks in the dry soil between rows.

The Japanese Beetles are bad again this year and are defoliating the soybeans.

The grass in our lawn has also gone dormant.

Pumpkin plant wilting in the garden despite having been watered regularly.

The Japanese Beetles have also been working on the Linden trees, the grapevines, corn silks,and the fruit trees.
Our tar and chip roads have turned into mostly tar roads as the tar bubbles up to the surface and makes them gooey.
This weekend we had a 20% chance of rain.  We received the 80% part of that prediction.
The markets have become extremely volatile.

Perspective

Kim Komando showed me a site where you can see how rich you are compared to everyone else in the world.  It is humbling to realize our income puts us in the top 1% of all the people in the world.  All you have to do is select your currency type (U.S. dollars) and type in your annual income here.  We are so physically and materially blessed that we really have no complaints.  I just hope that our material blessings do not become a spiritual detriment.

We know God will provide rain in his time.  We know his Grace is instantly available and sufficient.

Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.
And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.
Isaiah 35:6-8

1988?

The drought of 1988 comes to mind as I watch the crops suffer from heat and moisture stress.  1988 was the worst heat/drought that occurred in my lifetime here on the farm.  There may have been hotter years and dryer years, but the combination caused the lowest yields that I have seen.  We are currently about 7 inches below normal rainfall for the year to date, and above normal temperatures.
Interesting fact:  The corn market peaked before the 4th of July during the drought of 1988.

We got our double crop soybeans drilled early last week.  They are going to need some rain to get them started.  We made our straw last Wednesday on one of the cooler days of the week.  We didn't make as many bales this year as in the past because of the fact that we have sold all of our sows.

I sprayed our sweet corn for Japanese beetles.  The sweet corn needs rain too, and we don't have a good way to water our patch.  The Japanese beetles are also heavily feeding in some of the soybean fields.

We did receive 2/10ths of an inch of rain on Saturday.  Not much, but at least we know that it still can rain. 
We know that whatever the weather and however the crops turn out, the Lord will provide our needs.

Relaxing after the "hay makers" lunch under the shade tree.



 If there be dearth in the land, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting, or mildew, locusts, or caterpillers; if their enemies besiege them in the cities of their land; whatsoever sore or whatsoever sickness there be:
Then what prayer or what supplication soever shall be made of any man, or of all thy people Israel, when every one shall know his own sore and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands in this house:
 Then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and render unto every man according unto all his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men:)
 That they may fear thee, to walk in thy ways, so long as they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.
II Chronicles 6:28-31