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