Planting

Last Tuesday, I finished the field I was planting by stopping every hour and adding a gallon of hydraulic oil to the tractor.  An O-ring blew out on the hydraulic pump.  Not the kind of problem we needed being 2-3 weeks behind with planting.  To make matters worse, it was a new pump installed in April of 2010.  Unfortunately, the ring that blew was inaccessible without disassembling the tractor and removing the pump.  The repairman showed up at 8:30 Wednesday morning and was finished by 2:00 in the afternoon.  Before I got out of the yard a hydraulic line (that probably wasn't tightened enough) blew apart and oil sprayed through the radiator and into the fan and therefore all over the tractor.  After another half hour with solvent and degreaser, we were finally ready to resume planting.  We had a tenth of an inch of rain Wednesday night, but were able to continue planting late morning Thursday.  We did have a good week all in all, and finished planting corn Friday evening.  At noon on Friday, a quick shower moved through the area where we were working, so I got a short nap in while waiting for the field to dry enough to continue.
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Saturday morning we sorted out a Semi trailer load of hogs, then the weekend graduation parties started in the afternoon so we didn't get started on the soybeans.  Monday, after shipping the hogs we sorted Saturday, we headed Northeast to plant our first field of beans at our most distant farm.  We finished in the evening, but I didn't make it all the way home before the storm hit.  We put the tractor away wet, but thankful to be back home.   The rain was actually welcome, as the late planted corn could use the boost, and the soybean ground was really getting dry and cloddy.

Thou shalt part it in pieces, and pour oil thereon: it is a meat offering.
Leviticus 2:6