We had about a week and a half of Canadian wildfire smoke that caused a hazy sky, irritated the lungs, and smelled. The sweet corn crop was good, and as usual, I ate my share. We had plenty of green beans and the pear trees were loaded this year. But, no apples for some reason. I harvested my honey in early August, and got the largest amount that I have had so far. I weighed over 60 pounds of beautiful, sweet honey! It rained most of the first half of August after a dry July. I didn't keep close track, but I think we had close to seven inches of rain. We have plenty of moisture now to carry us towards harvest. The spots in the fields that were ponding in June have ponded again in August. The weeds are popping through in the wet spots. The majority of the crops still look pretty good, so we should have decent yields this year.
Our road has been a tar & chip surface since I was in High School. For some reason, the last 20 years or so, it has been more tar in the summer than chip. The road commissioner has resurfaced it a couple of times in the last 6 - 8 years, but it doesn't seem to help. Or, the snow plows peel a layer of chips off in the winter. So, this summer he tried something new. An LP burner rig heated the road to 600 degrees Fahrenheit, then the melted road was stirred, an additive was mixed in, then it was leveled and rolled. The final surface is supposed to be like asphalt, and they put a seal coat on that. It still seems a little tarry on hot days, but we shall see what happens long term.
We made two day trips to Iowa to help Jake and Rachel paint the house they are moving to. Her parents built a new house, so they are buying the family home in the country that has a big yard, acreage, timber, ponds, and much more room. Three weeks ago we headed back out to help with the move. There was plenty of good help, vehicles and trailers, so the move went smoothly.
The family golden key showed up (as it does at every move), but it was gone the next week.
Meanwhile, back home, I hired an independent mechanic to inspect my combine before harvest. It hadn't been inspected for at least two years and I don't like harvest breakdowns. The two young men who worked on it specialize in green combines and really know their stuff. I was amazed at how fast they disassembled the machine and showed me everything that needed repaired or replaced. I helped when I could, but I was gone a lot while they were working on it. We pulled out the unloading augers and I took them to their shop to be rebuilt. When they picked them up to bring them back to the farm, Lee dropped one of them on his finger and cut the tip off. It was still hanging by skin, so the doctor was able to reattach it. A day and a half later he was back on the farm working on my combine. He was trying to take it easy, but his bandages were pretty greasy! I hadn't cleaned it off after wheat harvest, and then it sat out in the rain a couple nights while being worked on. Now I have wheat sprouting all over the machine. I will have to do some cleanup before harvest.
Then came the next move. Bob & Jenny moved out to their new house at Firefly Woods. It was a week after the Iowa move. Tremont had five inches of rain overnight, so the storm sewers backed up. The check valve didn't hold the water back, so there was close to two feet in the basement of the house they were moving out of. That made a huge mess of everything that was to be moved out. The new house stayed dry! Overall the move went well, and they were able to salvage quite a bit from the basement. Amazingly, the two freezers, the washer and dryer, and the furnace all worked once dried out. There was plenty of good help, and I think they are fairly well settled in. The golden key showed up above their unfinished fireplace.
The depth of the basement water shows up on the old Tremont Church bench that was in the basement.
There is still work that needs to be done, but they were successful in building a new "old Foursquare farmhouse."
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, someone who shall remain unnamed cleaned out the refrigerator and tried to dispose of all the old leftovers through the garbage disposal. Somewhere in the plumbing of our old house, the ground up food plugged a pipe. After the dishwasher water backed up into the kitchen sink and wouldn't even slow drain overnight, I knew we had a real problem. Both sink traps were clear. I have two snakes. I ran the 15 footer down the drain from under the sink. Nothing. Our kitchen is on a different system from the bathrooms, so I opened the manhole cover outside and inspected. No problem there. I ran our large tile snake from there back into the house until it reached a sharp corner. No problem to there. Down in our basement above a bank of cabinets in our recreation room, there is a cleanout. It is normally hidden in a false column between our bookshelves. We moved the books, cleared off the countertop, and I set a big tub under the cleanout. I removed the plug and nothing came out. I snaked as best I could from there, and cleaned out all the gunk I could reach. But still no water drainage. Next I tried a high powered Drano poured directly into the pipe under the sink. I was puttering around in the basement waiting for lunch (this process took all morning!) when I heard the
whoosh of backed up sludge spraying out of the basement cleanout. It filled the tub, splashed up the countertop, sprayed out onto the floor, and splattered my recliner and other furniture! It created a big smelly mess. Jack was a big help as we cleaned it up, but he was fighting nausea. I wet vacced the chunks up first, then wiped everything down, shampooed the carpet, and used febreze to remove odors on the floor and my recliner. I think we were successful in returning the room back to normal. I buttoned up all the open pipes and drains, and the kitchen is back in business.
And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out. Isaiah 48:21
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