U2360 (GCW 38-40)

Friday the 16th was kind of a nervous morning as I had the knowledge that there was this little concert I wanted to go to, but also the knowledge that I had to cut corn if at all possible. The reason is that we were reaching the end the ideal time period to plant wheat. After October 20th, the yield potential of any wheat planted goes down quite a bit. So basically even if I got the corn cut in time to attend the concert on Sunday, I still wouldn't be able to go because I would immediately need to start planting wheat.
But the corn tested well over 20%, so it was off to OKLAHOMAOKLAHOMAOKLAHOMA!

We stopped in Cimarron for some ice cream.


Then we stopped in Meade for some play time. The playground is adjacent to the tourist camp.






Then we stopped for the customary "cattle in road." Welcome to Oklahoma!

In the morning I went with Jim to look at his combine.

And then we went to Stillwater for the Homecoming parade.
We got to hang with the Reeses...

And take some pictures...
And see Barry Sanders...
And Pistol Pete.
Anna was feeling especially patriotic.

After the parade we went to see Drew, who was too cool to go to the parade or dress in school colors.
The next day we left Anna with the Reeses and met up with everybody and headed to OKC and Norman.
Linda and Jen were there.


The Sowers.


There was a lot heavy machinery outside the concert :)


Heath and Jenny were there.


First up was the Black Eyed Peas.

They had dancing robots.

Here is a sample.

Let me point out to the uninitiated that Fergie is singing the word phunk. Phunk. Nothing wrong with the word phunk. I'm looking at you, Sarah.

And here is Sarah with Dan.


And then Larry started the real show:







It was the awesomest awesomeness I have ever seen.

The Great Corn Watch Days 30-36.

So let's see...
Thursday, October 8th, I headed out to see all of the rain and took this picture of the Gray Havens. As you can see, the freeze made sure the milo was nice and ready for harvest, as soon as it dries out...
On the ninth I was minding my own business transfering wheat around when I had a close encounter.


This incredible set of pictures clearly demonstrates the presence of something...or someone, floating over the innocent residents of SWKS.
With no doubts as to the sinister nature of this unidentified floating object I stared down the intruder for well over an hour..
Until it floated away in humiliation. That's what I thought. Punk.


The next day I set up the new PDP X7 kit. I got this kit because I was wanting to replace my old Pearl Export Pro kit. I wanted something to lug around to outside gigs and parades that I wouldn't be as attached to as my LX kit . Whats nice about this kit is that the color is close enough to my LX kit that I should be able to mix and match drums for whatever particular gig I have with out it being too obvious. So now I have every size of drum from 8" all the way to 22" except a 18", with the only duplicates being at 10" and 12" (I have two 14" drums now, but one is a mounted tom and the other is a floor tom, so they really serve different purposes.) Well and the snare drums, but I hardly ever use those-- preferring either my SX (pictured) or old metal Ludwig (the very first drum I ever got.) So now I just need two more drums--a piccolo snare and an 18 inch tom/bass drum, and I will be able to configure an appropriate kit for any conceivable gig.
I was a little apprehensive about this kit because I wasn't sure what corners PDP might have cut to make the X7s so affordable. Especially because the first generation X7s were not made with all maple shells, but then they switched back to all maple without really changing the price too much. Anyways I was very happy to find that the drums were up to the ol' PDP standards. What makes PDP better than other mass production kits, in my experience, is that they really focus on making the whole kit sound in tune with itself, and so they start by matching the shells by pitch. With this kit, just like with my LX, I was able to set up each drum individually, tuning it to the pitch of the shell, and finish with a perfectly tuned kit, with no tweaking of this tom or that tom to get just the right pitch. I have used a lot more expensive kits which are not so easy to tune. I was also concerned that the drums might not mesh well with my current kit. I had previously purchased a Scratch'n'dent 16 inch FX tom to use with my LX kit, but found that the higher fundamental pitch of the birch shell was just jarring. I could tune the head as low as I wanted but it didn't change the fact that the drum shell itself was vibrating at a higher pitch then my 14" LX tom. Anyhoo these X7 shells line up almost perfectly with my LX shells, so I should be able to mix and match to my hearts content.
By the way, if you ever want to really humble yourself, go ahead and buy a double pedal after playing a single pedal for 18 years. Goo! Needless to say I won't be gigging this pedal out anytime soon.

I Stopped on my way to church to take these pictures. Nothing like a little ice storm to dry out the crops for harvest. Sigh.




Anna took advantage of all my downtime, however.
It was important to her that her horse have all the carrots he wanted.
She also insisted on playing the horse as well.

And here we are, back in the Gray Havens a whole week later to check up on the wheat.Not much to look at on top of the ground...

But nice moisture under the surface.

and lots of healthy, happy little plants.