"[His] [Connecting Rod] Falls to the Floor..." (August 2012 Part 1 of 2)

The circle of life/machinery:

Sometimes seed doesn't keep. Then you do extra germination tests to confirm the failed germination test.

We kept on cleanin' wheat.

Apparently some water fell from the sky in some minuscule way while unloading this truck.

We kept on fixin'.

We had a photo shoot.

The soybeans kept on growin'.

See the red nodule? That means the bacteria we inoculated the beans with have successfully infected the root and are happily supplying the soybean plant with nitrogen.

 More fixin'.

Some sprayin'.

Betsy made a to-do list.

More waterin'.

Some of the milo looked really good.

Some of the soybeans looked good.

Some of the soybeans looked terrible. This is due to iron chlorosis, which I have apparently never mentioned before. So in places with rather high soil pH (this field averages over 8.0 (which is really high)) the iron in the soil is difficult for the soybean plant to absorb, and you get these hideous looking plants. K-State has done some promising work with chelated-iron seed treatments/ in-furrow treatments, but so far I haven't seen any readily available commercial products. Maybe next time.

Betsy's to-do list did not get done.

There was ridin'.

There was more seed cleanin'.

On the twelfth we thought we would finally have a baby.

But it was well after midnight when we finally headed to the hospital.

And then we had our Jimmy. The girls were duly impressed.

Katie wanted to help right away.

He's a pretty good kid.

Jimmy and I both had our first "google chat."

It was quite the party.

Anna made her own birth announcement.

We went home on the 14th.

Anna liked her Jimmy-coming-home present.

So did Katie.

On the second day of Jimmy's life, Ol' Blue pumped his last gallon of water. (Cue "Lightning Crashes.")

We went and picked out this super cool 496 retrofitted with mechanical ignition.

Sadly, the super cool yet searingly hot exhaust pipes came too close to the gas line.

After a minor hic-em-up involving a near complete oil change, we were back in the corn business.

Some of the milo continued to show promise.

And we finally got done cleanin' wheat.

Which meant more time for Jimmy.

Katie and Anna too.