The Plowman's Folly

No More Trees, No More Thneeds...

2012-01-23T08:00:00.000-06:00

I started November by cutting all the milo worth cutting.

Which amounted to a grand total of about 20 acres. I normally cut about 550 acres of dryland fall crops between my neighbor Rod and I. So, yeah, that's pretty bad.

I did manage to get a full combine load out of it...

But just the one.

And that's how the 2011 fieldwork ended.

AND that finishes 10 full years of farming for yours truly. (Cue balloons.)

AND (FINALLY!) some rest for what little is left of my poor L5 S1 vertebral disc.

We were fixing to have our first big freeze, so I went ahead and drained the water Over East the next day.

It rained a little.

And then a good bit more. So all the wheat should make it out of the ground at least.

I headed over to the Gray Havens to check the progress.

If you looked real closely you could see some wheat that had sprouted before this last rain.

Looks like this fella got in a little deep...

And this little guy was just gettin' started.

The irrigated still looked good, of course.

I finally got around to taking the smidge' of milo over to the feedlot. The one where they make the milo into ethanol.

And then I headed up to haul some screenings for Chris.

It is very hard to overload these short trailers, and impossible to do with wheat screenings.

A funny thing happened on the way to Pierceville...

One day the crop adjuster came out to look at all the milo I didn't cut.

It didn't take long to zero everything out.

This is actually the first time I have not harvested a field that I planted. (Well, excepting those soybeans...(ooh, you should click on this link too. (especially you, Jeanette, since God apparently wasn't done answering your stupid question. (The more I look through the posts from 2008, the more I realize just how crappy this blog has gotten. Seriously, just read the archives, they are full of a lot better stuff. Plus it used to rain. (Also, apparently people used to comment. Boo readers! Boo! (Typical Reader's response: 'Maybe if you wouldn't fall so far behind, your posts would be fresher, shorter, and of such a quality that they would earn the respect necessary for me to take two minutes out of my busy day to comment. How about some quality posting, you ever heard of that one, Stan?))))))

10 years, with only one (near) complete crop failure. A ten year period drier than any ten year period in or around the dirty thirties, I might add. Thanks, no-till!

It was super nice of Steve to circle my farm on his map.

And that was the farm in November.

You know, I really should move all that junk, if I'm going to keep taking pictures of the rain gauge.

The Hollow [Milo]

2012-01-20T17:11:00.000-06:00

by [M.J.] [Lobiwan]

[Sorghum bicolor]—he dead.

A [rain-shower] for the Old [Crop]

I

We are the hollow [milo]
We are the stuffed [milo]
Leaning together
[Panicle] filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats’ feet over broken glass
In our dry [field]

Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;

Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death’s other [Section]
Remember us—if at all—not as lost
Violent [plants], but only
As the hollow [milo]
The stuffed [milo].

II

[Inflorescence] I dare not meet in dreams
In death’s dream [Section]
These do not appear:
There, the [inflorescence] are
Sunlight on a broken [rachis]
There, is a [spikelet] swinging
And voices are
In the wind’s singing
More distant and more solemn
Than a fading star.

Let me be no nearer
In death’s dream [Section]
Let me also wear
Such deliberate disguises
Rat’s coat, crowskin, crossed staves
In a field
Behaving as the wind behaves
No nearer—

Not that final meeting
In the twilight [Section]

III

This is the dead land
This is [pigweed] land
Here the [dust] images
Are raised, here they receive
The supplication of a dead [milo]’s [leaf]
Under the twinkle of a fading star.

Is it like this
In death’s other [Section]
Waking alone
At the hour when we are
Trembling with tenderness
Lips that would kiss
Form prayers to [blowing] [dust].

IV

The [inflorescence] are not here
There are no [inflorescence] here
In this [plain] of dying stars
In this hollow [plain]
This broken [glume] of our lost kingdoms

In this last of meeting places
We grope together
And avoid [photosynthesis]
Gathered on this beach of the tumid river

[Yield]less, unless
The [inflorescence] reappear
As the perpetual star
Multifoliate rose
Of death’s twilight [Section]
The hope only
Of empty [milo].

V

Here we go round the [russian] [thistle]
[Russian] [thistle] [russian] [thistle]
Here we go round the [russian] [thistle]
At five o’clock in the morning.

Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the [Drought]

For Thine is the Kingdom

Between the conception
And the creation
Between the emotion
And the response
Falls the [Drought]

Life is very long

Between the desire
And the spasm
Between the potency
And the existence
Between the essence
And the descent
Falls the [Drought]

For Thine is the Kingdom

For Thine is
Life is
For Thine is the

This is the way the [season] ends
This is the way the [season] ends
This is the way the [season] ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

(With sincere apologies to T.S. Eliot and his lovely poem.)

Dry Corn Harvest 2011.

2012-01-18T12:16:00.000-06:00

So with the wheat in the ground it was time to get the corn out of the field. Before we could do that, however, we had to move whatever leftover seed wheat we had in our "big" aerated bins. I had been dreading this since it involves a lot of cleaning out equipment and moving of augers.

And then (my nephew) Spencer showed up on his fall break!

While sales had been better than I had expected with the terrible combination of $8 August grain-wheat prices (translation: pretty pricey seed wheat) and our driest year to date on record, we still had quite a bit of seed wheat in the bins.

It went WAY faster with Spencers help.

While it is time consuming to have to clean out augers and hoppers and labor consuming to have to move the equipment around every time we change varieties, we like running the augers over a nice single pit elevator system because we feel it reduces the possibilities for cross contamination of seed. It is a lot harder to mistakenly dump a truckload of Variety A into a bin containing variety B when you are actually unloading in a different physical location for each bin and when (a lot!) more than a few levers or push-buttons separate the two bins' load points.

The girls had a pretty good time with Spencer over lunch.

And so a job that would have probably taken me two or three days got finished in just one.

And Spencer and Anna had some time for more important things.

And so Dad and I started in on the corn on Monday.

On Tuesday I made an attempt at moving the sprinkler.

It didn't go so well.

And with just the two of us I didn't have much time to deal with it.

On Wednesday we were still at it.

Chris (my brother) was able to make it out to help that day, which gave me just enough time to be able to give the sprinkler the attention it deserved. The flat tire in September had really carved out a nice deep wheel rut and I just so happened to shut off the sprinkler at exactly the wrong spot.

I had to muck out a good 40 feet of the sprinkler track to get it back onto solid ground.

I had a nice view when I climbed up to check the bin level.

And so we were all done by Thursday morning.

There is nothing better than getting the whole mess that is irrigated corn production out of the way for another year. And we really didn't come out too badly, considering the year (driest water year (October-October) on record and hottest summer on record) Our yields were off by about 15-20%, which was a lot better than a lot of folks around here fared. I didn't even come close to my personal record low yield (a late season grey leaf spot infection in 2006 was responsible for that one) so I was pretty happy.

Katie was thrilled to get her morning Papa time back. (I think Papa was pretty happy about that too.)

As for me, it was off to do some custom wheat drilling for a neighbor.

Which is the end of October, which means that we are only eleven (11) weeks behind. Keep in mind that a hundred and fifty years ago eleven weeks for a letter would be--(40 miles per day x 77 days....) oh wow. Yes, eleven weeks is bad even by 1800s standards.

2012 begins. (October, 2011)

2012-01-16T09:25:00.000-06:00

So with the wet corn all taken care of, we headed up to the airport to get cousin George's corn cut.

Luckily we had a nice stiff northerly breeze, so we got to see all the planes come in over our heads.

Which was definitely needed to take our mind of the corn we were cutting. It was pretty poor. George was in the same boat as a lot of people this year, who just didn't have the water available to keep up with the corn through two months of 100+ degree temps.

I played a gig with RPM that Friday evening. I don't remember who we opened for-- I packed up my drums and headed right back out to the field after our set. It was the last day of September, after all, and I needed to get this corn finished so I could get some wheat planted.

Anyways I got just about finished that night, and I despite running over an alfalfa valve just as I was finishing up the one field, I thought it was worth it.

It meant I wasn't quite so rushed Saturday morning, so I got to see Anna for a little bit. Family time gets pretty scarce in the fall.

I took the last load in to the elevator that morning and we got all moved back home.

I spent the first couple of days the next week trying to fix the sprinkler tracks at home. The sprinkler runs in a windshield wiper pattern and because of this the ruts get absolutely atrocious over the course of a summer.
Then I got the fertilizer put down.

And it was time to get some wheat in the ground. I started with some foundation Hatcher, which is a wheat out of the Colorado State system.

They didn't have treated seed available in bulk bags, and I wasn't about to mess with bushel bags after my two back surgeries this spring. So I brought it over to the local Pioneer dealer to get it treated.

And I was off. At my farm 2012 officially began on October 7th.

Anna joined me after school, which was awesome.

I got the Hatcher planted that night, and then we got some rain. And by "we" I mean everyone in the state of Kansas except for us (the red star (click on the pics for a bigger view)):

But don't worry, we had gotten pretty used to it over the past 30 days.

90days...

And pretty much all of 2011.

(Sigh.)

And so I got some Everest planted on Saturday...
And I kept on at it into the next week switching to Greer.

You can see my spot tillage around the wheel tracks.

Herb was nice enough to deliver my registered PostRock, SY Gold and Foundation Denali(!!) on Wednesday.

About two hours of cleaning equipment in preparation for taking delivery of true bulk seed, but if it isn't 100% pure going into the field, there is really no point in raising Certified seed.

Then there was more drilling.

Drilling wheat no-till into irrigated wheat stubble is a new frontier for me. Normally we put our wheat on "clean" ground every year to allow for maximum flexibility in selecting which varieties we are planting. On this circle I had to plant the exact same varieties on the exact same acres as last year to maintain the varietal purity necessary for seed production. In this case it means TAM 111, SY Gold, and Dumas.

Another late Saturday night.

But I got all my irrigated wheat in the ground by October 15th, which isn't too shabby, and actually quite an improvement over the last two years. In 2010 I got done on the 21st, and in the rain soaked fall of 2009, I didn't get my wheat in the ground until November 7th! My goal is usually to finish wheat planting around October 10th, but I will take late over early every time.

Finishing the TAM 111 on the monitor...

And the same view in the field.

Side note: I had passed my 30-lb-of-weight-lost-before-I-can-get-a-smart-phone trigger the previous week, so I was able to (after panicking) download the K-State Sports app onto my new Droid 3 after the radio station carrying the K-State/Tech game inexplicably went of the air 10 minutes before kickoff. Phew!

The next morning I had a peek at the baby Hatcher.

Monday morning I headed over to check the other circle of corn. The south half was a touch wet yet.

And the north half was better, but still not dry enough to put in the bin.

So I reluctantly went ahead with planting the dryland wheat. Now, normally, I would have been all over planting the dryland, if not a little worried about getting it in later than I would like. But this year was anything but normal.
Normally, after a field has been fallow for 11 months, there is quite a bit of subsoil moisture, even if there is no moisture on top to get it up. So the idea is to "dust it in" when you normally would, and hope for a nice shower to get the wheat sprouted and ready for winter. But this year, there was absolutely no moisture to be found anywhere, (one grave digger said it was the first time ever that the soil was dry all the way down) which meant, at least in my mind, that I did NOT want the wheat to sprout this fall. Wheat that has not sprouted will not die over the winter, no matter how dry it might be. Wheat that has sprouted in marginal moisture and with no help from the soil below will need regular help from above all winter long in order to make it through.
As this crop is going to be entirely dependent on winter snow and spring rainfall, I honestly think having it sprouted in the fall will be of no value to the success of the crop (despite the 2011 crop, where the fall sprouted wheat made about 20 bushels more than the spring sprouted wheat. While the fall of 2010 had just as dry topsoil conditions, we had a full moisture profile below 6", so early root growth was critical to success. Root growth is pointless (and impossible) when there is no moisture to grow in.) Spring sprouted winter wheat may have a 25% yield disadvantage, but winter-killed wheat has a 100% yield disadvantage. Honestly, if I didn't have an insurance plant date deadline to deal with, I would have waited and planted all my dryland wheat in February.

Rainbows are always pretty, but they are a lot prettier with some mud in the foreground :/

I found out that all those little bolts are actually important. Weird.

So I got it all dusted in by Friday morning.

Meanwhile Tom had planted the PostRock and Denali seed for us. (in case you've lost count that makes Eight (8) different varieties. Madness! Wheat harvest lobiwan is going to be SO ticked-off at wheat planting lobiwan.)

Billions of baby wheat plants, entering a cruel and unforgiving world.

Godspeed, baby wheat.

A Series of Unfortunate Events.

2012-01-13T08:00:00.000-06:00

Also known as wet corn harvest 2011.

We finally cut some wet corn. The crew putting up the wet corn needed to move on up the road, and it was day to day whether they would be taking any more wet corn at Feeder H. So we had to go now or wait to cut it dry. (More on why my corn was so late/2011 weather patterns in another post. Maybe.)

We got some mocking rain the next morning.

The green stalks made it pretty slow going. The corn was also not threshing very well off of the cob. We went ahead cutting this field anyways in part because of the droughtpocalypse. I wasn't about to drill any seed wheat on dryland with no subsoil moisture whatsoever-- a pretty costly experiment. So I wanted to get this corn out and wheat planted in a timely manner. Also my crop consultant was pretty worried about all the stalk rot he was seeing in the country. He encouraged us to get as much cut wet as possible.

When I sent dad to the house for the night, I discovered that we were about to lose the grate which protects the transmission hoses and wiring. "Whew!" I thought. "It sure is nice to have easy quick-fix break downs for a change!"

I thought too soon.

(Sigh.) On my walk home, I called and talked with Mom about it. She thought that prayer was in order. (I may have disputed the effectiveness of prayer in this particular situation. I was tired. And overwhelmed.)

(Double sigh.)

Keep in mind that at this point we had successfully operated the combine for less than two full days in the year 2011. (See here and here.)

And I was at about double my budget for machinery repair on the year-- on this machine alone. (See here and here.)

"Luckily" my (wonderful) local dealer had a new axle in stock, and even more "luckily," a couple of guys who had replaced an axle in the field before and knew just how to approach it, and even more "luckily," nothing else broke when the back end came down. Apparently it is quite common to have to replace the unloading auger after this kind of thing happens.

All put back together in time for (a late) lunch!

There were two different hybrids in this field, though, and it didn't take us long to finish with the earlier of the two. As it was going to be impossible to finish up by Saturday night we decided to stop cutting for the weekend and take our chances that they would still be taking corn on Monday.

So I headed over east to get some fertilizing done. We needed to break up the irrigated Wheat-Corn rotation Over East because of WAY too much cheat on the north circle. So it looks like we are going to be doing Wheat-Wheat-Corn-Corn for a few years. I would MUCH rather do Wheat-Wheat-Corn-Soybeans, but I'm not sure that will pencil out. Stay tuned, I guess.

So that's why the injecting of the fertilizer into the wheat stubble in September is going on.

And I called on Monday morning and Galen said they would still be taking corn while they packed up all the equipment and that we had until Tuesday afternoon. Perfect!

And then we lost the engine fan bearing Monday afternoon. (Apparently I was done wasting time by taking pictures.) Mark came over and helped me change it out (which was surprisingly difficult. Having now worked on both, I can tell you that it is like CaseIH and Deere had a contest to see who could make their engine fan assembly harder to work on. They both won.)

So I got back to it around dusk on Monday evening.

And then the Auger slip clutch on the header broke (thank you green stalks of corn.)

Luckily that is the simplest thing in the world to replace provided you follow two simple steps: Step One: Completely disassemble right hand header drive complex. Step two: replace slip clutch. I did the dis-assembly under the cover of darkness and did the re-assembly first thing Tuesday morning. This extra simple as the header drive runs in an oil bath and so there is much cleaning and sealing involved. Somewhere in there I lost a washer. I found it soon after tightening the last bolt on the now obviously mis-assembled header drive complex. But the header ran... so I decided to fix it later.

We did what we could the rest of Tuesday but we ran out of time.

But wait! I called on up to a feeder east of town on Wednesday morning and they were still taking wet corn. I cut the final two loads in the morning and got them hauled in. Feeder H, our preferred delivery location, is 5 miles away by road (2 as the crow flies.) Feeder F is about 25 miles away. Add in the two separate constructering jobs on the highway, and each load took me about 2.5 hours to haul. Really. Good thing it was just two loads. I also didn't work up the nerve to take any pictures. I don't do well with strangers/change/new situations.

Meanwhile, at the circle of corn across the road, as if to intentionally mock our pitiful two man harvest crew (down to one man anytime someone is picking up seed wheat) and rapidly disintegrating combine, the big renters from down south had come in on Monday morning with their shiny equipment and had their circle harvested, disked, fertilized and planted to wheat by Tuesday afternoon.

Say it with me... "Comparison is the thief of joy."

(Note to self: Re-find washer; fix corn header properly sometime before September 2012.)

Try to Remember

2012-01-10T11:57:00.000-06:00

The kind of September when Anna was a big first grader.

The kind of September when Katie found a corner in the big crib to jam her head into.

The kind of September when you had a tire to change in the mud...

...but were lucky enough to have the sprinkler get stuck right next to the pivot road. Close enough for an 80 year old and a 33 year old recovering from back surgery to be able to use the Spitz-Lift to drag the tire out of the wheel track and over to the pick-up...

...and drive it out rather than the normal wheel-it-out-by-hand business.

The kind of September when you came back to find that the sprinkler was still stuck...

...because you forgot to shift the gear case back into drive (cue Tommy Boy rant). And, having created a colossal mess of things, you are forced to run the sprinkler all the way around in reverse in order to break a path.

The kind of September when you can ride your bike over to the highway to check out the road paving machines.

The kind of September when Katie gets her fuzzy-pink-blanket-in-the-crib privileges revoked.

The kind of September when the corn takes forever to make it below 32% moisture. (High moisture corn is harvested between 26% and 32% moisture, ground, and put up for silage.)

The kind of September when you stop for gas in Satanta on your way to pick up seed and discover you have lost the trailer plug and then look up and see you are right across the street from a NAPA store. Woot!

The kind of September when local car dealers send total #fail junk mail.

The kind of September when you get enough rain to sprout weeds, but not enough rain to sprout wheat.

The kind of September when you try another load of wet corn a week later only to discover that the moisture has actually gone up a half a point.

The kind of September when cousin George insists his corn is ready to go and so you drive the combine 23 miles to the airport...

...only to discover that it is, in fact, still above 20% once you get out in it (the elevator will take corn at 20% moisture, but they really hammer you on the drying charges. The standard for dry corn is 15.5%, and we like it to be at least under 18% before harvesting.) and so you drive the combine all the way back home.

The kind of September when Katie keeps getting her li'l legs stuck between the bars in her crib.

Try to remember, and if you remember, then follow.

Whatever that means.

More Obsessive Chronologicality.

2011-12-30T08:57:00.000-06:00

And more makin' up words.

It might be 'bout time for the new year. But on this here 'bLog, it is just now gettin' on September.
We loaded up our two girls plus Betsy's sister Abby plus and a bunch of stuff for Betsy's sister Susan's wedding and headed off for Manhappenin'. Or as the kids are callin' it these days, The Hat(t) (Thanks, Twitter!)

We made sure to check out the MANHATTAN letters. A is for...

And we checked out the art museum, which is now twice as big.

And we all did some reading in the great room. Probably my favorite place on campus.

Then we went and visited big-shot-name-on-the-sign Susan at her office in Eisenhower.

And of course hanged out with the Madgwicks.

On Saturday morning Betsy put on her workout clothes "just in case someone makes [her] run up the hill a few times" and we headed out to the new team house for the K-State Rowing Alumni reunion.

Um, wow. No port-a-potties for the crew girls anymore.

Laura (Betsy's old roomie) came, but did not bring her hubby Dave (my old roomie). :(

They took out several boats.

And Betsy was able to tell Anna all about what the girls were doing.

Betsy decided not to go out on the water because as a Coxswain, she would be responsible for for the $45K boat out on the water and that seemed like a lot of unnecessary pressure for a vacation. I pointed out that the other circa-Betsy-era Cox was taking a boat out and then Betsy pointed out that the other circa-Betsy-era Cox is now a rowing coach. So then I stopped talking.

Not going out on the water gave her more Maggie hang out time anyways.

And more family picture time.

Anna and the new team house.

There were quite a few alumni rowers that made the trip.

And here is the group from Betsy's time. The original Varsity rowers. The few, the proud, the Hale girls.

And then, a special surprise. They sold anybody there old blades for a one-time-only super cheap price. Good thing we brought the truck! Seriously, this will look so cool hanging in our basement.

And then later we went to the Rowing Alumni barbeque in 'Cat town. Also much fun.
And then it was time for some football.

We had a blast training up the girls in the way they should go re:football.

Even if Katie didn't pay much attention.

Pre-game, and me with no cymbals.

I love this shot of Betsy and Anna.

At the end of the first quarter, they introduced the Alumni rowers on the field.

See Betsy?

Here's the video: (Nice save, Betsy!)

And then we watched the most boring game of football ever played.

Anna kept asking when they were going to score. "Hopefully before the game ends, honey." One time when the team was huddled up she said "I think they are hatching a plan!"

Little did we know at the time what a gutsy, never-say-die, 10-2 regular season, Cotton Bowl bound team this was.

Final score 10-7 'Cats.

And there was much rejoicing.

Even More August.

2011-12-16T08:00:00.000-06:00

So Betsy and Anna headed off for another year of educational excellence at Plymell.

Leaving Katie and I (And Grammy and Papa, of course!) to fend for ourselves.

Over East, the rest of the milo decided to go ahead and emerge. "What is the yield potential of milo emerged August 5th?" You ask. "When is the first freeze going to be?" I answer. Given an average freeze in the neighborhood of Octobe 17th, I would say quite poor. Given a warm fall with a late freeze in November, I might say 40% of normal. Of 'course, the real question is, What is the yield potential of milo emerging in <6 inches of soil moisture and zero subsoil moisture? And that is a silly question, indeed.

A better blogger than me might take this opportunity to discuss compaction and its long term effects. You can see the milo that didn't emerge earlier is all found right where the tractor tires run when I am making my first spray pass around the circle to the left. If and when I ever upgrade to RTK autosteer, this right here is the reason I will do it. The ability to control traffic patterns would really pay off--once in a while. While I'm fairly certain that this compaction is from spray passes and so could be redirected to occur only between the rows, all it would take is one pass by one full grain cart during a wet harvest and you can see the same kind of pattern emerge for years. What really worries me here is the lack of cover this and other strips through the field will have next summer while it is being fallowed. And while I have found the appropriate pictures to show you what I am worried about happening on this particular spot in this particular field, I have also discovered that I am repeating myself. #blogfail. Again.

Anyhoo compaction is a problem any way you look at it, and the best solution for it, a hard,wet winter, is something that we just can't count on from year to year.

Speaking of compaction,I decided I had better get to work fixing the holes I dug at harvest. You have heard of spot-spraying, perhaps. This problem required some spot-tillage.

Step one, the track filler--usually reserved for sprinkler track maintenance.

Also there was a little seed wheat to transfer around.

Why yes, that IS the old Eminence schoolhouse.

I 'bout lost the smokestack on the way home.

We got a smidge.

Followed by a nubbin.

And here is a great visual on the power of residue cover.

If you look right in the center of the picture, you'll see the paths that the combine took last summer.

Here's a better look:

We've got a 30 foot header in the front taking in un-threshed crop and in a perfect world we would have a nice 30 foot distribution of straw and chaff out the back end. While the combo chaff/straw spreader on the 2188 is better than no chaff spreader at all, it still doesn't do a super great job at getting a nice wide spread. Especially in the Kansas wind. The more residue you have, the less moisture you lose from the soil, and in this case it was the difference between life and death for those little milo plants.

And I finally made it to the bottom of my to-spray list.

Betsy and Abby helped me get some of my old-school spam into the mail for all of our seed customers.

Spot-tillage step 2: A little disk action.

Step 3: Ye olde ripper.

And finally, step 4: one more pass with the disk. Here's a nice view of where the leaking sprinkler sat during the month of June:

Katie hates peas!

Katie loves peas!

Katie learned to scoot!

Finally, it was time for the Tumbleweed Festival. The most wonderful weekend of the year.

I was a little late getting there on the first day though.

Every time the sprinkler makes a pass, it pushes mud out in front of it until it builds up a nice mound and misses the barrier. Smarter folks than me would simply remember to dig it out every couple of weeks. Usually you can just hit reverse and it will pull away just fine, but this doesn't work when it has twisted a drive shaft off.

NOW we can go to Tumbleweed!

Good times.

Now, fix my truck, Dad! Please?

The Return of the Groove Master

2011-12-14T06:00:00.000-06:00

That's what the Classy Cats used to call me, anyways. True story.

So the first Sunday in August found us gearing up for our annual concert in the park. By us I mean "Not Worthy," the worship band from church, and by "the park" I mean Stevens Park in GCK. I was pretty excited, as it had been a LONG time since I had had what you could pretend was an actual gig.

We got a little spit of "rain" while we were setting up, so everybody scrambled to cover all our gear.

I decided to go all out and play the full 7 piece this time.

You may be wondering why we set up on a trailer instead of in the band shell. It has to do with sound quality and shade. The band shell is fabulous for something like the Municipal Band, where no one is miked and everyone is blending their sound and there is someone up front making faces at you if you are playing too loud. But for a high volume miked situation where everyone has their own monitor mix and are playing really loud because for once we aren't playing in a church and it would be really nice just to crank it up and have some fun and if not now then when the band shell really causes problems. It makes Mark cranky because he can't control the mix as much as he would like. (The real reason is that I play too loud (see previous sentence) and by the time everyone tries to compensate it is just a big mess.) Also, a big chunk of the stage has no shade, which makes everyone (musicians AND instruments) cranky--'specially when it is a hundred and bazillion degrees out.

And here is a view from my seat. They had a big cookout/picnic, so most people were sitting out in the shade eating.

Cephas wanted to be closer to the action.

And my little family came back in time for the show. Here's Anna jamming afterwards.

We actually had a really nice shower Over East that night.

We only got about .20" at the Gray Havens, so I decided I'd go ahead and a shot at killing weeds over there.

There were some very lovely (as in "pretty," not as in "rainy") clouds to keep me company checking the motors that evening.

I spent the rest of the week trying to take it easy, per doctor's orders. Dad and Katie took it easy too.

The Roaches came through on their way to Denver, so we had a chance to meet their newest addition, as well as compare him with Katie.

The big kids had a grand time, too.

The next Monday Katie and Anna and Dad and I all went to the zoo while Betsy was at work.

We met a bird there.

He was pretty friendly.

I don't recall what kind of bird he is.

And I apparently had some irrigation engine trouble that day since I took this picture walking down the pivot road to reset the sprinkler.

One thing that I hardly ever seem to do is take pictures when things go wrong with the irrigation engines, probably because it just makes me cranky. Come to think of it, this whole summer has been unusually short pictorially for me. Although between the back troubles and Drought troubles and a couple other troubles which shall not be discussed here, I am surprised I was ever in a picture takin' mood.
Luckily there is nothing like a nice walk through the corn at evening to set your spirits aright.

VACATION FROM MY PROBLEMS!

2011-12-12T06:00:00.000-06:00

And so we awoke on the first day of August in sunny/beautiful Cheyenne, Wyoming. We apparently missed out on Frontier days by one day, which was bad 'cause I guess there is stuff to do and stuff, but which was good 'cause we were able to find beds to sleep in. Besides, our real goal for the day was to make it to Uncle Bill's Cabin which is pert near Westcliffe, CO.

We went ahead and saw a couple of sights though, including the capital building...

Novelty Boots...

And this bran-new statue of a votin' pioneer woman.

And then we drove and drove and drove.

Until we got to where we needed to be.
And this is why everyone should have a doctor in the family. And if you don't have one, well go out and find a girl who has one and marry her, just like I did.

Ahhhh. No drought, no collapsing world markets, no seed to clean, no motors to fix, ~~no post-operative back pain,~~ no triple digit temperatures, no television, no internet, no telephones (mostly), no weeds to spray, no oil to change, no dust storms... Just ahhhh.

Although it was a little disturbing to see the Sangre de Cristo range without a speck of snow.

There WAS some punitive butt-kicking.

And before you could say "Sell the farm and send me the check I am never coming back hahahahahaha!!" there I was, headed back, all by my lonesome.

All the way home.

When I got there that (Thursday) afternoon, I was pleased to find the last of seed getting cleaned, and even a little rain in the rain gauge.

And some more the next morning! Which basically meant that as soon as I got Spencer paid and on his way to college I had some serious work to do.

And no time to lose either. One thing about no-till, is that timing is everything. It has never been more true than this summer. Herbicides work by being metabolized into the plant and interrupting key functions, such as photosynthesis. This works if and only if the plant is actively growing. In a severe drought like we had this summer, there were very few times that any plants not being regularly irrigated were actively growing. The weeds needed sprayed and they needed sprayed NOW. Luckily the wind was cooperating.

So I picked the worst couple fields and got some spraying done in the morning before it got too hot...

And went back out as things cooled back down.

And kept right on going as the sun went down.

Another fun filled Friday night.

Vacation over.

lobiwan Descends Into Hell for a Bottle of Milk

2011-12-05T12:40:00.001-06:00

Or as close to Hell as SWKS has ever come, meteorologically speaking. It was hot. Record breaking hot. As in an entire month with triple digit highs hot. Good thing I got to leave early.

July 2011

In Which lobiwan Makes Mediocrity a Habit.

2011-11-21T14:00:00.003-06:00

Mechanical Mayhem! Medical Mayhem! Fire, Fire! Can you handle it?

June 2011

I doubt it.

In Which lobiwan Settles for Mediocrity.

2011-11-16T13:24:00.002-06:00

All about May 2011, in pictures:

May 2011

Aren't you lucky.

In Which lobiwan Continues, but in a Much Less Impressive Fashion.

2011-11-10T10:30:00.004-06:00

Here is a link to my "April 2011" picasa album. If you want to know about April, this is all you're getting.

April 2011

In Which lobiwan Makes a Spectacular Return to Blogging.

2011-11-08T10:31:00.010-06:00

Where was I?

Oh Yeah.

So the day after we got back from Oregon, I was off to see the Wonderful Wizard of Orthopedic Surgery. I wasn't too surprised when they confiscated our cameras and cell phones, but the green-tinted glasses they mad us wear seemed a little much. Anyhoo, the Wizard thought we should do some cuttin' and he asked when we wanted to do it and we said when CAN you do it and he said how about tomorrow. And there was much rejoicing.

So the next morning, after an excruciating pain-med-free trip to town, I found myself walking the last four blocks to the surgery center, where Betsy and Katie joined me.

And I got all changed...

And said goodbye to Katie...

And got stuck several times before I remembered that my left hand is defective and could they please try my right hand?

And then I had a nice nap.
While I was napping, the Wizard performed a Laminectomy/Discectomy on the left side of my L5/S1 Vertebrae.

Katie and Betsy hung out in the waiting room.

And then I woke up with a pretty good pain in my back, but absolutely no pain in my leg. There was much rejoicing.

And then I got to do some chillin' with friends,

practice my breathing skillz,

And load up on the good stuff.

And a good time was had by all.
Eventually everyone left, and then there was some spectacular basketball on the TV. Seriously,bedside beverage service, Morphine drip, and March Madness. Does it get any better?

The next morning I felt well enough to go for a stroll. My left foot was still numb, but there was zero pain.

So they made me go home, which was sad. Once home I took a stroll around to look at the dismal dryland wheatBefore settling in for some R&R.

The next morning we awoke to a nice little snow.

And I got to hang out with my two favorite little girls.
And Katie watched some basketball with me.

And then I got to take a shower and get my first look at the Wizards handiwork.

On Monday morning, I had Dad take me around to check the rain gauges.

They've been worse.
I also started to break my oxycodone habit, which was not very much fun to do.

Bear Grylls and Katie helped me through it on Tuesday.

So that on Wednesday I was able to pull things out of the shop.

And by Thursday I was able to drive myself out to watch Dad drive the tractor and check up on the irrigated wheat.

Katie was glad that everything was going so well.
And that is how March 2011 ended.

Find my farm!

2011-10-09T21:45:00.007-05:00

It's time for a rousing game of Find My Farm!

Here is a 3 day precipitation map! Can you Find My Farm!?!

Here is a 30 day precipitation map! Can you Find My Farm!?!

Here is a 90 day precipitation map! Can you Find My Farm!?!

Here is a 2011 year to date precipitation map! Can you Find My Farm!?!

Here is a 2010 precipitation map! Can you Find My Farm!?!

Wasn't that fun!?!

2011-09-26T10:56:00.001-05:00

2011-09-25T19:06:00.001-05:00

It's a hard knock life.

2011-09-23T13:29:00.000-05:00

Good to go.

2011-09-23T12:59:00.000-05:00

2011-09-23T11:39:00.001-05:00

Done with the easy part...

This message has been sent using the picture and Video service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, Quicktime@ 6.5 or higher is required.

2011-09-23T11:01:00.001-05:00

All the king's men...

2011-09-23T09:34:00.001-05:00

2011-09-23T08:05:00.001-05:00

More combine excitement.

2011-09-22T21:29:00.001-05:00

I suppose I'll call it a night, then.

2011-09-22T19:20:00.001-05:00

2011-09-21T17:42:00.001-05:00

At the wet corn funhouse.

2011-09-21T16:06:00.001-05:00

31.2%

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime� 6.5 or higher is required.

2011-09-19T10:49:00.001-05:00

34.5%

2011-09-15T19:16:00.001-05:00

Well, it was fun while it lasted, Jim.

2011-09-13T17:01:00.001-05:00

32.3%

This message has been sent using the picture and Video service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, Quicktime@ 6.5 or higher is required.

2011-09-11T20:11:00.001-05:00

Industrial tourism.

2011-09-08T18:44:00.001-05:00

2011-09-03T21:29:00.001-05:00

Go 'Cats!

2011-09-03T18:53:00.000-05:00

Alumni rowers being introduced at the game.

2011-09-03T17:50:00.001-05:00

Why yes, yes I am ready.

2011-09-03T10:51:00.001-05:00

K-State Crew reunion!

2011-09-02T10:23:00.001-05:00

How Betsy sees Manhattan, or, why we own a GPS.

2011-09-01T14:07:00.001-05:00

Decisions, decisions.

2011-08-27T11:08:00.001-05:00

Changing out a twisted driveshaft is not what I had in mind the first morning of Tumbleweed XX.

2011-08-24T15:44:00.001-05:00

Spot tillage part IV.

2011-08-24T15:33:00.001-05:00

Spot tillage part III.

2011-08-24T11:47:00.001-05:00

Spot tillage part II.

2011-08-22T20:17:00.001-05:00

Crib lowering day :*(

2011-08-22T17:14:00.001-05:00

Old skool spammin'.

This message has been sent using the picture and Video service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, Quicktime@ 6.5 or higher is required.

2011-08-17T18:15:00.001-05:00

Pert near lost my smokestack today...

2011-08-17T12:01:00.001-05:00

Loadin' up at the Eminence school house.

2011-08-16T17:48:00.001-05:00

Spot tillage part I.

This message has been sent using the picture and Video service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, Quicktime@ 6.5 or higher is required.

2011-08-15T11:54:00.001-05:00

Last day of summer vacation fun.

This message has been sent using the picture and Video service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, Quicktime@ 6.5 or higher is required.

2011-08-07T18:15:00.000-05:00

Ruckus starts @ 7:15. Stevens Park.

This message has been sent using the picture and Video service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, Quicktime@ 6.5 or higher is required.

2011-08-05T20:41:00.001-05:00

Killin' weeds on a Friday night.

2011-08-01T11:34:00.001-05:00

Cowgirls.

2011-08-01T11:31:00.001-05:00

Votes for women!

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime� 6.5 or higher is required.

2011-08-01T11:21:00.001-05:00

Cheyenne.

2011-07-31T19:48:00.001-05:00

The Mammoth Site = awesome.

2011-07-31T16:12:00.001-05:00

Tourists.

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime� 6.5 or higher is required.

2011-07-29T19:13:00.001-05:00

Remember that time, about ten years ago, when you were driving tractor by Highway 83, and suddenly Presidents Kennedy and Johnson drove by at 65 miles an hour? Yeah, apparently it really happened.

2011-07-29T13:02:00.001-05:00

VACATION FROM OUR PROBLEMS!!!

This message has been sent using the picture and Video service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, Quicktime@ 6.5 or higher is required.

2011-07-29T07:58:00.001-05:00

Enjoying breakfast at DEN. Next stop, RAP.

2011-07-28T12:31:00.001-05:00

2011-07-22T14:44:00.001-05:00

Aggie visits the big rigs.

2011-07-22T12:32:00.001-05:00

Safety first!

2011-07-17T14:18:00.001-05:00

So, so, suck your toe.

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime� 6.5 or higher is required.

2011-07-12T09:16:00.001-05:00

No sweat.

2011-07-11T10:15:00.001-05:00

Found this laying by Mom & Dad's computer.

2011-07-10T23:29:00.001-05:00

Punkin's.

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime� 6.5 or higher is required.

2011-07-09T08:36:00.001-05:00

Traffic.

2011-07-07T12:00:00.001-05:00

Grease monkey.

2011-07-06T12:31:00.001-05:00

2011-06-28T16:29:00.001-05:00

2011-06-28T15:56:00.001-05:00

2011-06-28T12:22:00.001-05:00

Spencer gets to know the Lear's 9770.

2011-06-28T11:01:00.001-05:00

Nothin' slugs like a Deere.

2011-06-27T20:43:00.001-05:00

2011-06-27T20:41:00.002-05:00

2011-06-27T16:10:00.001-05:00

2011-06-25T22:29:00.001-05:00

Who needs electricity when Spencer is in town?

2011-06-25T20:12:00.001-05:00

2011-06-25T14:08:00.001-05:00

2011-06-24T22:27:00.001-05:00

2011-06-24T21:26:00.002-05:00

2011-06-24T15:28:00.001-05:00

2011-06-24T14:09:00.001-05:00

Swappin' machines.

2011-06-24T11:41:00.002-05:00

Waiting for a loaner combine. Things could be worse.

2011-06-23T19:48:00.002-05:00

We lost about 250 square feet of wheat. Or about one dollar and 25 cents worth.

2011-06-23T19:44:00.002-05:00

2011-06-23T19:29:00.001-05:00

2011-06-23T19:13:00.001-05:00

Earlier.

2011-06-23T19:07:00.001-05:00

Earlier.

2011-06-23T19:03:00.000-05:00

Landon should really like this one.

2011-06-23T16:52:00.002-05:00

2011-06-23T15:02:00.003-05:00

2011-06-23T15:02:00.001-05:00

My kind of problem.

2011-06-23T14:53:00.002-05:00

2011-06-23T14:43:00.001-05:00

2011-06-23T14:38:00.001-05:00

My kind of problem.

2011-06-23T14:23:00.001-05:00

Toppin' 'er off.

2011-06-23T13:38:00.000-05:00

Thanks again, Margaret!

2011-06-23T13:21:00.001-05:00

2011-06-23T13:06:00.001-05:00

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime® 6.5 or higher is required.