Waiting for the Rain

     Tillage operations are on hold until it rains.  We are, of course, in very dry times.  Temporary neighbors, some guys working on the wind towers, report their corn crops in Minnesota and Iowa are gone.  Some of the corn here still looks ok, but rain is needed soon.

     There’s never any lack of stuff to do, however.  Monday, a year-long project came out of the shop, backfiring.

     Time to finish the haying business.

 

    Not horses or cows shall dine on this hay.  Instead, it will serve to conserve moisture and suppress weeds.  Lazy man’s gardening.  From this,

                           to this.

   Tuesday morning was nice and cool, a good time to pitch hay.  It even tried to rain—at 8 in the morning, unheard of!

      A rainbow struggled in the west—also unheard of.  Rainbows are always in the easet here.

     Total moisture, .03”.  Helpful only to the nasal passagess--it smelled great.

     On Monday, business in the city had to be taken care of.  A trip to the county clerk in Hugo relieved me of a few hundred as I licensed two trucks and the 4 X 4 pickup.  Collector plates, which last for five years, went on two of the three vehicles, thus the high price.  On to Limon for 30 gallons of motor oil and a bottle of propane.  Expensive sort of day.

      The big disappointment was the tractor, a John Deere G, I have been working on for a year. It had to have its crankshaft refurbished.  As mentioned earlier, it kept backfiring, sending exhaust through the carburetor and the air intake.  Some diagnostic work revealed that somehow I got the thing out of time when replacing the crankshaft.  That means another several hours in the shop.  Oh Deere.

   On to one final project, assembling a birthday present, a new barbecue. 

     After unpacking that, and the garage doors, I think all packing material should be recyclable.  A trip to the landfill is in the near future. 

    Stay tuned for the next exciting adventure—fun on the farm.