The Longest Day

     The sod has all been “busted” for the 2014 crop,

 

 and what we need now is a good rain.  Actually, we have had nearly an inch of rain over the past ten days.  The problem is it all came in light showers, the biggest one of .4” came on June 18, my birthday present.  Other showers of .3” or so came last week.

 

  But then the wind blows, the sun shines, and the moisture is gone.

 

 

The wheat is stressed.  It should like the neighbor Lee’s.

 

     He used a lot of chem-till, which appears to preserve moisture better than regular tillage.  Lee assures me that “sod wheat” (the first crop following grass) is more resilient than I imagine.  Maybe he is right and I’m being too pessimistic.

    Meanwhile, it’s déjà vu all over again.

 

   No, that’s not last year’s picture.  Old number 118 windmill always had a clunking sound.  A week or so ago, a fissure opened in the trailing edge of one of the blades.

 

    Neighbor Jay thinks it got hit by lightning.  I think they left a few tools or a bolder in it which went up and down as the blades went around and around until it ripped a gash in the blade.

 

 No matter.  Two cranes have been assembled, a new blade delivered, and 118 undergoes some serious repair work.

 

    Meanwhile, the sun slowly sinks in the west and the longest day of the year dryly approaches.