Rain again!

We got more rain last night!  It is pretty soggy in the fields now.  There won't be any planting or spraying for a while.  In the meantime, Quentin has been working on the combine and doing maintenance on the tractors.

Storms

We were very thankful to receive 2.5" of rain last night and only a little bit of small hail.  No tornadoes and no big hailstorm!

Switching gears

Quentin has decided he's happy with the corn stands and that it is safe to switch the planter over for soybeans.  We are very thankful to have a year with no corn replanting!  The heavy rains have missed us so far this spring so we haven't had to deal with flooding or crusting.  There is the possibility of some strong storms starting tonight.  We could use a little moisture so some rain would be welcome...as long as we don't get too much of a downpour.

A little bit of spraying

The fields are drying out just a bit.  Quentin was able to have the wheat sprayed with fungicide/insecticide this evening, and Paul sprayed the cover crop on Winfrey's so it will be ready for soybeans.  It is supposed to be windy this weekend with rain chances again early next week so they were glad to get those things done today.

Heading out

The wheat is taking full advantage of the warmth and moisture.  It is heading out quickly, which will likely mean an early harvest.

The men are busy working on the equipment while they wait for the fields to dry out.  Then, it will be time to start spraying and planting soybean ground.

More rain!

We received about 1.4" yesterday afternoon through this morning.  It has been a nice light, but steady rain so it is soaking in well.  It was getting very dry here so we are very thankful for some good moisture!

Finished!

Corn planting is finished!  Quentin planted the last small patch this afternoon, about 9 acres on Marilyn's.  Paul is out finishing up the spraying now.  The corn is coming up in most fields and looks good.  Hopefully, we can get through a year without replanting!

Rain!

We received about 0.5" of rain Sunday night-Monday morning.  The corn and wheat are much happier now!  There is another chance this weekend so we will hope for more to come.  Quentin will likely be able to plant the last little field of corn sometime this week, and then it will be time to get the planter ready for beans.

Back on the planter

Quentin couldn't stand it any longer.  They decided to go ahead and plant one more field in anticipation of the rain.  We have a really good chance tomorrow night in to Monday.  The earlier planted corn is starting to come up already, and I'm sure it could use the moisture, too.  We are hoping for a good rain without a gully washer! 

Throwback Thursday?

I'm not sure if this qualifies for a throwback, but someday it will.  Row markers!  For those of you who may not be familiar with them, the planter has these arms on the sides that fold out and mark a path so that the driver has a line to follow when he turns around and goes the other way across the field.  That way he is not accidently overlapping rows or spacing passes too far apart.  Ingenious!  (At the time.)

 

With the new GPS technology, row markers are almost obsolete...unless you are having trouble with your system working.  I asked Quentin why he still had them on the planter, and he said they make nice weights to help keep the ends of the planter down in the ground.  I guess they are good for something.

With the auto-steer technology, the driver doesn't even have to steer except to make turns.  That came in handy this week with the air conditioner broken.  I pulled up to the field with lunch for Quentin and found him riding on the step outside the cab.  He would get the tractor going down a pass and then stand with the door open for some fresh air.  It was so windy the door wouldn't stay open unless he was holding it!  Then, he would pop back in near the end of the pass to get the tractor and planter ready to turn.

After finishing up on Steeby's, the men decided to wait for a rain to continue planting.  They only have around 50 acres left, I think, but there isn't hardly enough moisture left in the ground to get the crop started.  We have a good chance of rain Sunday-Monday so we will hope for some nice moisture then.

Planting marathon!

The planting marathon continues!  Quentin planted over on Chambers' and Osterloh's Sunday night and Monday day.  He actually took a little time off to sleep last night, but finished up over there this morning.  Now, he is on Steeby's with only that and one more field of Paul's left to finish.  There is light at the end of the tunnel!  It has been dry and windy so the men are working as quickly as possible while there is still enough moisture in the ground for the corn to get up and going.  We do have a chance of rain tonight and this weekend so we'll see how that pans out.  In the meantime, I'm reminded of a saying I heard a couple weeks ago that went something like "Yes, my husband is a farmer.  No, I don't know where he is.  No, I don't know when he'll be back.  Yes, we're still married.  No, he is not a figment of my imagination!"

Night shift!

Quentin was able to finish up at Rose yesterday, but it wasn't a pleasant day.  The air conditioner is broken on the tractor!  These days, tractors don't even have windows to let air through, and it got pretty hot in there by mid-afternoon.  He was wishing for an old-time cabless tractor by then.  Instead of sweating it out all day tomorrow, Quentin has decided to take the night shift tonight and try to sleep by day.  (Although, we might have to send either him or the kids up to Grandma's so he can have some peace and quiet.)  He packed some snacks and caffeine and headed out around 6 pm.  We'll see how long he lasts!  He is back over on Chambers' ground tonight and hopes to get a good start there.

Planting season

Planting is in full swing these days.  We did not end up with much rain on Wednesday so Quentin was able to roll out the planter again by yesterday afternoon.  He planted Marilyn's and the small field directly west of the house.  This morning he's south of the creek on Kenneth's, and then will likely move down to Rose.


The planter leaves only a small slit right on top of the fertilizer strip.