Hit and miss

The rain showers were hit and miss this week...mostly miss.  There were enough rain chances that the men put off haying, but I think Paul will be back to mowing by this afternoon.

Rain!

A nice rain just when we could use it.  We had 2.3" at the house yesterday morning.  I guess Paul is glad he didn't mow any hay down Sunday!

A break from haying

The men were able to bale quite a bit of hay this week.  It was hot and dry!  They paused on the mowing, however, since there were chances of rain in the forecast.  This morning, there is a front coming through and showers around.  Nothing accumulating yet, but hopefully we will get a good rain out of it.  The soybeans could use the moisture.

Filling up the hay barn!

Hay season is in full swing.  The men have been busy mowing, raking, baling and moving bales.  We do have some chances of rain in the forecast for next week, and we'll need it by then.  The soybeans will need the moisture and the men will be ready for a break!

 

Haying progress!

The men are finally making some progress on haying.  Tuesday was cloudy in the morning and very humid with little wind so the hay was not drying well.  Yesterday was sunnier with a breeze so they were able to make some good progress.

Mowing hay

Hot and dry!

The hot and dry weather has arrived.  Good for hay, I guess.  Paul started mowing hay down so perhaps this week they will have a chance to get some bales in the barn.  The corn and soybeans have moisture for now so they are doing well, but we'll be ready for rain soon with this weather.

And the rains came down...

Wow, the rain came down yesterday.  We got 3.6" yesterday morning.  It is wet now!  Hopefully, the waters will recede off the fields quickly.  We are expecting a hot, dry period next week so I'm sure things will dry out fast then.

More rain!

It's a good thing Paul didn't mow down any more hay!  Sunday, he finished baling the last that he had mowed down early last week.  After checking the forecast, he decided to wait before mowing again.  Sure enough, this morning we are getting another rain shower.

The early beans are flowering well now and the rows almost have their canopies closed (leaves covering the area between rows).  The shading helps keep the moisture in and the weeds suppressed.  Good things!

Bales

The weekend rain system missed us, and Paul was able to get some bales done yesterday.  We will have to see if the men are brave enough to keep mowing.  We have another chance of rain Tuesday-Wednesday.

Ready, set, wait

The men were all ready to rake and bale hay yesterday.  They even made it so far as to rake and move the baler to the field, but it wasn't quite dry enough.  The humidity has been so high this week!  Then, last night, we caught another rain shower with more expected this weekend.  So...we continue to wait for hay season to really get started.

The rain has been wonderful for the fields crops!  The soybeans continue to grow quickly with the warm temperatures and abundant moisture.  July and August tend to be pretty dry here, which is a tough environment for growing beans, so the rains are very welcome!   We are hopeful for a good corn harvest this year, also.  The ears are filling out nicely, and even the second ears are making a good effort.

Still wet!

There was supposed to be a break in the rain this week so the men made a small start on haying.  They mowed down a little hay on Monday and a little more yesterday.  Then...surprise!  We had an unexpected rain come through early this morning that dropped another 0.6" on us.  Paul says he doesn't mind a bit because the corn and beans are looking so good! 

Rain, rain!

We have received about 3 inches of rain since Friday evening.  We were blessed with a good amount of rain without being flooded!  The men have been using the downtime to work on our new church building in town.  Lots of little jobs left to do, but we were able to have services in the sanctuary this morning.