With hopes of planting someday, I serviced my old corn planter today. Working in the wind tires me out! Gusts were up to 40mpr! Uffda! Forecast is for rain this evening. Talked to a BTO who said he'd finished planting corn before this wet weather set in. Perhaps that's true of several farmers. Saw one tractor in the field yesterday and it looked, from my vantage point on the road, that it was recreational tillage.
Takk for alt,
Al
Vintage corn planter behind a 74 year old tractor (old picture).
Graduating from Marine Corps Boot Camp mid-December 1959, we graduates were sent home on two weeks leave whether we wanted it or not. The Corps didn't want us hanging around over the holidays. This was before ubiquitous air travel. While getting us to San Diego for Boot Camp we'd been flown from Omaha, my first airplane trip. Getting home on leave was left up to us. It was a two day trip by bus, which was what we could afford.
Much of the trip was on U.S. Highway 30, for me from Salt Lake City to Omaha. Highway 30 took Ed almost to his farm in eastern Iowa. Little did I know, as I made that trip three times, that it was the "Lincoln Highway", the first transcontinental highway which begins in Times Square, New York City and ends in San Francisco. There's clear memories of going through Rock Springs, Rawlins and Cheyenne, WY.
Lincoln Highway is the name of Amor Towles' (A Gentleman In Moscow) lengthy (567 pages) novel. It's a fun story well told. Towles has interesting characters who engage. Not much time is spent on the Highway. While not the most profound read there are some keen insights. An example is an old man who describes life using a diamond. He thinks life is like a diamond lying on it's side. Beginning at the point, life expands for a significant time. Then at the diamond's apex life begins to move toward a narrowing. That's certainly descriptive of my experience. As my life narrows I find myself at peace with this reality, full of gratitude for what came before, content with what is and anticipating the future.
Read this book for a fun story filled with interesting characters and some interesting Biblical reflections, like 'turning the other cheek.'
Takk for alt,
Al
While I'm only a hobby farmer I have a farmer's obsession about rain. It comes naturally having grown up on a farm where rain was often marginal. With that as prolog, it rained again last night, perhaps not a lot but enough to keep fields wet. The good news is that the weather app for the next ten days predicts NO rain!😀 Fields should dry.
Apparently some farmers had most of their corn planted before these rains set in. There is no news about any soybeans planted yet. It's still early and the soil is cold.
The bake sale at the locker this morning was impressive. The butcher's wife grew up in the local Hutterite Colony. The Hutterites often have much for sale to the community. She was busy baking for the bake sale. Many loaves of bread including sour dough, hamburger buns, caramel rolls, angel food cakes, were available as well as strawberry/rhubarb jam. There were also apple pies baked by their eleven year- old daughter.
Most of the bread I eat is sandwich thins. The sour dough bread purchased toasted made a tasty lunch. Topped with the jam, it was a real treat.
Takk for alt,
Al
It's been a week since the rain came and field work stopped. There has been little drying since. Each time there has been a bit of drying more rain, though very light, has come to keep fields wet. Today there was some drying and rain is predicted tonight. Ah, the patience needed by farmers.
While it can be a bit boring for me the wait doesn't really matter for wildlife food plots. The critters do the harvest so nothing needs to be dry for storage. Perhaps the earlier I plant the greater the seed production but that's not a major issue.
The frogs in the pond across the street are very noisy until the temperature drops at night. Then they go silent until it warms up and they resume their singing. Where were they last summer when the pond went dry? Underground?
Takk for alt,
Al
The internet instructions led to a perfectly done Cornish Game Hen!
When asked if I cook my usual response is "I prepare meals." Arguments could be made about the definition of cooking. To me is seems to imply the use of recipes, etc. That's why I reference preparing without claiming cooking.
Being introduced to an air fryer has taken meal preparation to a new level. On a visit to the OFH Barb and Gale told me about air fryers, reporting that they were on sale at Costco. On their advice I purchased one. Air frying in my kitchen really took off when Lisa told me to Google cooking times and temperatures. With that tip air frying became a significant part of meal preparation, so much so that I bought a second one for The Little House.
Perhaps air fryer is a misnomer. In reality they are mini-convection ovens that cook via hot air. Simple to use, living on the kitchen counter, and easy to clean it's my second best friend, after Kaia. Since learning how to use it, i.e., discovering the wisdom of Google, I eat fewer meals out. Tonight my experiment will be using it to cook a Cornish Game Hen.
Takk for alt,
Al
