I have 40 acres of wheat to plant at Amity, 60-100 acres at Ballston, 100 acres at Sheridan, 45 acres of grass at a home for retired zoo animals, and it is raining. Then I have another 20-60 acres of peas to plant at back at Ballston. I field to redo at Grand Island and some camolina to replant at home. The wheat must be planted by the end of the month as it is winter wheat. Winter wheat needs cold weather to vernalize. I never went to Oregon State so I don't know any of that technical stuff. You will have to go ask Ed Winkle when ever he gets back from his trip around the world.
It rained all day yesterday. Today this sun is coming out. I planted 14 acres of Oats. Of course nothing worked right. I would have got done the night before but I lost a planting coulter disk off and I didn't want to keep going and leave a trail of unplanted ground.
The Great Plains is a wonderful drill. I sliced through the mud and I had good seed placement even though mud was building up everywhere. The harrow on the back is key to keeping the seed covered and the special spring loaded carbide tipped scrapers keep the openers from plugging up.
Of course I had to do something wrong. I was watching the seed monitor and keeping the planting rate at around 850,000 seeds per acre. This is what the monitor said for the first 10 acres and the seed rate came out perfect. I had to adjust the drill as the drill wheel built up with mud and the planting rate dropped. When I finished I had seed left over. Not sure where I went wrong but we had to vacuum out four bags of seed in the rain. I was so stinking cold.
Then I took my $2500 rebuilt engine back to be repaired as it the pickup does not run right. Then I found out I am getting 45 acres of hay ground back as the fellow can't sell the hay. Then I tried grinding feed but the flatbelts I scrounged won't stay on the tractor pulley.
So I went and washed all the mud off my drill in the dark. But there is no booster pump for the fire hose anymore so that did not work.
So I went to bed.
Well, not really I wandered around the internet for a while. Then I went to bed but of course did not sleep.
I wish I had a funny story to tell.
I am probably losing readers.
I would like add a few subscribers. Get a nice round number of 20.
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Farmers have all the fun, and no wood stove waiting in the house. Worst is having fingers too cold to play the banjo. But then the sun comes out and you believe again.
ReplyDeleteI have a really good heater in my tractor. My heating bills have gone way down since I bought a woodstove. My wife says it is because of the weather as I don't have the woodstove actually installed. I say potatoe you say tomatoe and she says I'm crazy and make no sense...
ReplyDeleteMy mother had an old saying, "Happy are those whose spirits do not rise and fall with the weather". Unfortunately those cloudy damp days do tend to un-inspire me too. I guess the only consolation is that the rain falls on the just and the unjust so your neighbour is no better off than you. It helps a little.
ReplyDeleteRalph,
ReplyDeleteI have discovered Vitamin D. This is the stuff you get from sunlight. 5000 mg tablets do wonders for me. I never believed in such things till I tried it!