Rain Delay

We had half an inch of rain last night so no planting or other field work today.  Bill paid bills and drew maps of the farms he's planted so far.  He makes note of the date planted and what type of seed was planted where.  This helps him decide later after harvest which seeds did well to use again next year.  I never realized there were lots of seeds choices.  I guess I thought you just plant corn or beans!

Diane had four girls coming in to her salon for her to do their Prom hair today so I kept the little girls.   

Day 2 - Fences

Today was my second day in the tractor this planting season doing the field cultivating.  I started at noon (after the LAST cookbook meeting - hooray!)  All was going very well in nice straight fields and even around intakes - much better than yesterday.  Then came the fence I had to go along on both sides.  On the first side I took out the first (old) fence post.  Not too big of a problem.  No wire was caught or wrapped around anything so I went on after throwing the fence post out of the way.  On the other side, I went very slow so it seemed to go on for five miles.  Got that done finally (with no problems) and all was well again for quite a while - until I had two intakes to go around.  They didn't go as well as the ones earlier in the day, but I got them done without hitting them.  

Then the other - and last - fence problem of the day happened.  It was about 8:15 and the sun was setting.  I was headed for the corner to go along another fence.  Don't know what I was thinking because I got way into the corner and next thing I knew the field cultivator was up on the fence!  Husband had to be called on this one!  He came with wire cutters.  I told him I was done for the day.  I knew it would be a disaster with it getting dark and what I had left to do was mostly going along fences and other edges.  He agreed.  :)  

The rest of the team is so efficient that they're catching up to me (planter & sprayer) so Tim is going to do those darn edges for me in the morning (they call them end rows).  He'll be much faster at it.  They tell me all this gets easier/better with practice!       

Planting!

Planting has resumed after an 11 day delay waiting for the ground to dry enough!  Today was perfect!  High 70's and sunny, no wind.

Bill started planting yesterday and Tim worked ground.  Today after lunch I started doing the field cultivating and Tim was in the sprayer (after giving me a refresher course).  He also came out with a tractor to pick up several large rocks.  Carl came out to move the field cultivator from one field to the next for me!  As of tonight, Bill has about 700 acres of corn planted.

Tomorrow morning is the last cookbook meeting.  We've entered the recipes into Morris Cookbooks' program so we'll be hitting SEND! tomorrow and also mailing our photos for the personal and divider pages.  We plan to have them available during Greater Rolfe Days in July.       

Dallas - Part 4

Catfish Dinner

 Like everything else, Blogger has changed so the screen for posting has totally changed so we'll see how this turns out!  So far it looks like it's going to be nicer/easier/faster but will take a little getting used to.


This was another nice restaurant Glenn took us to when we were visiting Dallas in March - Fish Camp.  It was out in the country not far from his house.
  

 This side of the place has clear "garage doors" so they can totally open this side that overlooks the pond when the weather's nice.

Some Large, Old Trees

Tuesday afternoon I mowed at our place and two other farms. At Enid's house (she's a little lady in her 90's), there are two huge trees. You really can't tell in these pictures how big around they really are. As you can see, the second one is mostly dead. I always go fast when mowing under both of these!

It's been raining most of today which is still good. The temperature around noon was only 39.

I had an all day cookbook committee meeting yesterday. We're hoping to have it done and ready to send by the end of next week's meeting. It's been more work than we expected but should be a really nice cookbook with 827 recipes and several old pictures of our town.

Road Trip to Carroll

Saturday Mom, Diane & her girls and I went to Carroll, Iowa to the Santa Maria Vineyard & Winery for lunch to continue celebrating Diane's birthday. We liked our lunch and sampled a couple of wines. The cute little table and chairs were in the corner of the restroom! They had a nice piazza area for outdoor seating (fountain picture). It would be a perfect place for a wedding reception.

Bill & I aren't into wine that much, but I fell in love with this wine rack (last picture) and thought it would make a nice addition to the wall of our eating area, and we could display bottles of wine from Iowa wineries. (I believe there are over 50 wineries in Iowa.) For now, we have the one from Train Wreck Winery and the one I bought at Santa Maria. It's called Ringneck Red and has a picture of a pheasant on the label.

We did check out some of the shops in Carroll and Diane bought a lizard. She's always liked having little pets like fish, crabs, snails, turtles or lizards.

Parts Run

Mom & I went on a parts run yesterday to Heartland Ag in Boone. It's about 2 hours away but the parts were kind of big and heavy so would've been expensive to ship.

We ended up having lunch at Hickory Park in Ames which was a really good find. They've been in business since 1970 and have a huge menu with lots of smoked meat, barbecue and many Blue Bunny ice cream sundaes to choose from. Mom tried their ribs and I had smoked beef, turkey & pork. This was my sundae called Almond Bliss with hot fudge, coconut and almonds.

We saw this guy (last photo) dressed up to remind everyone how many days till tax day and advertise for Liberty Tax Service.

Train Wreck Winery

Mom and I are big fans of former Colts player, Dallas Clark. He's from a little town near here, Livermore, IA, and has recently opened a winery in Algona with his father-in-law. We went there this week to check it out and have lunch. We were hoping to meet Dallas, but he wasn't there.

Their vineyard is on an acre of his family's Century Farm (a farm that's been in the family for over 100 years) and it's near where a bad train wreck happened back in 1920. Click HERE to read more of the story. They make 6 different wines so far. I bought a bottle of "Caboose", a sweet white wine. Their label is nice (first picture).

I had chicken salad on greens with grape salad. Mom had a ham & Swiss sandwich with potato salad that she said was very good.

After lunch we went in several Algona stores including the pet shop where you see the big lizards? on the walls and ceiling! It's a neat store. We checked out the jewelry in the store where Bill got my wedding rings and talked to the owner who Bill always buys from. He cleaned our rings.

I took Mom through Dallas' home town on the way home. The Indian is at the edge of town. We thought their little library was cute!

Today we're headed to Boone again for parts, and who knows what else we'll get into! We did get half an inch of much needed rain during the night. It'll be good for Bill to have a break since he has a bad cold.

Planting Has Begun

Yesterday was the first day we could plant per the date specified by the crop insurance that we have. Bill always says the first few days of planting or harvest are mass confusion. He did have a break down and sent me to West Bend for a hose. On the way I saw this fire - somebody burning CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) ground. I met the West Bend Fire Dept. Somebody probably called in the fire not realizing the owners wanted it on fire! As I was leaving West Bend after quickly picking up the hose, I met the fire dept. coming back to town. The sky was hazy all over from so many CRP fires.

The auto steer on the planter tractor wouldn't work at all due to recent updates, the quad trac's auto steer was not working right and the Aztec flow meter for the planter went out. After several phone calls with the Ag Leader technician, everything is working now.

Planting is off to a slow start but that's okay since we've had some night time freezing temperatures. They quit a little early today due to on again, off again showers. We're hoping for more rain in the next couple of days.

A Fun Day in Storm Lake, Iowa

Mom, Diane and I and the girls had a fun day in Storm Lake yesterday. Mom is usually here for Easter and Diane's birthday so we always do a lot together.

The first two pictures were taken in the Sugar Bowl Hallmark store. We thought the fancy Red Solo Cups were funny. We checked out several of the other stores on the main street, then headed to Spa Nails for pedicures.

We had lunch at Boz Wellz. Nice place with good food. I hope to go back.

It's Almost Time

I hope everyone had a nice Easter. Bill's sister and family were here, and Bill's Mom had a nice dinner for us after church. We had ham, mashed potatoes with cream cheese, creamed asparagus, corn, jello, rolls, and angel food cake with strawberries or pumpkin pie. Everything was delicious. Mom's or Grandma's meals are always the best aren't they?

The asparagus is ready here early so the pickers are out - finding the wild asparagus in the ditches. Peggy has been able to pick from her patch for about a week.

Diane's girls have been here the past few days so they got to see the big pile of trees being burned. They were pretty excited about it. Love this picture of the two together that Mom took yesterday.

Now that the new grove is planted, Bill and Tim have been finishing last minute jobs getting all of the equipment ready before planting starts this week. Per our crop insurance, we can start planting on April 11th (Wed.). We have a real good chance of frost tonight and tomorrow night and rain is in the forecast for later in the week. Bill keeps hoping for rain even if planting is delayed. It's still too dry here.