Look What Happened!

Remember this spring when I was saying that it's kind of scary to cut the grass at one of the farms under the HUGE trees that are in the yard and especially around the one that is mostly rotten?!?  Look what has happened!!  Another one of the branches has fallen, narrowly missing the house!

Bill says this is a cottonwood tree and that they never completely die.

Tim and Bill have farmed for this lady for many years.  She is in her 90's and is just here at home part time now.  Most of the time she and her daughter are at her daughter's house in the Des Moines area.  They are here now and hope to be around when the beans and corn are combined from her fields. 

 

Random Pictures on a Pretty Fall Day

The trees are turning.

Beans are done so back to corn today after lunch.

Bill using a leaf blower to clean out the combine before switching from beans to corn.  See video below.

School kids on a field trip having a snack on the picnic table after a tour of the dairy.

Two semis brought part of the new machine shed early this morning.

Perfect timing with the beans around our house just out of the way as of Mon.

One of Those Days

Bill called me this afternoon to go out on our screened porch and look south.  He was seeing smoke from where he was.  It turns out the smoke was just east of us where one of our neighbors frequently burns stuff.  On his way home for lunch, Bill drove by and found that it was getting out of control so went to the fire station for the pumper truck.  In the meantime, the neighbor was trying to get the fire out himself with his tractor but it caught on fire!  Another neighbor found him trying to drive it home with the cab full of smoke - couldn't see the guy at all.  So he got the neighbor out of the tractor and it's a good thing.  You can see from one of the pictures below that the cab completely burned inside and the windows shattered.  ***Our county doesn't have a burn ban right now but should.

Tonight Bill is combining the last bean field.  Will probably switch back to corn tomorrow.  No rain in the 8 day forecast.

There is a bean head in that dust.  Tim had it following Bill in the combine and I was following all with flashers on.  Moving to a different bean field. 

 

DUST!!

As we were having lunch on the screened porch at the back of our house one day last week, this is what it looked like every time a semi hauling grain went by.  Sometimes it's worse than this if they're going fast.  I really didn't get good pictures of how white it gets for a few seconds if the wind makes the dust come toward our house.  We need rain!  Even though we have a new house and windows (that are closed), the house gets very dusty inside.  Lots of nice weather days you can't have your windows open due to the dust.    

As of yesterday when I set up this post, I'm having some time off.  It feels strange to be at home when so many are going by our house with combines and semis or tractors pulling full wagons on the way to the elevator.  We're doing beans right now so Tim and Bill can handle that just the two of them and we don't rip the bean ground which is what I do.  Bill usually combines and dumps directly into the semi and Tim hauls it to town.  I'm "on call" for parts runs and to take supper out.  When I do that I usually ride with Bill until he combines enough to fill up both semis and the grain cart which is all we can do since the elevator closes around 6:00 (the time varies).  Sometimes he needs to move equipment so I give him rides between places.

We did get our combine back on Sat. and it seems to be running right.  Bill is very glad to have "his" back.  Another guy here had something bad happen with his combine this morning.       

Freeze and Road Trip to Clarion

Last night we had the first freeze of the season.  Our low temp. was 28.  I covered our 3 knockout rose bushes and the tomato plant which is just now finally producing some nice tomatoes.  Bill is glad to get this freeze.  Lots of bean stems have still been green so this freeze will take care of that within a couple of days.  

Two of Tim & Bette Jo's kids and their families came here from Kansas and Colorado for their Grandpa's funeral so Bill has had some company in the combine.  Deb's son, Bryan, who was in some of my pictures back when we were doing our landscaping (he was a big help!), was able to come even though he just started college.  He wants to be an Agronomist so I'm sure he's starting to look at the family farming operation a little differently now!   

My friend Terri and I had been wanting to get out of town and have lunch at a tea room or something so earlier in the month we went to Clarion which is only about an hour away (east) to have lunch at Daisy's on Main.  We were pleasantly surprised with how nice it was.  We had a cute little table for two by the front window.  As you can see, the food was bright and colorful on the white plate and even had a flower for garnish.  The food and service was very good.  It's also a gift shop (including upstairs) with everything nicely arranged.  We would definitely go back.  They change their menu weekly.

Love the window boxes.

Pretty Fall display of gifts in the front of the shop.

I did the "choose 2" and had quiche and chicken salad with tomato carrot soup.

Terri had quiche and the enchilada.  The rolls were homemade and very good.  So was the bite of nut bread.

These were the dessert choices.  We had the choc. and carrot cake.

Some people here go to the hospital in Clarion so I've always wanted to see what's in Clarion.  After checking out a couple of flower/gift shops and the coffee shop called Grounded (we hope to bring our husbands back here for an evening meal and their live music but their lunch menu looks good too), we went on to Kanahwa to visit the Old Bank Winery.  

Their wine was not our favorite, but I thought it would be appropriate to buy a bottle of theirs to fill the last spot in my pretty wine rack since I worked at a bank for 11 years.  It's a little hard to tell but their label is a picture of a bank vault.

Back in Business

We are back in business with a rented combine as of last night.  Bill spent this morning trying to get it running right.  After I made 3 trips to West Bend for parts, he thinks he can run now without problems.

The John Deere dealer says they'll probably have our combine fixed by Mon.  (it broke down this past Mon.)  It turns out the problem is something that was not done right at the factory when the combine was made and just now showed up.

So this week Bill took out a fence and other odd jobs.  I got stuff around the house caught up and went to Ft. Dodge yesterday to get things on the Walmart list and shop in general.  

Bill had a problem with our brand new skid loader when taking out fence.  It needs parts and we won't have them until first of the week!  Luckily they still have the old one and got it going.  It's definitely been a screwed up Fall.  Lots of people are having combine and other equipment problems - way more than normal.    

Aunt Bette Jo's dad passed away Wed. morning so they have family on their way for the visitation tonight and funeral in the morning.  Her dad was 91 and had farmed all his life.  He worked ground this spring and had ridden with his son in the combine this past Sun.  We met Joe back when we first started visiting Glenn & family in Rolfe.  Joe was always an usher at church.  I made them some oatmeal raisin cookies  which are Tim's favorite and will be helping their church ladies with the funeral dinner tomorrow. 

I've been taking some pictures today and may get them posted tonight.  I'm going out to cut our grass now.  Again, it just needs it in spots.
Some pictures from today:

This is the piece that was needed to make this combine work right (a wedge kit).  The first one was too small so we got a bigger one.

Lots of tools needed and are kept close.

The rented combine.  Hooking up the hoses that connect the bean head to the combine.

Had to also change an air filter.

  

Bad Day

We started out with a little (very little) rain - less than a tenth but enough to stop work for at least the morning depending on if the sun would come out later and/or some wind.  The guys had been watching the combine's engine for the past three days - something was not right.  Since it rained, Bill had a mechanic come out to do some testing.  He did some tests and said "get it to the shop".  This afternoon they determined the problem was a blown head gasket.  Will know more tomorrow re: down time and repair costs.  

Tim took the maps I had drawn of the rocks I "found" in three fields and got them picked up with the skid loader this afternoon.  Usually that's a job that gets done much later, usually in bad weather.  

My friend, Terri, came over this morning and shared Turtle Pie with us that she had made her husband for his birthday.  Yum!!  Bill said the only problem was the (sm.) size of the pieces (it was rich)!

The sunsets lately have been pretty.  Hard to get good pictures of them.

Tomorrow Bill is going to take out some fence and I'm going to water trees.  We keep hoping to get some weekly rain and not have to do that so often plus rain is just better.

Turtle Pie

       

Misc. Pics from Today

Tim knocking dirt off the ripper

My ride

Pam dumping corn from the grain cart into the semi.  Carl waving in the truck.

Bill dumping corn directly from the combine into the semi.

Tim fixing the ripper for me - lost a bolt - lots of rocks in this field.

Bill washing the windows on the combine this morning.

We had a good day today.  They combined an 85 acre field.  I finished a field and then got more than 3/4 of the 85 acre field done so I'm right behind them!  We were all in the same field half of the day.  Lots of the farmers combine everything and then start doing the ripping and other field work.  We like to do the ripping right behind the combine if possible and are lucky to have enough help so that we can get fields totally done as we go.

My tractor has a new radio in it, and I found that it has a CD player so when we had that little bit of rain the other day, I went to the library and got some books on CD.  I'm really liking that!  

The weather was real nice today - sunny and in the 70's.  We worked until about 8:30.  Looks like another nice, warm day tomorrow and then a cool down.

Back to Work!

We've been on a little rain delay for the half inch of gentle rain we got Wed. afternoon, but today is a beautiful day - sunny and in the 70's - so everybody is busy combining and hauling again.  Our guys were waiting until after lunch to start a field of seed beans.  They require special care like making sure the combine and trucks are completely cleaned out from past loads.  The grain bin(s) they go into have to be spotless too.  Most others are still working on corn.  We have about 16 more fields of corn to do but when beans get ready, they need to be combined.  This is a weird year and there will be switching back and forth.

Bill sent me to West Bend John Deere after lunch for a bolt.   Now I'm going back to the field I had just started on Wed. afternoon.  I had made it alllllllll the way around the field once - by the FENCE - (whew - but getting easier), had set the angle and gone back & forth a few times when the rain started.  

I headed to the grocery, the library for books on CD I can listen to in the tractor and was able to have a hair appointment yesterday.  Saw lots of other people out catching up on errands in the rain.

 

Harvest is Happening!

Lots of action in the fields all over now.  I started ripping on Sat. and all went well, I thought.  I had a huge rock pop up but all the parts of the ripper seemed to be there.  (I should've taken a picture of the rock!)  The next morning Bill found that something was broken and things were bent.  

The elevator was not going to be open on Sun. so everyone decided it might be a good day to go to the Spencer Fair.  It's a county fair, but people around here go to it more than they go to the Iowa State Fair.   The weather was going to be perfect for fair going.

I had a ticket to go to a tea in Dakota City so had to miss going to the fair with Bill, but the tea was nice too.  The theme was "The Language of the Fan".   Fans used to be used for communication like fanning slowly meant "I am married" and fanning quickly meant "I am engaged".  The fan placed near the heart meant "You have won my love".  The tea was in a neat old house that is part of the Humboldt County Museum.  There is a pretty, old church and other buildings on the grounds.

Bill spent all morning and an hour or so after lunch today fixing the ripper so I didn't get started in the field until about 3:00.  Bette Jo started her harvest meals for the crew today (yum!).  

The others finished up a field today and moved across the road to another one this evening.  Bill says they will switch to beans sometime tomorrow.  They have just one field of beans ready so far.  It'll take me a couple days to finish the corn fields they've done and catch up.   

Rain - Finally!

It's getting exciting around here - we started combining (corn) on Aug. 31st AND we got 9/10" of rain the night before last!  We had not gotten more than 2/10 for weeks.  This 9/10 was just around our house and town though.  Peggy and Tim got closer to only a quarter of an inch and lots of what we farm is up that way.  But, that meant that even after the rain they could still combine the next day (yesterday) later in the afternoon.  There was lots of wind (we were to expect 60 mph and it sounded like it) and a bunch of big tree limbs were down in town but amazingly most of the corn is still standing.  Depending on the time of season, a big wind like that could blow the corn over which is very bad.   

This is a very strange year with the drought.  Normally the beans are ready first but this year the corn is ready first.  The is the earliest start of harvest that anyone can remember!  You would think we'd be excited that we'll be done early in this warm weather before bad weather hits - but you never know.  We could have a wet fall or . . . ??  Just hoping for no field fires this year.  There were several last year and it's much drier now.     

Today is going to be my first day in the tractor ripping.  Wish me luck!    

Trip To Omaha

Right after Mom was here and Bill got back from his hunting trip, we headed to Omaha, NE for the funeral of our brother-in-law Dave's mother.  She had been battling broken bones every year for 13 years and lately infections too.  Her message to me - one who doesn't like milk - was "take your calcium".  I'm hoping all that DQ ice cream we ate growing up helped!   Jo and Dave's dad were active in their church so the church was full and her service was very nice.  She will be missed by many. 

Bills' brother, Jim, was at the funeral too.  Peggy was unable to go as she was on a bus trip to Hershey, PA, New York City, Niagara Falls and a few other places.  

Here are some pictures of windmills we saw on the way down and a shot of the Loess Hills.  There is a big wind farm about eight miles south of our house too.  Makes sense since Iowa can be pretty windy.  We enjoy the summers when we don't have much wind.  

Loess Hills

Uncle Bill and niece, Taylor

Uncle Bill and niece, Ryanne (LOVE her outfit!)

Uncle Bill with the twins (blurry)

  

American Gothic House Con't.

Back to my stop in Eldon, Iowa at the American Gothic House and Pitchfork Pie Stand.  Since I was the only one in the house at the time, I was lucky enough to get a little tour of the main floor of the house.  Here are pictures showing the Pie Lady, Beth Howard's, tiny kitchen where she's now baking about 100 pies per weekend to sell in the summer.  She spends most of the week getting ready to sell pies on the weekend with having to go to a bigger town (Ottumwa) to get LOTS of fruit and other supplies, has to order the boxes and other things (if you buy a whole pie, they box it and tie it with a red checkered fabric) and peel lots of fruit and makes lots of crusts.  Luckily she does usually have helpers since the number of pies needed keeps going up. 

The lady you see in the picture was a volunteer (also a P.E.O. member!).  She told me that Kohler donated the new sink and Maytag donated a new stove.  I have "Liked" Beth's "The World Needs More Pie" page on Facebook and read that unfortunately the self cleaning feature of this oven doesn't work very well and today the oven handle even fell off while she's making lots of pie for the last weekend open of the year!  

It turns out that the ladies working in the visitor center the day I stopped are P.E.O. members too (one of these ladies has visited our Rolfe P.E.O. Chapter!) AND one of them loves rubber stamping!  So I had to take in my box of things my friends and I had just made on our power stamping weekend in Peoria!  They loved looking at it all!  

Just tonight I finished reading Beth's book, Making Piece, a memoir of love, loss and pie.  It was definitely nice to read her story especially after visiting the American Gothic House recently and because I make pie.  It's about her husband's death and her guilt and grief, all of her travels and places she's lived, how she learns how to make pie, and eventually judges pie at the Iowa State Fair and ends up living at The American Gothic House, near Ottumwa where she grew up.  I hope some of you will read it too.  It will be interesting to see how long she rents the American Gothic House.

By the way, the couple in the famous painting are not husband and wife!

I think the house needs some flowers and rocking chairs on the porch.

Beth painted the cabinets red and Kohler donated the sink.

She just has one normal size oven to bake all those pies in.

She is a writer.  The door is to the narrow, winding staircase.

Beth had to leave, so this is a volunteer selling pies and books.

The visitor center volunteers who are also P.E.O. members and the one on the right is a stamper!

They loved looking at all of my stamped items I was bringing home from Peoria!

Beth's brother painted this for the town.

Cute little Eldon library.

Apple crumb pie for Bill - I tried a slice of chess pie while there.