Record Heat Yesterday!

We just had 5 1/2" of snow on May Day and yesterday it was a record 104!!  Strange, strange weather.

We are going gung ho planting corn.  Just have about 400 more acres to go.  The heat yesterday caused my tractor to get hot which meant going in a lower gear which means it's slower so takes longer to do a field and, I had to stop every round or so for a couple minutes to let it cool down.  Normally, tractors are done for the spring before it gets hot and in the fall it's usually never that hot either.  I think our county was in a fire warning due to the heat but with all the rain we've had recently and the tilled ground, the risk shouldn't have been that bad.  It was windy too though so if a fire had started in the wrong place it wouldn't be good.

My nice boss let me off in time to go to my P.E.O. meeting last night.  :)  Unfortunately, this evening we have to go to the funeral home again.  A fellow farmer from our town had a heart attack.  He was only 57.  This is the third person we know well that was 57 and died since Christmas time. 
 

Pretty pond I worked around the other day.

Bill filling the planter with seed.

 

Back in Business!

Yesterday Bill and Tim found a couple of fields dry enough to work and plant so they got busy, and we have 70 more acres planted and two more fields worked and ready to plant finally!  It got down to 31 last night but we didn't see frost when we got up.  We just need a few good days that are dry!  Housework is done (is it ever done?), meals are in the freezer, our bookwork is ALL caught up (it's a Miracle!) and I'm ready to be put to work in the tractor!

Unfortunately, this means our plans for an early Mother's Day brunch today in Clarion with Bill's mom got scrapped.  But being a farm owner, she says it's ok, planting is a good thing!  Now she's going out for lunch with a friend.

Happy Mother's Day to my mom in Indiana, my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law, Karen, and some of the other moms who read my blog - that I know:  my IA mom, Marge, cousins Pam L., Kelly and Dina, Aunt Lois, Aunt Jan, Anna Ruth, Suetta, Pam L., Phyllis, Lois S., Marie, Marilyn, Sandy, Luan, Sarah, Cindy.   

Some of my favorite pictures of my mom:

At Daisy's on Main in Clarion this spring.

at Mom's

Me, Mom & niece, Diane at the P.E.O. Wine Tasting here.

Mom & Camry

lunch on our porch

Rob's Tree!!

I went to Humboldt today and when I got home and pulled into the driveway I noticed immediately that we had Rob's tree!  This evergreen tree is one that nephew, Rob, planted several years ago on their property here.  Glenn had been telling us to get it for quite a while, but recently he sold the lot that it was on so we made arrangements to have it moved this spring and today was the day.  It looks nice at our house!  We hope it will survive the move so Rob can see it growing here for years to come.  Some of the trees we planted last year in our grove are not looking too good.  See fourth picture. 

Rob's tree

Rob's tree where it was before being moved to our house.

Not looking good.

Our trees had a rough summer with the drought.  

Our rhubarb is coming up nicely and so are the chives.  

It's still too wet to plant . . . but the sun is shining today and soil temps are warm enough.

2nd year rhubarb and chives on the east side of the house

this bunch is on the north side of the house - I can use it this year!

Not Good

Bill had this fire call this morning at about 7:45.  The school bus stopped for the railroad crossing but the car didn't.  Amazing that the two in the car climbed out on their own and seemed to be ok.  There were about 15 kids on the bus.  Bill is on the right in the white helmet.

With the wet fields the past few days, Bill has been working in the shed hanging pipe for the heaters and spread fertilizer on our yard and his mom's.  Yesterday I hosed down the screened porch, washed the windows and scrubbed the porch furniture.    We've finally had a couple of really nice days but unfortunately for planting, rain is predicted again for tomorrow.

Bill is at a fire dept. meeting/training tonight.  They do that twice a month.   

It's a Winter Wonderland in May!

We ended up getting 5.5" of heavy, wet snow.  Lots of downed power lines in the area and trees weighed down and many split - or branches broken.  Bill was called out at 3:30 a.m. for power lines down north of town.  It was in the ditch and not causing any problems for people passing by so they didn't have to babysit it until the power company came.  

Lots of people in the area were without power for several hours including Peggy and Tim & Bette Jo.  Ours tried to go off twice but didn't.  Schools are closed.

The gravel roads were very slushy and mushy but the highways were all good so Bill and I made a trip to Ft. Dodge.  He had several things to get for the shed at Menard's.  We had bad luck with places being closed.  We were going to have lunch at Sports Page but it wasn't open.  Bill was wanting two things from Radio Shack in the mall but we found that it has been closed.  Then on the way home we wanted to get some ice cream at Dairy Queen in Humboldt but it was closed due to no power.  Not our day!

Something we learned with this snow storm, wet snow sounds like thunder when it slides off the roof of the new shed!   The good thing is the snow is melting fast.

Delivering May Baskets While It's Sleeting

It's hard to believe that we were working ground, planting and spraying in three fields just yesterday when we have snow tonight with 6-9" possible!  

What it looked like when I was delivering May Day baskets.

I had been thinking about doing May Day baskets off and on and then saw some ideas for some on Miss Spenser's blog yesterday.  I liked the idea of making them out of cans (like pineapple, green beans, etc.) since I had a couple of empty ones in recycling I could use.  Also, in my stamping tools, I have a Crop-A-Dile that will punch holes through anything.

I just used one sheet of 12 x 12 designer paper to cover both cans.  I attached it with sticky strip so it would hold.  I punched 2 holes in each can to tie the ribbon handles through.  Then I used my Beautiful Wings Embosslit to cut out several sizes of butterflies (color is Summer Starfruit).  I added some pearls to one butterfly and a rhinestone to another, then attached them to the covered can with glue dots.  I made a tag with the Extra Large Oval Punch and the Scallop Oval Punch and wrote Happy May Day!   All products used were Stampin' Up!  Order any time through my web site - above right.

One is for our neighbors and one for Lacey and Camry.   The only thing wrong was that it was sleeting when I went to deliver them!  We went from working ground and planting corn yesterday to getting 6-9" of snow today!  A couple of days ago I was getting the screened porch ready for the summer!

Before filling.

Filled and ready to deliver.

Snow in the porch

I picked these after taking the picture.