As Luke gets older, he helps on the farm more, some jobs he loves and others not so much. He is a hard worker and likes to be at the shop doing what he can. He is starting to do field work and really enjoys it. He got to run the Salford a few times this April and felt good about it. I like to jump in for a round now and then too.
Spring started with more than a fair share of troubles starting with the planter. The guys took it out for a test run and accidentally put the planter partially in the ditch, breaking the axle. It was an ordeal getting it out of the ditch and into the shop. It had to be chained to get it to the shop and it came undone as they were turning it into the drive. This season we have Mike helping out on occasion very part time since he has officially retired. We also have Tony, Casey, Mich, Keaton, and our boys. We have quite a team and it takes a team.
April 16 We enjoyed a week in the 70's and a couple days reached 80. Of course most of those warm days were extremely windy. Now the weather has turned and we have spent the last 2 weeks with lows in the 30 and 40's and highs in the 50's. It feels like we went from spring back to winter. We had one day with a little rain, only a tenth. It is still very very dry, Mark fears a drought for the summer, that is never good. The wind makes everyone tired. Mark has been working long hours. He has been dealing with his 32% Nitrogen in which he ordered locally at a great price. It has been plugging up filters in his equipment. As you can imagine that is causing stress. We have a brand new John Deere sprayer and this liquid plugging up is causing many unnecessary problems. To resolve the plugging issues, he has been taking the tanker truck all the way to Perry to fill with a better quality product. This week he also sold his second Salford to Idaho. The same friendly trucker came and picked it up to haul. He got held up in Montana for a night due to snow and closing roads. The weather has really been ominous. Jayden was all ready to leave for her college rodeo in Fort Hays at 5AM on Friday. It was raining heavily and would continue to rain all day and mix with snow. The weather has been so diverse and sporadic.
Sometimes when you want to see your husband, you just have to jump in the cab and ride along. With a little timing, you can even enjoy a sunset together.
April 22 With the extremely large planter full with seed and full with fertilizer, it was discovered that the cylinders were damaged when the planter tire axel busted a few weeks ago. Today was day one with the planter and they didn't make it far. Back into the shop with a fork lift taking some of the weight off the extremely heavy load, the guys had some work to do fixing. This is not how we like to start things out. Mich is really into the technology and was excited to add the Precision Planting system for our planter. It turned out to be headache after headache for Mark. It became a daily battle planter verses man. The planter would randomly stop planting in one row. We had technicians out over and over again. Mark got so frustrated with it all. To watch the planter open up and start a field was kind of awesome to me. The sounds it made, the large planter unfold into the 36 row planter with all the flashing red lights. It was like something out of a movie, some kind of spaceship ready for take-off. They are pretty amazing machines with such intricate parts.
4/30/21 Many times over the years, Mark has referred to planting and harvest as going into battle. He is persistent, driven, intense, and goes until the job is done with such determination. He prepares himself each day to conquer and attack. He deals with problems, break-downs, letdowns, and stress. This year has been a year of complications and break downs almost daily and sometimes multiple each day. We finished beans yesterday, halleluiah, and started on corn today. Mark has is wearing, beyond tired and running out of steam. He gets hard to talk to and all his focus is on the job and getting it done. The end is near and it is always a relief and so good when we are finished.
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