Charlotte's Web?

                                     This is what happens when the boy is bagging feed.  

New Combine

The hubs is in the middle of corn harvest 2011.
New addition to our farm.
I need a sticker for it that says "man magnet". The day I took these pictures there were five men standing off to the side watching it. :)
The buddies like to watch the top fold up. They say it looks like a transformer. What do you think? A new Bumblebee 2.0?

Picking Ear Corn

Some of our customers like their deer corn whole on the cob.
So for them them the hubs pulls out the old equipment and does it old school.
Very quiet and peaceful. And I had fun riding with him for a little while.

Wordless Wednesday

Learning to ride

Getting ready
First crash (going uphill too slowly, lol)
And he's off
Trading places
Off again

Watching these two ride is very scary! G is a daredevil and S goes along like a little old man. The last time they rode the hubs said.....great day for an ER visit.....no kidding. So far, so good.

Putting Up Lights

What is everyone looking at?
Yep, that is David on the tower. Landon has been wanting to light it up for years.
He drew quite the crowd of on-lookers.
Almost there.
It is hard to see, but at night it looks very pretty.

Outtakes from our busy life

Trading Up

After weeks of decisions and waiting and researching, this arrived at the shop. I hadn't seen it in person, so when it drove into the driveway I actually exclaimed "O.M.G".
I wasn't mentally prepared for the size and shiny roundness of it! These are the corn and bean headers on a cart. They are way to big to take down the road on the combine. Lord have mercy on me driving these babies around from field to field. (stop laughing Leigh)
Old faithful. It looks pitiful doesn't it? All dirty and square and boxy. Peace out 9500, you have served us well. Man time flies. We bought it when Levi was a baby. I still remember who was in the field the first time Landon cut with it. Many a child has napped in that cab. S was upset when he was told about the new one.....until he SAW the new one, lol. Now everyone is fighting for a ride after school. And no, this is NOT my anniversary present. :)

Milo

We grew some milo this year and it is selling like hotcakes. Here are three of the boys playing around the day before Landon cut it. Levi was "too embarrassed" to participate. Yep, we were in the middle of no where. ;)

Unloading

Normally, our hired help drives the trucks back and forth, from the field to the grain bins to unload and come back to be reloaded.
As you can see, we have two grain trucks, a semi and a grain cart that we are using this year. This helps so that the combine operator (aka Landon) does not catch up to the truck driver.
Upon arrival at the grain bins, we check the moisture level of the corn. It can't be to damp or it will spoil in the bins and build up toxins that are harmful to animals, and thus be unusable. Levi is sitting in front of our dryer, where the corn goes for a certain amount of time, to get dry enough to be stored. It runs off of propane. Here he is watching as it unloads into the pit.
A better shot of the grain bins. This thing behind the Gator is an auger. If you are married to a farmer you know that one can NEVER have too many augers. This moves grain around from place to place from the bottom where the truck is, to the top of a bin, or vice versa.
This set of bins has what we call a pit. The trucks unload into a pit and then the grain is sent up to the top of this maze and to the bin that is being loaded. This system enables you to not have to move augers around like our other bins across the street. After the corn is stored, you play the market. You watch the market just like a stock broker and play the wait or sell game. Some of our corn, wheat, oats, milo, and soybeans we bag and sell to other people directly, and some we load into the semi and truck to a neighboring farm called Talley Farms. The first thing they do is check the moisture level at a random place in the load, while they are weighing the truck. If it is too high they dock your pay. The bins allow us to better play the market for the best price possible.

Shelling Corn 101

This machine is called a combine. Probably because with it's invention it combined a number of jobs previously done by several machines. The front fingers (aka corn header) pull the ears of corn off of the stalks. They walk up the header to the middle and go inside the machine.
The corn is then separated from the cobs and sent to a holding tank in the center top section of the machine.
Various screens and displays show Landon how this field is doing. This is so he can decide which variety of corn is best suited for each field. Also so he can more accurately keep up with the records for the USDA and crop insurance. A buzzer goes off when the tank is full of corn.
The stalks and cobs come out of the rear of the combine. They are thrown out very fast and hard. Never stand back here, lol. As you can see a very short, sharp stalk is left. Thus the need to bush hog behind the combine.
When the tank is full, the combine pulls along side of a truck and unloads. In other states the combine driver does not even stop. The trucks match his speed and he unloads while he is cutting to save time. (they have no hills or rocks like we do)

Tomorrow.....the grain bins.

Harvesting Corn

For Elizabeth.

Bush Hogging Corn Stalks

Spud Gun

This is the result of free time. Homemade spud gun.

Hello 1973

Leif Garret doesn't have anything on this kid!!!!

It Wouldn't Be Summer Without an Accident

The boy has been working for the hubs all week cleaning out the old chicken shed. He was messing around with something and cut two of his fingers on a piece a sheet metal.
He was white as a sheet and the hubs was cleaning it up asking me what they should do. I hobbled into the kitchen, between throwing up, to say "doctor's office now" and hobbled back out.
He received three stitches in each finger and got wrapped up like a mummy. I told him he resembles the nerd who gave the jock the finger, and then had his hand broken by said jock.
Last night we had to change the bandage and apply Neosporin (aka Horsie Medicine, for my family) and I finally got a good look at the damage.
Yep, just when you sit on the sand and think "wow no one has gotten hurt in a long time".......yeah, you know the rest. :)

Hey Hey Hey

I think someone is ready for the beach!

Interuptions

Things that will happen when you start painting......

Old friend will call

Kids will get off the bus

You have to go help move an auger

Play referee 233 times between the buddies

Get supper started

Remember that tomorrow is trash day

Get recyclables together

Kids will claim that their FAVORITE truck is in the playroom

Second bus comes home

Remind boy to feed and water chickens

Husband will come in and ask if you are going grocery shopping tomorrow

Yep, it never ends. This could take a while.

Update

Whew. Yep, that is the word for the week. Why does the school year fall apart when it is almost over? Had a conference with the boys "team". That is what they call your child's teachers in middle school. Actually, correction, I met with three of them today. Good news, no Algebra 1 next year. His math teacher was on the same page as I was. Also, his ELA teacher thinks that the kids just rushed through the EOG's and the retest will be better. Glad she is staying positive. I know she was as surprised by those bad results as the parents all were. Warning for those of you with kids....something happens to them in the seventh grade, and they don't give a crap about homework or tests or anything other than socializing. I know, I know....tell you something positive right? I have nothing right now. Oh, maybe I do. The boy has been doing a great job working for Landon. His latest accomplishment is driving the drumptrucks around the field while they are being loaded with round bales. He has also run the loader and stacked bales in the barns. It has been hard for me to realize that he is ready for more responsibility, when he has been neglecting other areas of his life, such as school work. On the farm front it finally rained! And to borrow a line from a song "rain is a good thing"!!!! The ground was hard, dry and cracked before the rain came. I was so proud of the boy the other day when someone asked why he wasn't at youth anymore. He proudly replied, "I have been working for my dad!" Yep, working. Not sitting around texting people all evening. Some may want to take notes.

Not Awesome

If your dearly beloved family members know you are terrified of the legless creatures, this is NOT cool. Not only were they on iPhoto, but set as the desktop background.
Snake count is up to seven and it is only May. Not looking good.