Bustling days of July

What did I do this week?  The better question would be, what did I NOT do this week? It has been one busy week as I look back over the calendar. The curious, errant thought that floated by on one of the busier days was ‘I feel like my day could have been more productive.’ Not entirely sure if that peculiar thought was due to A) a serious lack of quality caffeine B) not enough meditative ‘ohm’s’ while mowing C) a lack of shopping (for quality power tools, of course) or D) all the above.

Scooter was there through it all or most of it, in his supervisory capacity, when he wasn’t chasing deer anyway. Needless to say, the crunchy peanut butter biscuits mysteriously were lost in action for a few days. I do believe that his favorite day was when we picked up the forklift. The rough roads made us reminisce our childhood days of when we would ‘ahhhhh’ over the rumbling washboard stretches in the road. The pup found it especially relaxing and achieved his REM sleep. Meanwhile, my coffee would periodically attempt to leap out of my travel mug and target me like an acrobatic monkey pouncing on a banana.

Canuckland roads with a trailer

 I’m out driving, it happens frequently on the wild-but-tame prairies, searching for a flax field in bloom. Last week, one such field had caught my eye but it was in the early chapters of blooming. So, logically, I thought that this week it would be in a just-about-perfect state of bloom. Well, this is the Ameri-Canuck in the middle of hands-on education here so the learning curve still appears to have the steep climb appearance (despite progress) and the reading list remains unfazed by my growing read list. So, I appear to have missed that elusive window of photographic opportunity. Darn. Kodak moment fail. According to my resident and in-house crop expert, my skilled hubs, the amazing endurance of this heat wave accelerated the bloom of not only the canola but the flax as well. That early chapters bloom and gut feeling to snap a quick photo? It was my A + B to the lost = C of photography opportunity.

That time of year has rolled around again, the kind filled with solitary marches down the aisle in a white dress. Depending on the level of one’s fortitude (or locale) a wedding could take place any time of the year. Regardless, it’s the summer wedding season about half way through. We attended a cousin’s wedding in the morning and the reception/BBQ/university class reunion in the evening.

Of course, good friends and neighbors (is a half hour drive to said neighbor, still constitute a neighbor?) volunteer to help set up for the reception. Perhaps the highlight reel, if one existed, would focus on the cavernous tent set up. It was comical and if a few less jokes had been exchanged we might’ve even seen it coming. This tent is like what you’d see set up at festivals; no sides, open air, and ratcheted down to these massive stakes that look like Paul Bunyan tapped them in with one stroke. The two heavy center poles went up first (the guys actually READ the directions, pause for shock) and then the rest of us each attempted to wrestle the side poles up. Somehow, the tent moved on us and shifted three feet off the mark. We may have been working on a slight incline on traction-less gravel. Apparently we managed to find an incline in the level prairies of Canuckland. Some kind of talent, eh?

This wouldn’t have been too big of a deal but the giant sized stakes were already sunk down to what surely was bedrock. It still worked, kind of. And thanks to farmer ingeniousness, the portion of the tent that abutted the concrete pad was rigged to be safely and securely tied down. The food, camaraderie, new friends and dancing the following night surpassed the set up quirks.

Corn progressing beautifully

The continuing saga of crop outlook is the lack of rain in our fields and forecast. Winter wheat is ripening quickly and will be desiccated this week. The great debate amongst the edible beans is ‘to spray or not to spray’ for white mold. 

Farm pup photo bomb

The wide-spaced soybeans have closed ranks nicely, look to stay short in stature and have sent notice to their crop scout requesting a nice long sip of rain. 

Post-bloom canola continues to shed straggling flowers and fill pods with what will be pretty cherry black seeds. Our early spring wheat fields, the poor soil zones specifically, are waving the proverbial white flag and turning in this rain-less summer.

 

Farm work continues in the form of cleaning out bins in preparation for the onslaught of harvest and perhaps enjoying the last dregs of a quick summer getaway.

Hardworking farm pup

Clearly this farm pup is putting in the hours and working hard. Chasing birds is rough and keeping those lazy cats in line is a full time job. Not to mention the crop scouting

 Just about every time we turn around, there he is, passed out cold on the floor.

Or in the truck

.

.

This pup obviously has a tough life. 

Then he eats his supper with the midnight oil and the next morning is barely coherent. I guess we should’ve named him ‘Sleepy,’ it would have been more fitting. Seriously, this pup doesn’t realize it’s daylight until 9am!

And on the days he actually has to work, like crop scouting or supervising seed delivery, then the moment work stops the eyes are closed and deep breathing has commenced. To be a pup, eh? Oh and with treats too.

Late for a cause (or two)

Hubs part of human grain truck pull, raising $ for mental health awareness

We all know it’s Tuesday, right? Kind of hard to miss, since yesterday was Monday and I definitely had a case of sleepy Monday-itis. Yup, I’m a day late (sorry!) but I promise it’s lateness for a cause.(No be-cause and not an excuse.) 

Normally, I try to write my post on the tail end of a long sigh of zzzz’s before Sunday goes to sleep for the week. However, a neighbor was celebrating a milestone birthday and it was a party, of course. You know, with cake, coffee (and iced coffee!!) and a variety of other little munchies. Then there’s the mingling which apparently strikes terror into the heart of many; it was so bad everyone brought their lawn chairs, plunked ‘em down and didn’t move. Did not move. Okay, they may have vacated for a brief wink of time to claim another munchie or refill the coffee (to fuel all that talking, don’tcha know).

If you wanted to talk to another group of people you had to keep a sharp eye on your target group and then, just as one vacates for that brief wink, hop into that chair and settle in like you’re catching some rays at the beach. And begin more word sharing, of course. This leaves the loser of the sudden, inspired game of musical lawn chairs to stare while that fact sinks in and then wander off to join another group. This new group was apparently waiting for some new flavor in the conversation, judging by the laughs and jovially-raised voices as they settled in the newcomer.

All in all, a good time was had. And I raced off into the twinkling slumber of the evening with my arms wrapped tight around my hubs as he revved the atv. He might’ve had a few crunchy bugs for an encore dessert on the ride back. 

That’s my Sunday evening cause, now for the Monday cause. 

The day dawned way too early, especially considering the event at 2am. A storm rolled in, rolled by and waved ‘ciao baby’ as it dumped rain just a few MILES south of us. The gall of that storm, I tell ya. Well, it came with a barreling train of wind that battered my garden and made me pop up out of a sound sleep. It sounded all too-like the last time I’d heard that train sound of wind, which then they had called it a ‘straight-line wind’ but really was a small tornado that shredded the dense wind break and toppled an antique windmill (back in SoDak now). So I’m wide awake remembering all that and wondering how many trees I’ll have to pick up later that morning. Hubs’ deep sleep sensor alarms must’ve gone off because he pops up and startles me. 

It was so disappointing that we didn’t get any rain out that storm. I mean, we were glad that the serious, vibrant reds on the radar missed us but we need rain. We could use at least two inches of rain. But that’s not as serious as my home state is, with a large percentage of the state in severe drought mode. 

My Grams called today (Tuesday) and was telling me how one of my cousins and her family had to sell off all their cows because everything was dried to a crisp. I feel really bad for my family and my fellow agriculture producers. There’s rain in the forecast for home for later this week, I’m hoping and praying they get the rain they need. It’s hard to look at your work and livelihood and see the thirsty plants shrink, fighting to stay in the game. 

I was out running errands and I saw more wind damage, a field of wheat had been blown flat and just looked terrible like a herd of cattle on a stampede. The outer rows on a field of corn were blown back into their fellows. Uff da. 

Anyways, back to Monday. I’d promised the mother in-law that I’d take her for coffee aka girls morning out. We had fun, chatting and catching up. We may also had taken a run at the local lawn/garden/feed/livestock/auto/misc store to check out sales. I popped through the tool selection and sadly nothing leapt out and said ‘buy me!’ It’s a truly sad day when you can’t ‘find’ a good tool for your collection. 

Then a text came. I was popular, someone texted me! It’s about as exciting as seeing ‘x’ number of people liked a photo on Insta/Facebook (Twitter, not so much, maybe I’m not good at condensed characters?). Anywho. A friend who I had run into at the party the previous night invited me for lunch. 

It turns out that we were also building her cold storage shelving (for all that canning she’ll be doing). Imagine a deep-set bookcase but with offset supports and varying heights between shelves. It looked pretty sweet when I left and then I remembered I wanted to take a photo as proof for you but… Looking back, I wondered, for the space of a giggle, if lunch was bribery to work on the shelving. 

Mind you, we built this in the garage. And it’s been one of those week’s were it’s epically warm with the power of the sun and the humidity. So much so, that we have quite the hazy days occurring. At first glance, it looks like fog except that it’s clearly not moving with the breezy gusts of wind.

She had all the tools ready (saw, pen, tape measure, building notes) and her hubs had left us the case of drill bits. Win! Well, I did ask for the square and she gives me this look. What?! I like things perfectly measured (okay, minimum of twice) and cut once. We ran through safety protocols and devised a system that got the most measuring and cutting done in the shortest amount of time available. I will admit (and I did to her) that it was an experience for me that day; trying to build in the undetermined time of baby napping and keeping the other kids occupied and more than a safe distance away. 

It was an enjoyable way to spend the afternoon time building, chatting with the kids and, best part, coffee time. We got the shelf installed in the basement room and half put together. It required a bit more brain power putting it together. Remember the shelves are at varying heights. A drill with a screw to sink in doesn’t fit in a 9” space to secure the base of the offset supports. But we figured it out with a lot of good-natured teasing. 

A quick crop update: the canola is quickly losing its bloom, the fall rye is ripening and the wheat is moving along nicely. Our corn by the yard is tasseling (neighboring fields of corn aren’t quite at the tasseling stage yet). Edibles are looking good and the soy beans are canopying nicely (at 30in rows, they take a bit longer than at 20in). The flax fields (not ours) are finally starting to flower. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get up in the air this week for a few aerial photos of the flax bloom. And hopefully it rains here soon, as well.

Creating tissue paper peonies for a reception

May it rain, the grass stay green and the shade cool you!

Landing anniversary

Canola blooming

Throw it back a couple of days to Saturday and it was the first anniversary of the day I became a ‘landed immigrant.’ Feels so weird to say that I ‘landed’ in Canuckland, especially when you consider it was a land-locked port of entry and I drove across. ‘Landing’ makes me think of steamers, 1800s and a more formal feel to the occasion versus driving across and then watching the clock hands slowly time out an hour and a half for paperwork in a library-esque ‘shush’ office.

My beloved hubby and rascally farm pup took me for a day out in the wilds of Canuckland. We drove a couple of hours to a beach for a picnic and soaking in the rays. My first time at a beach in Canuckland, no less.  As we drove, the landscape reminded me of winding through the paved paths through trees hiding shy lakes in Minnesota. Then, for kicks, we drove another half hour north (practically in the arctic at this point, ha) to check out a small town on another lake but the similarities were to Okoboji instead.

Beach time

We rounded out the day with spicy Hawaiian pizza for me, a supreme for the hubs (Scoots stole a slice from the hubs, naughty naughty!) and a spy thriller movie at home. Of course, photos were taken to commemorate this momentous day, mark it down in history so to speak. And I just had to take advantage of the glorious, sunshine yellow bloom of the canola.

Wheat field as we came home

I’m holding out for the flax blooming soon. On our Sunday afternoon drive to see some ‘real’ hills (sorry but dugout hills do NOT count as an actual hill) we saw several flax fields throwing out the first blooms like ladies used to throw out handkerchiefs. I look forward to going up for a flight with my camera and getting some good aerial shots of the bloom.

Since the spraying load has been quiet this week, it’s a waiting game of timing now; the hubs took me up for an impromptu flying date. The canola fields were stunning from the air! He had a bit of fun with me though while flying. Instead of going for the ‘oh, sorry, hit a pocket (or some lame excuse)’ and dropping the plane a little, he went for the hard banking turns that leave me looking uncomfortably at the ground only. 

No sky. And I had the window open so I could take a proper photo with my legit camera (not a cellphone reflecting in the window glass). Somehow that window closed quickly.  I’ll admit my hand then had a death grip on the door handle, although it was a slippery grip. Honestly, I don’t know what hanging on to the door handle would really do for me in the worst case scenario but apparently it was my ‘hold a teddy bear for comfort’ mode of action.

Sadly, I have no excuse not to do bookwork with the field work status on ‘hold for timing.’ Mowing has been caught up, well for another day or two, and the garden is rapidly running off into the sunset without me. Canning should be an adventure later this summer (wish me luck) as I’ve never canned on my own before. I’ve always been the assistant/prep gopher person.

My Scandinavian self will locate and attain shade during the hottest part of the day. Sunburns are a no go and a joy-killer. And I guess that’s my number one excuse to get the bookwork done. Arguing against one’s self is like playing chess with yourself, you know the opponent too well; winning is hard and difficult at best.

Prairie storm