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.