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!