An Explosion (of Sorts)

You might be a farmer's wife if you look at fireworks and think one of them looks like corn tasseling.

See the resemblance? OK, maybe it's just me.

But there is an "explosion" of activity happening in the corn fields these days. And we could use some rain.

If you're a faithful reader of Kim's County Line, you know that I may have been a bit persnickety about rain falling on our swathed alfalfa earlier in June. The same could be said about the little showers that interrupted Wheat Harvest 2017. But we finished that task a week ago, Wednesday, June 28.

June 2, 2017

June 2, 2017

Now we could use some rain for our dryland crops. And therein lies the dichotomy that is a farmer's brain.

From May 1, 2017, blog post

We started planting corn in mid-April. By April 28, it was starting to emerge. On June 2 (as you can see in the two photos at the top), it was at the top of Randy's boots and growing.

June 21, 2017

By June 21, it was up to Randy's waist.

June 27, 2017

Then, on June 27 - less than a week later - I almost had to play the Where's Randy variation of Where's Waldo.

July 4, 2017

We took a 4th of July trip to the same corn field. The corn is tasseling, and it could use some moisture. All our corn is dryland corn. In other words, we don't have irrigation. Mother Nature is our irrigator.

Let's hope she's in a cooperative mood!

***

MILO UPDATE

On the way to plant milo: Photo taken May 26, 2017

A timely rain could also provide a boost for the milo crop. 

Randy planted 110 acres of milo on May 26. I took photos of these tiny plants on June 2.

On June 27, the milo field was looking good, but some moisture would certainly help it.

Milo on June 27, 2017

It has grown a lot in just a week. We took photos in the milo field on our way back from checking the Ninnescah Pasture yesterday morning.

Milo on July 4, 2017

 

OK. So maybe I'll have to admit there's some truth to that saying that farmers are never happy about the weather. But there are always silver linings. (The sky below was during wheat harvest. We didn't get rain that night, but someone to the east of us did.)

There was a silver lining -- and a whole lot of other colors, too -- in the fireworks display last night. Sterling is a small town with a big show. Thanks to all the sponsors!

I'm never happy with the fireworks photos I shoot. But I always give it a try. We saw drones flying around the sky last night, taking photos. I'd love to see their birds' eye view.