Beauty and the Beast

Certain as the sun
Rising in the east
Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme 
Beauty and the beast ...

From Disney's "Beauty and the Beast"

On Monday, as we drove around looking at damage from a straight-line storm that blew through Sunday evening, the song "Beauty and the Beast" rumbled around in my head.

No - I did not add a sunglow in editing this photo. Sunbeams really were streaking the sky!

Just last Thursday night, as the sun was setting, I was snapping photos

 to the north ...

to the south(west) ... 

and to the west ...

... as the clouds made a beautiful backdrop from a Kansas wheat field. (OK, I guess I missed the east but the show was great in every other direction)!

 

It was literally like the heavens were shining down on us.

But that night, it rained anywhere from 1.75 to 3 inches and halted harvest in its tracks after just three days of cutting.

"OK. It's great for the corn, the alfalfa, the pastures. I'll try to be happy." (Even though it kept our whole family from gathering for the weekend for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began. Honestly, I was having trouble being happy.)

And then another storm blew through on Sunday evening, leaving behind another 1.25 - 1.60" of rain and some damage. Storms during harvest seem to be a "tale as old as time," all right! 

Our lean-to shed is leaning more than it's supposed to after 60-70 mph straight-line winds.

Our neighbor's semi cattle trailer is not ready for action after Sunday night's wind.

Randy had to find an alternate route to get to the pasture to check our heifers with so many large branches blown down by the Peace Creek Cemetery, a rural cemetery just a mile north of where Randy grew up.

I'm still trying to be thankful for the additional rain, which should help fall crops like corn, milo and silage, as well as the pastures.

Corn field - June 22, 2020

Silage - June 22, 2020

Ninnescah Pasture - June 22, 2020

Ninnescah Pasture - June 22, 2020

But we'll be glad when we can get back to the wheat harvest field, too. Some places will be a little slower going, since the rain and the wind have knocked some of the better areas over.

It's hard to capture on the camera. This is a seed wheat field, which is better and thicker wheat. More of it is down, so it will make cutting a little slower.

But I hope I'll soon be able to add more pretty harvest pictures to the ones I took last Thursday evening.

As I told Randy then, I have already taken more "pretty" photos from harvest than I did all of last year.

 

Last year's harvest was bad because of flooding that began in the fall of 2018 and even prevented planting in some of our wheat fields. The water-logged fields continued into the spring. Our overall average yield in 2019 was 23.6 bu/acre.

In the three days we've been cutting in 2020, we've averaged between 40 and 70 bushels/acre in each field. Hopefully, the yield and quality will hold up as we get back in the field.

Ever just the same

Ever a surprise
 
 
Ever as before and ever just as sure as the sun will rise ...
( Or in this case, as the sun will set.)

Yes, Kansas weather can be Beauty and the Beast.