Another One Bites the Dust

The sun set on my old computer. It was a good and faithful friend. I'd had it since December of 2009. For a piece of technology, it was practically as old as Methuselah, that Biblical patriarch who lived 969 years.

It's never a good time to lose a vital tool. However, the computer crash happened as I was trying to reconcile treasurer books for Master Farm Homemaker Guild. Anyone who knows me at all knows I am a word person - not a number person. However, in the Guild, the treasurer is the first step in the ascension through the offices. I tried to tell people that I'd be secretary four times if I didn't have to be treasurer, but that would have goofed up the rotation.

Case in point: My mom has passed along some of the scrapbooks she made from my childhood. Stuck inside a Certificate of Award for Achievement in Spelling, English and Writing is a less positive note from my teacher:

Working with Kim has been a pleasure. I am letting Kim use the arithmetic combination cards this summer. She is very weak in the addition and subtraction combinations. Right now she should be able to answer fluently every addition and subtraction in these boxes and know the multiplication and division combinations up to and including the fives. She said she'd have time to work on them this summer.

Well, at least working with me was a pleasure.

Thankfully, I'm not a last-minute person, and I had literally printed the balance sheets for February right before the screen blackened and my heart threatened to beat out of my chest from the anxiety. (That's not even too much of an exaggeration.)

 

It's never a good time to lose a vital piece of equipment. Those trips to Hutchinson for emergency parts during harvest always seem to take longer than the leisurely trip to the library, for example. But it was a logistical nightmare as I tried to get my treasurer's notes and membership spreadsheets ready to pass along to the next victim. (I mean "officer.")

I ended up buying a cheap laptop to tide me over, and it likely saved my sanity. And, if truth is told, it probably saved Randy's sanity, too.

The computer crash was also the reason for my longer-than-usual absence from the blog world (in case anyone noticed).

The day after the crash, I purchased a replacement computer from a locally-owned store in Hutchinson. And I would have had it last week except we were in Manhattan for the Master Farmer/Master Farm Homemaker meetings (and then some time with our family - always good for the heart and soul). I picked up the computer yesterday, and once Randy got it all connected at home, I discovered that my thousands of photos on the old hard drive hadn't made the trip to the new computer.

But they have them, and the computer will take a trip back to Hutchinson today and will get fixed up while I'm at the eye doctor.

These are some old sunset photos that I'd already uploaded to my blogging platform earlier and had just never used. But I was too worried about those numbers from the treasurer's report to use my words last week. (Good news: The audit of my Guild books went well. Whew!)

I know it will take awhile to get used to this new machine. But I hope the sun will soon set on these computer issues,  and I'll ride off toward the horizon with a happy ending. I'm not quite ready to cue the movie music, but I'm getting closer.

One Of These Things Is Not Like the Others

Do you remember this song from "Sesame Street?"

One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn't belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?

Did you guess which thing was not like the others?
Did you guess which thing just doesn't belong?

If you guessed this one is not like the others,
Then you're absolutely right! 

We started corn harvest on Saturday. We also quit corn harvest on Saturday when we had a breakdown. The row headers (those things that look like missiles) are supposed to "float" and flex through the field. However, the cone on this particular header took a dive into the ground instead. The very same row header malfunctioned when Randy tried a test cut last week. He ordered a new one, and we picked it up Saturday morning in Hutchinson.

 

Naturally, it was Labor Day weekend, so the equipment dealership closed at noon Saturday and wasn't open on Monday. Randy plans to be at the parts counter when they open this morning. We'll see if we can get back up and running without having to wait on another part.

After lunch on Saturday, I was on my way to the field to get the first photos of corn harvest 2016. Randy had already cut one semi load of corn, but he wanted me to wait for pictures until we got into a little better corn than he found on the perimeter of the field. But, by the time I got there for the photo op, we were already broken down.

I rode along to Stafford in the semi instead.

Main Street, facing south, as we approached the 4-way stop.

It was only a partial load, but Randy didn't want to leave it sitting in the truck, potentially "sweating" and increasing the moisture reading.

Taken through the back window of the semi as the grain probe dipped down into the truck to get a corn sample.

We take most of our grain to the Zenith branch of the Kanza Co-op, but it was closed for the Labor Day weekend, so we went the extra miles to Stafford.

It's always a little more of a challenge because the elevator is right on U.S. Highway 50.

It requires a bit of maneuvering - and several extra glances both east and west down the highway - to weigh on and then depart after unloading.

But it wasn't that busy on Saturday, so no traffic jams were involved.

There were no traffic jams on Main Street either, even though it was coffee time at Elroy's, the pizza place. Going down the brick streets of Stafford's Main Street in a semi can rattle your teeth a bit.

Sitting up higher gives a different perspective than the one I get in my car. Now, if only the windows had been cleaner, but even if I'd had Windex with me, I don't think my gymnastic moves would have been sufficient to get them cleaned. We already had one breakdown. We didn't need a farm wife breakdown on top of that!

So, we didn't "labor" as much as we'd planned during Labor Day weekend.

Right Place, Right Time

 

There was plenty of action at the Stafford County 4-H beef show Friday night. With cooler temperatures and a storm brewing to the west, the cattle were restless. The 4-Hers dealt with skittish steers, setting them up and resetting them, no matter how ferociously the 4-Hers rubbed the bovines' bellies with the show sticks to try to keep them calm and in place. 

But the real action was outside the arena. A rainbow arrived about the same time our neighbor girl and her boyfriend got engaged. How is that for timing!?

I'm rarely happy with rainbow photos, but it was beautiful in person!

After that, I left the breeding beef show and walked across the street from the fairgrounds. With all the storm clouds, I knew the sunset was going to be one I didn't want to miss.

As I walked to the west with camera in hand, someone said, "Hey, Kim! You can't start your fair photos for next year yet! This fair's not over!"

Edited with HDR treatment

But I think I just might have gotten a head start. The sky was too beautiful to ignore.

I'm used to having hay bales, windmills and trees in the foreground of my sunset shots. It was a treat to be able to highlight the co-op and the Stafford Depot. I love being at the right place at the right time, don't you?

With all the ugliness in the world, it's easy to get discouraged. It seems that every newscast is filled with more hate and unrest. That's why it's so important to look for the beauty. Especially look for it in people - those who are like us and those who are not. Like shifting skies at sunset, our perspective can be changed if we look for the beauty around us.

A Time to Think

Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer.
And let faith be the bridge you build to overcome evil and welcome good.
–Maya Angelou, author and poet

A Time to Act

Pray and release your worries.

A Time to Pray

Oh, Lord, teach me to remember You in all things, every day of my life.

Email devotional from Guideposts.

Mountains: Kansas Style

On trips to Colorado, this native flatlander Kansan is always searching the horizon for the first glimpse of the mountains. Even as a child, I remember the anticipation, searching for the shadowy hint of the peaks against the sky.

This fall, as we've driven into Stafford, my farmer has been scanning the scenery, too, watching to see the piles of milo and corn develop into their own farm-country version of mountains. They may not be Pike's Peak. But they are pretty impressive nonetheless.

We haven't raised milo for the past three years, but we have watched the milo mountains grow this fall at both the Stafford and Zenith locations of the Kanza Co-op. (It was a great year for milo, so, as Murphy's Law would have it, we didn't raise any.)

 

As of October 26, the Kanza Cooperative, where we haul our grain, had corn receipts of 8.2 million bushels and milo stores of 1.2 million bushels. Kanza Co-op has 10 locations in South Central Kansas.

There at two on-the-ground milo piles at both Stafford and Zenith, two of Kanza's branches. To me, they look a little like one of those sand art projects, but we'd need a mighty big jar to contain them.

Milo is having a bit of a revival as a fall crop in Kansas. Last year, Kansas farmers sold milo (AKA grain sorghum) to China. In fact, in 2014, more than 85 percent of the U.S.’s sorghum was shipped to China.

Last month, Kansas welcomed six grain buyers from South America. They went to several Kansas locations to see how milo is turned into livestock feed, fuel for vehicles and food for human consumption. The six buyers from Colombia and Peru toured milo country from Texas to western and central Kansas.

Portable unloading auger at the Stafford branch of the co-op

In Kansas alone, 3.15 million acres were planted to milo, up 17 percent from 2014, according to the October report from the Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service. Kansas production is forecast at 258 million bushels, up 29 percent from last year. Additionally, sorghum has caught the attention of the U.S. Department of Energy, which, earlier this year, announced providing $30 million in funding for research on better varieties of sorghum – such as for drought tolerance and better biofuels.

Bunker filled with corn, Stafford branch, Kanza Co-op

In addition to the milo piles, the Kanza Co-op has bunkers filled with corn at four of its locations. (Our County Line dryland corn was a bust, but irrigated corn in this region did well this year.)

Three of the four piles of grain at the Stafford branch of the co-op

It's even more unusual to have piles of grain on the ground at the Zenith branch, where we take the majority of our grain.

 

But there are two milo piles there, too, and we see a few fields still left to harvest in our area. 

After harvest, the piles will likely be trucked away, leaving us with our flat landscape once again.