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.

Throwback Thursday on Friday

Throwback Thursday seems to be a popular feature on Facebook on Thursdays. However, I spent all day on Wednesday (and a good portion of Tuesday afternoon) at the Stafford County Fairgrounds, helping with the 4-H foods department. So my Throwback Thursday has evolved into a Throwback Friday blog post. (It seems that my motto this month is like the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland:  "The hurrier I go, the behinder I get.")

Our family has plenty of old photos related to the Stafford County Fair and the 4-H program. The photo at the top is from 1967. Randy was a 5th grader and in his first year in Stafford County 4-H with his first 4-H beef project.

Our kids continued that tradition 25 years later or so. Jill's and Brent's 4-H records take up a yardstick-long piece of book shelf real estate in the office. But what you learn in 4-H is much more valuable than you can encapsulate in a record book.

Before you can confidently lead your bucket calf into the show ring at the county fair, you have to put in the time.
You sometimes have to dig in your heels and keep practicing - day after day after day.

You have to go out and feed the calves before school and check on them after you get home.

But the 4-H program does more than help you figure out how to lead a calf in a show ring or how to show a pig.
It's about becoming a leader and teaching what you know to other people, too.

Jill's friend, Holly, & Jill making pretzels for a demonstration

Jill, several years later, teaching that skill to someone else - with the same apron!

A few years ago, The High Plains Journal ran a story about 4-H that shared this study:

Young people in 4-H are three times more likely to contribute to their communities than youth not participating in 4-H.

4-Hers all across the nation are empowered to take on the leading issues of their towns, counties and states and make a lasting difference. ... 4-H youth get the hands-on, real-world experience they need to become leaders and to make positive differences in their communities.

"The 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development"

 from Tufts University 

While I didn't take livestock to the Pratt County Fair, I did my share of foods talks and experimented with recipes before taking them to the fairgrounds to be judged. I learned to sew and crochet, too. But it was the leadership skills that most impacted my life as a child and today.

I made the cookies and the dress.

My family's involvement with 4-H started with my parents back in the 1940s. Both were members of the Lincoln Bluebirds 4-H Club in Pratt County, the club that my siblings and I later joined. (It later combined with another club and became the Lincoln Climbers.) All four of us and all seven of the grandchildren have been part of the 4-H program, two in Pratt County in the same club their grandparents attended, two in Stafford County and three in Clay County.

Randy's parents were leaders in the Stafford County 4-H program, too, though we're not sure they were 4-H members themselves. For a dozen years, Randy & I were community leaders of the Corn Valley 4-H Club, the same club Randy was a part of back when he took his first steer to the fair.

In 2006, we celebrated 100 years of Kansas 4-H. The youth program has been part of the national landscape since 1902.

The 4-H website says:

The 4-H idea is simple: help young people and their families gain the skills they need to be proactive forces in their communities and develop ideas for a more innovative economy. That idea was the catalyst to begin the 4-H movement, and those values continue today.

Growing through 4-H isn't like magic (though that self-determined project was one of Brent's favorites when he was a little guy.)
There's no sleight of hand. It requires putting in the time and effort - as an individual, as a family and as a community.

That's how the magic happens ... the kind that lasts a lifetime.

***

 

We aren't community leaders or project leaders anymore, but we do help out in small ways during the fair. I am a superintendent with 4-H foods judging, and Randy usually helps with the hogs, though he wasn't able to this year.We also are proud to sponsor some of the awards. We chose project areas that were important to us or our children, like the Grand Champion awards for foods and for bucket calf.  We also sponsor a dog award in memory of Randy's mom, Marie, who was a dog leader in the county for years.

The bucket calf award will get handed out this afternoon, and the market beef show is later tonight. It still tugs at my heart a little bit to watch pony-tailed girls and proud little boys walk into the ring with their bucket calves. I always wish I could hear what they are telling the judge!

Randy and I also made some entries. After our nearly month-long wheat saga (a wrap-up is coming next week), Randy earned a second-place finish in the Market Wheat Show. Since we got 2.20" of rain yesterday morning, he was there to pick up his prize. Several of my photos did well in the open class photography judging. Once a 4-Her, always a 4-Her, I guess!

This post is revised from the archives. 

A Buzzard Circles: Cue the Harvest Saga

A buzzard was circling the combine when I went by yesterday afternoon. It wasn't there for the combine, but it might as well have been.

The buzzard was dining on the big, well-fed raccoon who had been eating an all-you-can-eat wheat buffet inside our combine. When Randy started the combine up to move to our remaining 275 acres of wheat, the coon went through the machine, tearing up the radiator and assorted other parts.

The buzzard didn't come for the combine. But Straub's International did. If you are one of those people who thinks raccoons are cute, you are welcome to pay our repair bill!

It was just another part of the Wheat Harvest 2016 saga. We started June 15. Yes, way back then, it looked so promising. And, the wheat we cut early was well above average. Then it began raining. We think it's rained seven times since June 20. We had a hiatus from July 2 through July 11 because the ground was just too soggy.

Thankfully, our neighbor, Gary, rescued us yet again. He had already planned to help us cut to finish up. Now, his machine will harvest our remaining crop. Randy got a quick lesson in transitioning from red to green, and he's been driving the borrowed combine. It has 4-wheel drive, so it has been helpful on the still muddy ground.

I'm glad I took photos of harvest earlier. The photos of beautiful wheat are long gone. From the road, there are so many weeds coming through that you can hardly tell we're cutting wheat. The straw spreader looks more like a lawn mower tossing mulch as it chews through grass.

Photo taken June 15, 2016

But we are thankful to again be cutting. We got a sprinkle of rain overnight. Now, if the rain can just stay away for a couple of days: Fingers crossed!

Who would have thought I'd have to juggle getting set up for the Stafford County Fair with running meals to the field? As superintendent of 4-H foods and nutrition, I'm setting up this afternoon. Judging begins bright and early Wednesday morning. In our current situation, I'm thankful that our active 4-H days are over and we aren't trying to get livestock and a dozen other projects ready to go while still trying to finish up harvest.

I hope that we'll be able to say we're done with harvest sometime before the fair is over.  If all goes well and the "creek don't rise," we should be done sometime on Wednesday.

"If all goes well ..." I don't think I'll count on that.

We are ready to put Wheat Harvest 2016 in the rearview mirror.

The Cat's Meow

The farmyard youngsters are growing up. With my own kids, that meant regularly-scheduled trips to the Sears portrait studio to document the milestones on the calendar.

So I figured it was time to take a few shots of our furry babies on the farm - minus the trip to Sears.

During the hot days of summer, the kittens like to play underneath the old windmill tower in the yard.

The trumpet vine keeps them out of the sun and gives them plenty of places to hide and play.

"Hey! Get out of the bowl, Blackie. That lady might have scraps," the older and wiser cats seemed to say.

No, that was just a camera in the lady's hand after all.

The little yellow kitty needs to become more assertive, it appears.

If you're in need of kittens, we could probably be your supplier in a few weeks. I would have to consult with the resident Cat Whisperer to see which ones he's willing to part with.

I know Cozy isn't available. Our Topeka-based cat aficionado isn't willing to part with Cozy. And, as always, Big Cat is off the table. 

Kinley and Brooke were here for the weekend. Kinley always enjoys getting reacquainted with Cozy.

 Both the girls liked meeting the newest inhabitants at the County Line.

Country Holiday

July 4, 2016

When faced with the reality of work undone and wheat harvest uncompleted, it's easy to suffer from a bad case of amnesia. But a trip to the Rattlesnake Pasture earlier this week gave me a little different perspective. It was just 4 years ago when a similar trip to check cattle yielded a much less beautiful picture.

August 2012

In August 2012, there was not a drop of water in the Rattlesnake Creek. So on this 4th of July, as we listened to the water flowing and Randy looked down from the eastern edge of our property line, it put the abundant rain in perspective.

Yes, the flowing water means that Randy & Ricky will be working on the fence tomorrow morning between our pasture and the neighbor's.

But the abundant rains are a blessing after several years of taking cattle out of the pasture early when a drought robbed the water supply and reduced the prairie grasses available to graze.

The overcast and cool morning was a wonderful way to celebrate Independence Day morning. There is definitely freedom from drought this year!

Our bulls, cows and calves have plenty of water and grass at their summertime "getaway."

They are looking sleek and well-fed this summer.

The wildflowers are proliferating.

The vibrant flowers were nestled into the prairie grasses.

They provided splashes of color as we drove by on the 4-wheeler.

I don't need to know all their names to appreciate them.

The U.S. Stream Gauging Station is getting more of a workout this year ...

July 4, 2016

... as compared to 2012.

August 2012

There was certainly no fishing back then. And while Randy didn't catch any fish, he could still appreciate the pretty morning, sitting along the banks of the Rattlesnake Creek.

That was especially true when thinking about the same scene, four years before.

I was glad to go along and read my book.

He didn't have any better luck catching fish from the top of the bridge. We saw the fish. They just weren't biting.

I "caught" my fair share of photos though!

After our pasture excursion, we went to the uncut wheat fields to look things over.

Then I went along for the ride as Randy played a round of golf at the Stafford course. I stayed under the shade of the golf cart canopy and read some more of my book.

We went to Sterling Lake for their fireworks show. Randy remembers going there as a child, but it was the first time in our married lives that we'd ever gone there for the holiday show.

Next time, we'll know a little better where to sit to avoid getting part of the show blocked by trees. But it was a beautiful way to end the day!

I don't know that my fireworks shots will ever rival my wildflower shots. And that's OK.