Harvest-June 2007

I was asked if I had left the planet, and if you can count being in the field going to another plant...I'm gone. When the weather has cooperated, we've been up to our eye-balls in wheat...seed, chaf, dust, break-downs, diesel, sunburns, hydrolic-hose breaks, and thunderstorms. We should've finished about a week ago, but the clouds have decided to pour moisture upon us so it maybe another week before we're even back out there.

Pictures from the past month:

The view of harvest thru the Truck Driver!

(if you have questions..don't hesitate to ask)

First Day of Harvest--First Field:

Mama's two best helpers! ~~~~~~Waiting on the first swath so a sample can be taken to town and tested for moisture.

First harvest together (she's especially good at bringing supper to the field) We're still workin' on wedding plans too.

Checkin' to see if the combine is working right.

Second Field:

Wind and hail damage--the wheat just lays flat on the ground and it's hard to pick it up off of the ground with the combine-header.Troy concentrating.


Yet another field:

Jack hiding....or so he thought.

We've cut about 800 acres--on about 10 different fields scattered across 20 miles. IF the rain would hold off for a few days, we could finish in TWO days! But we just can't find two DRY days.

I had almost 400 pictures in my camera....so if you want a different angle.....I got it!

Construction Progress

Monday started with one wall:



Tuesday ended with a lot of walls and corners and closets added!



Notice the guard dog out on duty.....he's waiting on the guys to take their breaks. He get all leftovers!


**EDIT** If you click on the second photo, you can (barely) see a mobile home to the left side of the big tree--up on the hill. That's gonna be our new neighbors...right after the wedding in August!

Barbed wire, wheat, flowers and towers

You know you're in Oklahoma.....
I had a few questions about the windtowers: No, we're still not use to them and yes, they're noisey. We compare them to the oil towers that were here in the late 1970's and yet you can't compare the two... the oil towers went away--these are staying.

They do generate electricity and we've always cussed the wind, so at least there are some benefits from something we've been putting up with for generation after generation.

No, we don't have any on land we own-- just rented farm land. We receive no benefit from them except in tax dollars given to the local public schools.

This photo was taken just a few days ago and it shows just how enormous the towers really are. The closest tower is a mile away from our house--and the lights on top of the towers blink day and night, and night and day, and day and night. Thank goodness my new bedroom is in the BACK of the house!

Wheat-alternative to harvesting

Sometimes a wheat field is full of other things besides wheat-stalks, so we cut it down and make hay out of it. This field was full of rye so it was put into rows and made into hay.

The problem with these rows of wheat is that they've been rained on--several times. It should be big fluffy rows of green stalks, but it's dark-brown mashed-down rows of dried wheat stalks. It still has to be made into hay and moved from the fields so another crop can be planted. The problem with the rained on rows of wheat, before its gets baled, is that it takes about 50% of our crop and we get about 50% of the price for a bale--we should've gotten twice the number of bales and should've gotten more per-bale of hay.

This is Trent's old tractor and rake we use to try to "fluff" the hay up off of the ground so it will dry out. Farmers version of a blow-dryer. Somebody asked me about the tractor being besides the clothesline--you never know where my guys are going to park machinery. I never complain unless it's parked so I can't get my car out of the garage!

One bale after it's been kicked-out of the baler. One down....many more to go!

Oh, I forgot to mention....everyone of these bales has to be moved out of the field too.....ONE at at time! Have you priced diesel lately? Geez.....

Hay-moving forks on the back of the pickups make moving hay easier without using a tractor. Just takes enough persons to be around to drive...back and forth, back and forth getting it out of the fields. "Mom, you didn't have anything planned for this afternoon did you?"

Red & Blue Star

If I've posted a picture of this star before, you can ignore me today. I was washing bedding and decided to take a picture of this quilt. This is Troy's bandana quilt that was made several years ago.

I used Eleanor Burns method of making this star which is probably the fastest way of putting one together--for me anyway. There were guys here working on the house and one of them even commented that it could easily disappear if I left it out there for very long. It's definitely an eye-catcher.

Wheat Crop Update

I know a lot of you buy your own wheat berries and grind them into flour. Thought I'd show where our wheat is this time of year.

This shows a head of wheat while the berries are still soft and green. We call this the soft-dough stage. Most of the berries are getting full and filling out--which is wonderful for us.

Put hundreds, thousands, millions...bunches & bunches.... of these heads of wheat together and we get about 900+ acres of wheat that we're planning on harvesting.

When you have that much green-stuff growing, you're going to have pests. We have bad bugs (worms) and then we have the good lady bugs:

While we were out spot-checking for worms, the neighbor hired a local aerial service to rid his worm problem. We didn't see enough damage from the pest to warrant the spraying..........yet.

Providing entertainment

DC --the cat, had been waging war with this bird for quite awhile and then he learned where the nest was. Don't think there was a winner in this war of territory, but it was fun watching the battle. The mama bird came back minutes later with worms for her chirping offspring.

Yep, we're easily entertained.

Wildflowers of the Prairie

I drive by these on a daily basis and finally remembered to take my camera. The wild Verbenea, Indian Paint Brush, and yellow daisies are just beautiful this year. We've had such a wet spring, the rain has washed the dust from the dirt roads off of them. I'm sure they all have real nice technical names, but they usually get called by their color or their smell. You learn real fast which ones can be picked and which ones are better left planted.

Star progression....

Only one more to make!

The wind wasn't blowing (imagine that?) so I took my star blocks out to the concrete in front of the garage.

This is the total measurement across three stars. Yes, it's going to be a big project and I hope it doesn't get too big for the quilter 'cause I sure can't quilt this on my Bernina. Still wanting to fill in the edges with leftover WOW blocks (or maybe a small star block) and a narrow scrapy border after that.

This has definitely been a scrap busting quilt...and it's gonna look good on MY bed!



Probably the first quilt picture taken outside that doesn't have a Rusty or a cat trying to investigate in it.

We know Rain personally....

15" of the wet stuff in the past 90 days.... I'm starting to mold.

Prayers for a little one

Prayers have been requested by Patty from Texas. This is her grandaughter Mei-Ling which had to stay in the hospital for a few extra days after being born. Babies are so precious and when one is born that needs some extra attention a little prayer would definitely help.

Patty has another grandaughter coming soon and these two little girls will have the pleasure of growing up together.

Look at this precious face and say a prayer for her continued improvement.

Patches

The concrete is fixed. I was outside when they finished pouring the patch of concrete and Rusty thought he had to offer an opinion too.

The construction crew has been real nice to my pooch but I think he provides a little entertainment during breaks. I know he's ate a few extra McDonald hamburgers and drank leftover Gatorade.

I've warned the guys not to leave anything overnight that they don't want Rusty to bring to the back door. This is the first crew I've been around that cleans up after themselves too......thanx Rusty!

On the quilty side, I have been working on my string stars. Have decided to set them on-point, so it's going to take a few extra to get it to the size I want.

After this picture was taken, I have two more stars assembled. The HST's are already made, so it's just the center string blocks to make.

Each star is 24x24, so it gives you an idea how big it's going to be.

Broken...

First of all, let me say the lecture was WONDERFUL! If you ever get a chance to see Cynthia England lecture on landscape quilts GO. She's lots of fun and full of talent. Her workshop was full, but one of the gals from our guild got to go and is going to show me what I missed. Cynthia's technique is definately different and it's always fun to learn something new.

But.....before the lecture, just as I got to Okcity my cell phone rang. My DH called to tell me that there was a slight problem with the concrete.

The supports holding up the concrete over this part of the basement collapsed. Yes, it's fixable and yes, it's a minor setback. Just scarey. Two guys were standing in the area but nobody was hurt. About 10 yards of concrete and several days of labor wasted.

I was so proud of DH, because he ran out and took pictures when it collapsed. I asked him if he wanted me to come home and he gave me a fast NO. He said there were 10 people on the crew working and they didn't need me there worrying. So....I went shopping! Hancock's and JoAnn's. Fabric soothes the soul.

The cleanup has already happened and the edges are smooth for the patch-work to begin. If the rain holds out for a few days, we'll have a patched-concrete floor. And, we'll be on our way again.

Thursday Lecture

I was invited to attend another Guild's Meeting and since it's quilt-related, I see no reason why I can't take the day off to go!

Cynthia England is going to be the guest speaker and if I would've know (or paid attention) sooner, I would've gone to her workshop on Friday.

...and besides...the concrete truck is going to be here bright and early tomorow morning and the contractor told me to go find something to do so I wouldn't be out trying to help. Listening to an artist talk about landscape quilts is a good place to be out of the way!

Prom 2007

I got interrupted this morning before I got some more pictures posted! Work sure gets in the way of blogging.

Troy and his date double-dated with another couple. It was a fun night for all of them.

This is my favorite picture --of Troy. Dressed up farm-boy.

An Anniversary to Remember

I'm not good at remembering dates of tragedy in our past, but for some reason I remembered this date this morning.

I remember where I was on April 19, 1995, remember the empty feeling I had and remembering that it was too close to home. Our family knew several who were affected by this tragedy, so maybe that's why this date lingers.

There are a lot of things that happen in our lives that we never know the answer to. The how-comes and the why-did-that-have-to-happens that we'll never understand.

I've never understand how somebody can hate another person-whether it's their outward appearance, their religion, or their stand on gov't issues to the point of doing something so distructive.

If you have time and have a fast internet connection, go visit this site.

On a happy note....If you remember the embroidered baby quilt I recently made...the niece who is expecting my FIRST Great-Nephew is being induced this morning. April 19th would be a wonderful day for a baby, don't ya think?! New beginnings start every day and life must go on.