The morning started out extra early for me with an elders meeting.  After that concluded, I went down to the Freddie farm to check the drowned areas again.   I made the call that I would return there with the drill for replanting.  After an early lunch, I drove the 9330 and air drill there and patched around in the ‘brown’ areas.  In total, I replanted 29.7 acres at the Freddie farm.  That’s out of 310 acres there…the beans at Freddie that have survived the heavy rain are really beautiful.

Patrick is here from MAS along with electrician Russell Lashley to work together on getting the new dryer started.  It was their goal to do a complete test-run today.   John is assisting them, and learning more about electrical systems.  I think they’ve discovered some ‘bugs’ in the system, and like a detective, Patrick is tracking them down.

Philip and Ben delivered some corn to GPC today, and did some repair on the suntan sprayer.  Ben is now out treating some of the ditches on his “to do” list.  Brandon is helping Philip sweep the #1 corn bin.

Yesterday was a very pleasant day for Pat and me at the Cardinals’ game in St. Louis.  It was 78F, with a gentle breeze.  We received our David Freese bobble-heads, and there were two STL homeruns during the game.  Even so, the Braves won the game 7-4.   But it was a very great day at the ballpark.

The grain markets continue to slide lower, which is a concern for us.  Prices for the 2012 harvest of corn are remarkably low, and unless we produce a record yield, they are currently at a level below our cost of production.  I am grateful for the corn that is forward contracted already, and that we moved some prospective corn fields to soybeans before planting them.  We can hope for a weather-related price rally during the summer.  Soybean prices have fallen too, but not as seriously as corn.  Ross will remain on top of the markets as he always does.

A very warm and dry weather week is predicted.  Good for the growing crops… I’ll expect to be asking for some rain by the weekend!

School board meets this evening….

Dennis