Tuesday, February 18, 2014
It’s been a while since there has been a post or report of the activity at Carnahan & Sons. But there has been no lag in actual goings-on.
Last week, Pat and I traveled to Louisville, Kentucky for the annual National Farm Machinery Show (NFMS). We were able to attend parts of Wednesday and Thursday. Of particular interest was the introduction of a new planting unit at the John Deere exhibit. It was my first view of the new series of sprayers John Deere has introduced.
The new John Deere sprayer on display at NFMS. It’s a whole new machine, with a stronger boom, and revamped frame, new cab, and other advanced technology in the spraying system.
Of course, we toured most of the other major exhibits, too. We noted the showing of a new folding corn head at the Case-IH site.
We have a header like this one on order. It should arrive in mid-summer, in plenty of time ahead of the fall corn harvest.
I was hoping to see the new 2015 F-150 Ford pickup, but it was not there.
The show was just packed with people… crowds like I haven’t seen in many years. It was a great pleasure to view the new machines and all the extraneous support material. Of course, we didn’t try to see everything, but hit the things that interested us most. This whets my appetite for a trip to the SIMA show in Paris or the Agritechnica show in Germany.
After the NFMS visit, Pat and I traveled to Knoxville, Tennessee to visit with Ben. He is working in aerial imaging for Air America Flight Services, and they have him located there for the past several days. The weather conditions in east Tennessee kept them grounded for a few days, so we took the opportunity to visit him while he’s this close. We had all day Friday with Ben, and we traveled around the area of Knoxville to see the impressive University of Tennessee. We also drove out into the Smoky Mountains a ways.
Here we are in the Great Smoky Mountains, south of Gatlinburg, and near the North Carolina border… at one of the ubiquitious turn-outs where you can stop and take in the spectacular views.
The ground was covered with snow everywhere we went, and that added to the beauty. But most of all we enjoyed our visit with Ben, and I think he was happy to see somebody from home!
On Saturday morning, the snow was all gone from Knoxville… the only white remains were some shrinking snowmen. We had a nice lunch and visit with the Nick Defore family… they used to be in Youth Ministry at our church in Wheatland, but now they live and work in the Knoxville suburb of Seymour. As we made our way home Saturday afternoon and evening, we did not see snow again until just south of Henderson, Kentucky. The roads were clear and dry… until we got to the local county roads… and our lane!
The last half-mile was the worst. Here was our lane as we approached home on Saturday night.
We had a great time away, but it was good to be back home again in Indiana.
Corn will be going to market tomorrow!
Today, the weather is much warmer, 53ºF, and the snow and ice are melting. Our lane turned very slushy yesterday, and re-froze overnight. Driving out this morning was a really bumpy ride!
The slushy tracks re-froze last night, making the lane an extra-bumpy ride this morning.
But it’s even more slushy this afternoon, and may be gone in a day or two. I always enjoy the snow coming, but when it leaves, we have some days of messy, muddy conditions around here. I have heard so many people complaining about the weather this winter… as if complaining will make it improve! Yes, it has been very cold and very snowy this time. But no one is complaining about the temperature today.
