Tuesday, September 5, 2017

We had a pleasant, easy Labor Day and we hope you did, too.  We missed the evening rain that came to others across Indiana.  The radar showed that it just sort of fell apart as it approached Knox County.  Another inch of rain would have been nice on the later planted (replanted) soybeans, but we will see if Hurricane Irma brings  some rainfall  here — we missed the rain from Harvey, too.

One thing we are not missing is the aroma of smoke in the air.  We began to notice it late yesterday afternoon.  No, we can’t smell it inside the house, but when you go outside, you pick it up pretty quick.  We are told it is from the fires out west.  It is truly amazing that we can smell the smoke here from that far distance!   We hope some rain comes soon to stop the burning.  The news this morning added to our concern, for we learned that the Columbia River gorge is on fire.  We have some special memories of our time out there with Philip, and we are familiar with that beautiful region, packed with impressive waterfalls.   Fire will certainly make that area quite different, and probably take  years to recover.  We pray for rain for that particular area as well as the other places endangered and damaged by flames.

That slight, smoky smell also was evident in the moonrise Monday evening. The moon took a stronger ‘red’ look as it came up.

This should be our final pre-harvest week.  Not much else to do to be ‘ready’– the grain cart needs servicing, and that’s it.   We have a little bit of 2016 corn to deliver.. a couple truckloads.  It’s quite unusual that we have kept some this long.  We will probably start #harvest17 in the corn, but we have some soybeans that will likely be ready to cut late next week!  The weather this week is predicted to be a bit cooler, and that could slow crop drydown.

Have a good, holiday-shortened work week!