Thursday, December 3, 2020

It’s chilly out there.  32ºF (0C).  At least the wind isn’t blowing a gale, like it was on Monday and Tuesday.  We don’t mind the cold…unless the wind is strong.  Cold and windy?  That’s tough.

Yup, 32 degrees…

Corn and soybeans are going out, now that December has arrived.  We are filling our corn contracts at GPC and soybean contracts at ADM (on the Ohio River).  Looks like over a hundred other farmers are doing the same at Newburgh!  The wait is long to get the truck unloaded there.  Seems to be taking about 2 extra hours to make the round trip this week.  Over at GPC, of course, there is no waiting.  You make your appointments, and arrive ‘on time’…and you’re in and out in about 4 minutes.   I wish other elevators would adopt GPC’s inbound grain system.

Brandon will be taking the Pete to GPC after it gets loaded

…and Bill is headed back to ADM on the Ohio River at Newburgh, Indiana

It takes about 6 minutes to load the Pete from our #3 overhead bin.

Pat and I have a good reason to get up early.  We have a visitor every morning, just at daybreak.  Just like clockwork, Mr. Cardinal arrives for his breakfast.  On rare occasions, he returns in the afternoon.  We haven’t seen the Mrs. for a few weeks now.  But it’s a great way to start the day.

Our Cardinal brought a smile to our faces when he showed up this morning.

John is keeping his pickup clean.  He washed it again this morning!  There is something “built in” to him that makes him keep his stuff looking nice.  I wonder where he got that?

He uses some kind of foamy stuff with the pressure washer.

After making his initial adjustments and adding some personal touches to the cab of the new sprayer, John has moved it out of the shop to place it in storage.  Good thing it has been ‘winterized’.  Our shop is comparatively small, so we just cannot use it for storage.  We need the space to wash and work on stuff all winter long.

This sprayer takes up a bit more shed space than the old 4730.

Sunrise this morning was extra special.  On the horizon, we can see now a lighted ‘star’ that our neighbors, the Marchino family, place at the top of their grain leg.  It is an important sign of the Christmas season for the neighborhood.  We are lucky we can see it from our house.  The leg is tall enough for us to see it over the hills between our farms.   We always look forward to that star being illuminated!

The sunrise this morning was really neat.

Seemed like ‘fire in the sky’ before sunrise today. And we can see the neighbors’ Christmas star.

Have a great rest of your week, and a pleasant weekend.