If you liked hot weather, last week was a cooker. My short little fat body was sweating just to breathe. I don't care for hot weather myself, but some people love it! I was happy to wake up Friday morning to a nice little rain. I liked it! Even though Beverly's patio umbrella on the back deck took a flying leap and made a slight bend on the main pole, I liked it. Even though I left the windows on my truck open, I still liked the refreshing rain and the lowering of the temperature. The thunder boomers in the night were nice to hear. Mother Nature has a way of evening things out and when you have extreme hot weather it is usually ended by a storm at night. Thankfully I have heard no reports of the Big White Combine thrashing farmer's crops. A non-farmer asked me what the Big White Combine was? Well, for those who don't know the farmereze term, it is hail! Murphy's Law says, it only hails when a guy has a good crop coming like this year.
Not all members of the family really appreciate a good storm. My black pussycat Beaner just about bowled Bev over getting in the house long before the storm started. She was clawing at the door to the basement to get down there. She spent the night down stairs which seems to be what she wants to do every time there is thunder. It is amazing how animals know that a storm is coming. Usually this cat is out hunting all night but, on a night when it is going to storm, she is inside. How do they know??
On a personal note, I had a breakdown of my personal equipment. The sole of my shoe came loose. I was walking like a sandhill crane, lifting my foot up higher to step. Every time I moved, kerfwapp!, kerfwapp! What is a guy to do? I had these shoes since 2009. They cost me $35. I wore them everywhere. I guess they didn't owe me anything. I'm not like some women who have numerous shoes. I only have one pair. The last pair I bought from Zellers. That option is not available to me now as some smart ass suits from Target stores bought Zellers and closed the store in Lloydminster. I hear they are now in financial trouble. No sympathy from me! Smart ass suits closed a good store. My wife and I checked out the shoes at Walmart. After trying on a couple of different selections, I found a comfortable pair. $46! I took them home.
On the home front, the green feed we seeded late is up nicely. We are hoping for global warming to get a long enough season to have this crop dry enough to bale. I know how to bale tough, too! The wheat crop is looking nice but I see it has lost that dark green colour as this hot weather hurries it along to ripen. Not yet, but soon. Our canola is in full flower and it looks good. Some canola crops in the area have finished flowering. Harvest cannot be too far away.
This coming week we are going to put metal sheeting on the elevator office roof. Rain water comes off the elevator and with the roof leaking it makes quite a mess inside. I phoned around and priced metal sheeting and strapping in Lloydminster. The prices are ridiculous. The price of metal sheeting has tripled in the last four or five years. The other shocker was $7 for a one by four, sixteen foot long. I will be taking my business elsewhere.
We also have two swathers and a combine to change oil and service. This will get done in the coming weeks. I recently asked the price of swather canvas. I am not impressed! Above $600 per side, plus a new connector. What happened to $15 canola? The price of grain goes up and the price of everything we buy jumps up too! Then the price of grain goes down, but the stuff we have to buy stays up. Happens every time.
As I was driving around this morning checking out my crops, I went past my son Ron's place and the light was just right and with the clouds in the sky as a background to see the old threshing machines standing on the hill. One is a Bell City and one is a Red River Special. They were the pride and joy of my grandfather, Karl Hult. When I was going to have my auction sale, I didn't know what to do with them. I didn't want to sell them for scrap iron. They have good memories for me, too. I was my grandfather's go-fer and fixer-helper when we got them ready for harvest. I had heard from my boys many times, calling them old junk and worse. So I put them on the auction sale hoping someone would want them. Lo and behold son Ron bought one and son-in-law José bought the other. You could have knocked me over with a stick. Son Mike bought his grandfather's three furrow potato planting plow and his old LA Case tractor. When suddenly the "old junk" machinery was going to leave, they outbid everyone else and the old threshing machines are now a landmark on the hill two miles south of Waseca. I think they will likely be there now until all us Hults are dead.
People are embracing nostalgia. There is a young lady to be married this summer in Waseca. Her grandmother lives in town. The bridal party will be standing in the area of the cairn that Joan Gibb and her family put up. The lone pine tree that Joan Gibb's ancestors planted way back when is still standing. It is just leaning a little bit. Not bad for one hundred years. My elevators are in the background. Should be unique and beautiful bridal pictures!
Graduates and bridal parties have also had their pictures taken down by the old Waseca Bridge. That is a spot that is a very fitting background for any party. Funny thing how these old places are coming back in style for photos! I love the thinking of these young people!
Joke of the week: Four cowboys decide to go ice fishing. They divide up into two teams, two cowboys each and agree on a $50 bet for the team to catch the most fish. One team is not getting a bite and the other team is pulling in fish after fish. One of the cowboys not catching any fish sneaks over to spy on the other guys. Soon he comes running back, "You need a hole, a hole in the ice! As my Uncle Harold used to say, "Ooooh boy!"
