Ever meet a farmer or rancher and not know what to say or talk about?
The universal answer; weather!
As I type the guys are in our yard baling 2nd cutting alfalfa, surrounded by lightning. Not necessarily the pretty kind, rather the all around us, light up the night kind. And wind, luckily no rain (so far).
Moses Lake broke a record high temperature today. The kids enjoyed our water trough turned swimming pool.
We were all quite happy to have A/C and power.
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Yes, farmers always talk weather. Complain, pray, thank god, curse; you name it. Unfortunately weather good for one farmer generally means trouble for another. Jeff's aunt & uncle farm (dryland) about 40 miles from us. Rain on our first cutting = better crop for them. Beautiful first cutting for us = smaller crop for them. The running joke is that late May rain (or lack of) determines who buys dinner. Not sure it has ever happened but fun to comment on - BTW it is not our turn (again).
However, those of us in the Northwest can't complain too much relative to the rest of the United States. Watching the drought monitor map on "Ag Day" this morning was pretty depressing. You know the weather is bad when the shriveling crops make the mainstream media's evening news.
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Despite some rained on first cutting and delayed cutting of another segment of first cutting we can't complain too much.
Fall heifers are all weaned. Bulls have had their pre-weaning shots. jeff thought he'd try to wait out the 100+ days before weaning the boys. But I am planning on breeding sows next weekend so that usually brings on some tremendous heat!
Pulling bulls from spring cows, irrigation water, 2nd cutting, and summer with the kids are keeping us on the chase.
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Molly finished kindergarten; complete with graduation. Summer has already brought 10 days with her southern cousin (who thought two six-year old girls could squeal so much) including a trip to the indoor water park. July will be VBS & swim lessons.
Maybe we can "relax" and do the other stuff I wanted to do in August. Probably shouldn't count on it!!!
We are self-proclaimed meat snobs and I am doing my best to raise our kids to be fruit snobs. We've already enjoyed awesome strawberries & raspberries from our garden. The cool season veggies are pretty much done but our first zucchini is nearing harvest (blessing or curse?!?!). The kids ate so many peas and raspberries the other day I don't know why I bothered to make lunch.
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Maybe I'll take the camera with me (or bother to download the pics!) on some of our next adventures.
Thoughts and prayers with everyone who is dealing with fires and droughts around the country. It is getting late enough in the growing season even the drylanders are happy to send our rain drops your way!
Happy JULY!
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