Dean, you are sure making a big difference in the place. I need to get there and see first hand what you have accomplished. Sure is a nice property. Seems what few flowers on my place are giving up due to neglect.

Been taking advantage of the nice weather. Neighbor has about 140 acre farm he has enrolled in the wetlands and conservation easement program. Have needed to work some of the ground to prepare for shrubbery planting and grass planting. Started Wednesday with the Case 700 and disc and got the ground opened up. Area that was in cropland worked good with the disc, but the established grass, the disc only sliced through the sod and not turn it under. Still had his tiller on the Case 430, so took that over and did a great job working that all down and now ready to plant. Next I took the 970 and 18 foot harrogator and worked around the wetland ponds and worked areas. Finished all that up Friday afternoon.

Brought all the equipment home on Friday and started my soybean ground. Worked Saturday and Sunday and have that well under way to likely get planted by week's end.

Took a peek last evening under the black plastic sheet at the sweet corn. Dug a couple grains that were sprouting very nicely. Will remove the plastic today as temperatures are forecast to be in high 70's to low 80's for rest of the week.

Gene

You men in Ohio have it going on, without a doubt.  Here I have seen some ground being fitted just in the last four or five days.  Have my green ground all rolled and did most of the first mowing yesterday.  Finished this afternoon as we were getting a sprinkle periodically.  Did not really want to start that bad habit but in some areas was cutting a steady four inches or so.  Some just wanting to clump as it came from under the deck.  Slightly unusual to not have any wet spots to work around this early in the year.  hope it continues that way.

Charlie

Been quite a busy week here as I have gone from harvesting flax to anhydrousing ground. It probably took more time and effort to harvest that bit of flax than it is worth but at least the field is cleaned up and ready to plant. Nice weather at times and then one day almost snow. Had the heater going sometimes and sometimes the AC depending on the day. There are a few air drills running here and the ground is improving. Roads are taking a beating from the frost boils and heavy truck loads of fertilizer. Frost overnight so its just as well those early potatoes have not come up yet.
Here is a trail cam shot of me hauling an old hay rake with the Massey. Might make a historic lawn ornament out of it.

Sad to say, the bottom part of the wheels rusted off the old dump rake I used to ride as a kid, Ralph.  They keep your feet and one arm busy when pulled with a tractor instead of a horse even if no lines are involved.  This is the side delivery rake Dad bought to replace the old dump rake.

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Here is a peek at my lawn rollong.

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Weather has been a little warm here for a few days.

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Pushes the blossoms out overnight.

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Charlie

Guess I better get caught up here. Weather last week was warm and dry with temps in the 80's through this past Sunday when rain moved in overnight Sunday with about 3/4 inch for a good soaking. I was able to get my ground all worked last week and planted the soybeans on Thursday and Friday. Conditions were good and the ground worked up nice and mellow. Had good moisture in the seed Zone so with this week's rain, should have good germination. Sweet corn is growing and can still a little difference in the corn that was covered.

Weather has turned cold today after yesterday's storms and rain showers. Weather service was reporting severe storms both north and south of us, but they missed us with only a couple light showers. Highs for this week forecast in the 60's and lows in the 40's, so a big drop in the temps. I will be going to Portland, Indiana for the spring swap meet the rest of the week. Can always expect a change in weather for that. I have to go a day early as a director to help people get into the grounds and try to keep things organized.

Apple trees here are full of blooms, so likely be a good crop again this year. Very few apples last year. Cherry tree bloomed a couple weeks ago, but suffered 2 nights of frost, so may have been damaged.

Gene

Any blooms on the trees here are going to take a beating tonight. It was bad enough this morning at 32F and a cold North wind blowing but they say tonight will be well below freezing. We have had some nice days but today is just off the scale for miserable. My hands were hurting from the cold working outside on the tractor this morning so I finally went out rock picking with the heater turned on in the 2090. Pretty ridiculous for May 17 but that is Sask. weather for you. The trail cam took a whole series of pictures of me filling up the seed tank the other day when I started seeding. Here is one.

Well Ralph, how did you make out with the freeze last night.  Hope you did not loose too much.  We were down to 34 a few nights ago.  In spite of frost warnings I only saw frost out in open areas of lawn away from the house.  I had some concern for some Hostas that I set out late last summer because they are coming so good.  No problem.  However, last night at 60 degrees the lousy deer ate all of the leaves from some of them.  If it aint one thing it is another.

Charlie

Wow, looks like Ralph is the warm spot this morning. Charlie and I are in the low 40's and Ralph in the 50's.

attended the Tri-State swap meet last week. First 2 days were chilly with night temps in the 40's and electric heater was welcome in the motor home was welcome with day temps in low 60's. Thursday started warming up a little then light rain on Friday morning then to 70's in the afternoon. Saturday was mostly rain, so was pretty much a washout. Got some good buys with a $10.00 Pioneer chain saw and $600.00 Atlas lathe and a few miscellaneous tools.

Got home Saturday evening with 1.3 inches of rain in the gauge. Soybeans had gotten off to a nice start and sweet corn looking good. Grass growing out of control in the lawn. Finally got caught up with the mowing yesterday evening.

Gene

Yes, the weather has turned around being warmer up North than in the South. Not sure what the high was today but it felt plenty warm when I was outside the cab working. We have had a good dry spell with non stop field work. I don't know if it actually froze overnight here but they forecast frost warnings. It did not seem to hurt these pin cherry blossoms in the field where I was working yesterday.
Gene, I have not even done the first cutting on my "lawn" yet. Field work takes priority and I have no time to spare. The dandelions look nice.

Hello, gents, glad to take a few minutes and read through the recent posts and catch up.  Time sure zips past.  

I spent pretty much the whole day today working on the lawn in front of the house, smoothing and grading and re-seeding a big bare dirt area that had been excavated last fall when I had a new heating and cooling system put in.  I'd done the rough leveling a couple of times already over the past few months, but today was a good opportunity to really finish it off.  Used the 620 and rear blade for a little while, then the Kubota, and then the garden rake.  That last one is hard to beat for the finish work, but right now my back is telling me I'm not 25 anymore.  But it's done except for some watering, hopefully just this weekend since the forecast shows a good chance of rain every day for a week or so after that.

A while ago I'd mentioned cleaning up the row of apple trees in the orchard.  Two of those trees had split and halfway fallen over but were still living, and I'd mostly cleaned them up but had left the main trunks and a few branches for later.   Yesterday was "later," so those stumps are now just about flush with the ground and the burn pile has grown back up a little bit.  Gene, I'd be happy to welcome you (and any other list folks who might be in the area) sometime--I'm really having fun cleaning the place up and would be honored to show it off a little.  

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I seem to go through chainsaw chains pretty quickly, or at least "sharpenings."  Darn little easy cutting; most of it is either osage orange wood that's hard as a brick or assorted stumps and weed trees that I'm trying to cut down low enough to not be an obstacle even for the finish mower (hard to keep the chain out of the dirt sometimes).   There's a really nice hardware store in Saint Paris, five miles from my house, and they do a good job sharpening the chains.  I bet I've been by there at least once or twice a week for the past couple of months, dropping off one chain and picking up the newly-sharpened other one.  Their chainsaw guy thinks I might have better luck with a carbide chain on the osage orange trees, but I haven't tried one yet.  Am thinking I might get one just for use on cutting the osage logs into firewood length, rather than the general clearing work.

In other news I'm happy to announce that I got married last Saturday.  Tracy has come to tractor shows with me several times so she's met Gene and a few others from the list.  We'd been together for five years and had long known this day would come but were happy to let the planets gradually align.  Very nice indeed to finally get there.  We kept the wedding pretty simple and low-key, which suited both of us fine and made it easy to focus our time on working on this place--which is pretty much what we'd have been doing anyway.  Although it was nice to be able to say "But sweetheart, I have to get the 620 out--we need that back lane to look good in case we take folks on a hayride."  

Dean
Saint Paris, Ohio

Hello, gents, glad to take a few minutes and read through the recent posts and catch up.  Time sure zips past.  


In other news I'm happy to announce that I got married last Saturday.  Tracy has come to tractor shows with me several times so she's met Gene and a few others from the list.  We'd been together for five years and had long known this day would come but were happy to let the planets gradually align.  Very nice indeed to finally get there.  We kept the wedding pretty simple and low-key, which suited both of us fine and made it easy to focus our time on working on this place--which is pretty much what we'd have been doing anyway.  Although it was nice to be able to say "But sweetheart, I have to get the 620 out--we need that back lane to look good in case we take folks on a hayride."  

Dean
Saint Paris, Ohio

Dean, seems like you have a really nice place there,, and even better, someone to share it with. Congratulations.
I'm still out playing in the mud trying to plant a crop. Nice drying weather and ground conditions are improving although I did get stuck once yesterday with the air seeder.

Dean, so glad to hear about the wedding. You are both such great people and deserve the life together. Congratulations to both of you.

I know about the chainsaw chain sharpening. I have always done my own filing and was surprised when I sold a bucket of small scrap with about 10 completely worn out chains. Sure was a lot of filing.

I spent the last 2 days trenching from my old shop to the new shop location to run electric wire and pipe for compressed air for when the new shop is erected. While at it I also ran a telephone wire and coaxial cable from the old shop to eventually have phone and eventually computer access. LP gas line will come later after the building is built. Like Dean the years are telling on my back.

At the Portland swap meet I was able to buy a Pioneer P28 chainsaw for $10.00. Seller had no idea of condition since he had bought it at a yard sale. Took it home and cleaned the spark plug and replaced the old gas. With a few pulls the saw started and ran perfectly. Now have 4 running chainsaws with 3 being Pioneer.

Wapakoneta tractor show is this weekend. I attended on Friday but didn't take a tractor this year. Too much going on this week. Mechanic coming this morning to do annual inspection on the airplane and tonight will attend our high school alumni banquet.

Ralph, hope you can get the crops planted and sprayed. Farmers around here finally got back into the fields on Thursday after last week's rains. Still plenty time to get planted as most are planting soybeans now. Early planted corn is coming along fine even with cooler temps this week. One night with frost scare when temp was down to 37 degrees, but brisk wind prevented any frost.

Hope all have a great weekend.

Gene

MEMORIAL DAY, 2015.  Wishing a pleasant day to all.  Dean, congratulations on your marriage.  May you and Tracy enjoy this day and many Memorial days to come.

Charlie

Thanks very much, everyone!

Beautiful outside today although rain is forecast for later on, so I've been out trimming some more trees.  Pretty much a never-ending task.  Thought the view from the ladder was pretty nice and happened to have my cell phone with me, so took this photo.

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Dean
Saint Paris, Ohio

Dean, you called it right on the rain. Got about 1 1/2 inches from the Saturday afternoon and Sunday rains. Got rained out mowing grass Saturday when I ran out of gas on the airstrip. Had to go to station to get more gas and was caught in heavy rain before I got home. Drove straight out to the mower and put enough gas in it to get back to the barn in the rain. Waited for a lull in the rain and walked out and got the Jeep, all the while soaking wet.

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Got the material today for my new shop. Looks like it will be erected next week looking forward to that.

Gene