Sounds like things are looking up in Gene's part of the world if a little rain has fallen. We continue to get adequate rainfall and the temperature has dropped to normal or less. Grass growing fast and I spent the afternoon with the haybine cutting more hay. Probably more than I will need for the winter but its like money in the bank.
Got a few interesting photos on the trail cam this week including this one of a young buck with what almost appears to be a huge set of reindeer antlers.

That is a fine looking lawn mower in your photo, Ralph.  From what I can see he is at least a 10 point.  That will be a pretty rack after he rubs the velvet off, or do you have reindeer there.  I always thought the West had mostly mule deer, but that isn't a mule deer.  Looks more like a whitetail if not another species entirely.

We continue to get a little rain at a time.  We are probably near 2 1/2 inches for the last two weeks.  It has not been enough to really green up the grass but at least the burn off has been checked.  Areas to the south and north have had substantially more rain and more violent storms as usual.  Naturally, two drops of water makes the weeds jump six inches over night.  I did mow lawn last night to even up the high spots and take down a weed here and there.  With the grass being mostly rye and crab grass growing in the dry ground, which is sparce growth, the mowing would be done in no time, except the ground is too rough for my body to tolerate the 10 MPH the mower is capable of.  Even at the speeds I can do, observers seem to think that I am going like HE - double tooth picks.

With the difficulties I have getting around i did not do anything with a couple of flower beds that I normally cultivate.  Finally last week I worked them to get rid of the weeks and just the bare dirt looks better than weeds.  On 7/29 I scattered some marigold seeds that are about two years old.  My wife found one pack in a drawer that were dated 1992 so I scattered them too.  I will be suprised if they germinate, but it will be an interesting experiment on the shelf life of flower seeds. I will keep you posted on the results.  If anything blooms before frost, that will be a bonus.

Charlie V.

Charlie, glad you are at least getting enough rain to get by. Some rain last month really greened up things here in Ohio. The grass took off and had to be mowed on Monday. Soybeans are getting more new growth and now more than waist high in places. Look promising. The marigolds are very hardy. I have some at the corner of the house that don't get any care. They still bloom every fall.

The deer here seem to be coming out in the open more. They are having to travel farther to get to water. They seem to have a path along the front edge of my woods where they are going to the Miami river for water. Local creeks are still very low or dry still.

Family reunion last weekend went very well. The fairgrounds at Kenton was a very good location for the event. Early campers set up on Wednesday and many more came on Thursday and Friday. Had about 20 camping units set up including 8 tents. Looked like a circus had come to town. My sweetcorn was a very big hit with everyone. I took 155 ears to fix and only had a few left over. Gave that to my daughter to take home. Probably had about 140 people there over the 4 days.

Been working on the dead ash trees along the drive. Got them all down now and working on cleaning up the brush and picking up and splitting the firewood. Still going to be a long process, especialli in this heat. Burned a big pile of brush yesterday evening and that didn't help to cool things down any. I expect there will be about 4 to 5 cords of wood when it is all cleaned up. Really appreciate my neighbor letting me use his wheat stubble field to do the trees.

I was at the local salvage yard yesterday and spotted a small self powered roller there. Looks to be about 4 feet wide and powered by a small Intec engine. Said he would sell it for $650.00. Been needing something a little heavier than my little roller to roll my airstrip and lawn. Going this morning to get it. Should be a fun machine to operate.

Gene

Beautiful weekend here in Sask. Not too hot or cold or too windy. Good Sunday drive with family and friends to see the crops and scenery.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKjrHqQ3wiM&feature=share
[video=youtube_share;wKjrHqQ3wiM]http://youtu.be/wKjrHqQ3wiM[/video]

You gentlemen have been busy.  Nice to take advantage of summer while it is here.  Winter seems to last a long time each year.  Our weather has mellowed out some this week.  Yesterday was pretty comfortable in the high 80's but with a low dew point.  Today is heading for 84 as a high.  Not bad compared to the 90's again last week. The rest of the week we are looking for 70's as a high.  Great weather for the Pageant of Steam which starts today.  I am not going to make it again this year.  Hopefully by next year I will have gotten some aftermarket parts installed so I can get back in the groove.  

I have been puttering around with some yard maintenance chores a little at a time which is about as much as I can put up with.  It is a good feeling whenever anything gets done.  We did get another 1/2 inch of rain here since my last post.  Once again, nearby areas had as much as two inches from the same storm cluster.  The up side is that we did not get any of the damaging winds either.  I see some beautiful fields of soybeans.  They are not waist high like Gene's, but not too far from it and as green as green can be .  Most corn seems to be looking good as well.  Doesn't seem to be as much going on with hay crops due to the dryness.  

Charlie V.

Yep, Charlie. Been pretty busy here in Ohio. Main job was getting the ash trees cut up and the brush cleaned up and burned. The firewood blocks are piled at the edge of the field and I have split a load on my hay wagon. Looks a whole lot better now.

Ralph, thanks for taking us along on your tour and sharing your visitios. Been seeing lots of deer in the soybean and hay fields the last couple weeks. Watched one cross the back of the field Wednesday morning. Too far away to tell if it was a buck or doe. Was driving by a soybean field south of me this morning and saw 2 does with their young.

Have had a couple nice rains this week. Had 2.4 inches on Saturday night and Sunday morning. Crops and grass really responding to the water. Soybeans podding right now and the rain will about finish them. 4th cutting hay is growing nice and plan to mow it on Saturday or Monday. Need to make it next week before I go to the Portland tractor show. Actually got my shoes muddy walking in the soybean field yesterday. Almost forgot that we got another 3 tenths of rain this morning. Temps moderating nicely with highs in the low 80's and low at night in the upper 60's. Ideal weather for us. May be too late for a lot of the corn and likely only half of normal yields.

Gene

This is the opinion of YNN news on NY soybeans.  The crops I see sure look prosperous now.

Charlie V.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

In New York State this year, the soybean crop is booming.

“We had a great planting season, so a lot of soybeans went in," said Craig Yunker, owner of CY Farms and Batavia Turf.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s report Friday, the soybean crop in New York is on track for a record harvest: about 14.2 million bushels will be picked; a nineteen-percent jump over last year.

“We've gotten some rains at the beginning of August, when the soybeans need it. I think the yield will be pretty good.”

Yunker says his crop is maturing well, and only needs average rainfall this month to finish strong, but elsewhere in the world, soybean crops are suffering.

"South America is the second-largest producer of soybeans, behind the United States. South America's had problems. Brazil is out of soybeans. ”

Even though there are soy products for humans, like soy sauce or soy milk, it’s estimated 98-percent of the soybeans grown in America are used to feed livestock. And with drought conditions nationwide, but no less livestock, these soybeans in New York just got a lot more valuable.

“The world is waiting on this U.S. soybean crop, and it's smaller than expected because of problems out west.”

And one state like New York can’t make up for all those troubles – certainly not cheaply.

“Soybeans are now at about $16.70 a bushel. They've gone up about 40-percent in recent months.”

Which is good for Craig Yunker, but bad for other farmers – like dairy.

"We have a lot of dairy farmers in this area. They buy a lot of soybean meal to feed as a protein source for cattle. It's going to pinch their margin, between the price of milk and the price of feed inputs."

Meaning a new storm may soon be on the horizon.

Sounds like its not too late for the soybean crop anyway. I hear so much about how the drought has affected the corn crop though. Food prices are predicted to rise 4% next year due to the drop in corn production. We are looking ok here although reports of disease are disturbing. That good looking wheat might have nothing in the heads. I'm afraid to look at this point. Took this picture a couple of days ago of the neighbour's wheat. Starting to turn colour.

Ralph; Hope your crops turn out well. Is your wheat spring planted? Wheat harvest in the northern states is winding down and most are very happy with the yields and quality. Wheat harvest here was finished before July 1, earliest I have ever known. Silage corn just beginning to come off now, that is 2 weeks early too.

Charlie; I can concur with the New York report on soybeans. The rains since the middle of July has really brought the soybeans along. Still getting new growth on the plants and lots of pods and enough moisture to fill them out. Temperatures have cooled off to 70's during the day and high 50's at night. I actually wore a light sweatshirt all day today.

I mowed my 4th cutting hay today. Really a heavy growth in the alfalfa. Need to get it baled this week so I can go to Portland for the next week. The hay couldn't wait that long, so had to get it mowed, in spite of threat of rain on Friday.

Portland show is featuring Case tractors this year. I took my LA and VC over last Sunday and our camping area for out ATIS group. Been working on the VAIW this week to take over this weekend. Should be a good turnout of Case tractors.

Gene

48 degrees this morning.  Burrr.  Only 16 degrees above freezing. I am thinking with the warm summer this year I have turned into a Southerner and feel cold at anything below 75 or 80 degrees.  It is time to start keeping the flannel shirts and sweat shirts an arms length away.  Just a sign of things to come.  16 degrees above freezing reminds me I have to make a point to test the antifreeze in the 340.  I usually never add just straight water to anything, but the 340 was down out of sight this spring.  Not knowing how much it would take or if it had a leak, I did add straight h2o so now a test is in order.

Not much else exciting happening here.  Corn and soybeans look great at this point.  Apple harvest will be down some away from Lake Ontario, but it is claimed that quality and sweetness will be better than normal due to this year's weather.  Good to have something to hang your hat on.

Wishing Ralph a good time terrorizing Sask. on the three wheeler and harvesting the fall crops.  For Gene, best wishes for a very successful Tri State show.  I think it is time to go give my beard a trim now.  Seems to be starting to feel shabby.

Charlie V.

Cool nights here too Charlie. No official frost yet but we were down in the 40s. It would hurt some of the crops at this point. First combines sighted in winter wheat a few days ago and swathers are rolling everywhere in canola fields. Including mine.

From Aug. 2, 2012


"With the difficulties I have getting around i did not do anything with a couple of flower beds that I normally cultivate. Finally last week I worked them to get rid of the weeks and just the bare dirt looks better than weeds. On 7/29 I scattered some marigold seeds that are about two years old. My wife found one pack in a drawer that were dated 1992 so I scattered them too. I will be suprised if they germinate, but it will be an interesting experiment on the shelf life of flower seeds. I will keep you posted on the results. If anything blooms before frost, that will be a bonus."

Time for an update on the success of the expired seeds.  It appears all of those seeds were DOA upon arrival to the soil.  Now nearly a month later, with ample rain and sunshine, the only things growing are 8,225,007 1/2 weeds.  Most of it is what I know as Jewel Weed and it creeps all over.  The Jewel Weed really likes to fill in areas where other growth has been exterminated with Roundup. The good news is that the outdated seeds had a proper burial, so all is O.K.

Charlie

Had a great time at Portland witeh ideal weather with mild days and cool nights. Light rain shower on Monday night settled the dust. Nice turnout of Case feature tractors. I took 3 tractors, the LA, VC and VAIW tug. Ran the sawmill on Tuesday with the LA and had the VC on the buzz saw the rest of the show. Did a little plowing with the LA and 5 bottom, well used International plow. Had lots of firewood at the campsite, so had a fire going all week. Was very welcome for the cool evenings to sit around with the gang.

Soybeans are looking good. Starting to turn now and look to have lots of pods. Pulled one stalk yesterday evening and with 4 branches, I counted 147 pods on the stalk. Yield outlook looks very good. Will have to get the combine ready soon.

Lawn grass grew wild while I was gone. Only got about half mowed the last 2 days. Trying to get rested up, so only mow a couple hours each day.

Will be mowing hay today. Amish has 15 acres I will be making for him. It is grass hay that hasn't been made this year so it will likely be a heavy mess.

Quite a bit of corn silage harvesting around the area. Saw several cutting on the trips to Portland. Crop appears to be pretty light.

Gene

Charlie, were you aware that we have a weed here called "creeping Charlie"? It is a real persistent ground covering weed.
Must have been a good time with old tractors Gene. We don't have anything like that close enough to take my antiques to so I just run my own demonstrations here on the farm pretending to work. I ran the old Cockshutt 50 for a few hours yesterday putting oats through the hammer mill for cattle feed. Had problems with belt slippage and oil leakage on the tractor. It got so low that the oil pressure dropped below normal and lucky I happened to look before it did any damage.
Looks like another winter repair project.
Winter sounds good today. It is 85 degrees here and may break a record. That means I don't want to do much outside of an air conditioned cab. [ATTACH=CONFIG]638[/ATTACH]

Hi Ralph,

I have my share of Creeping Charlie growing in my lawn, mostly at the edges.  It does not seem to get a good enough hold to take over.  I was not sure what it was so I looked it up .  Now I know.  The other weed which I mentioned and thought was Jewel Weed is NOT Jewel Weed.  I have posted a photo here and perhaps you will be able to tell me what it is.  It is a spreading type ground cover with a reddish colored vines and green meaty , juice filled leaved.  Wherever
other vegetation has been removed, this weed fills in prolifically and is fast growing.



Charlie V.