Have a positive update for Western, Ohio. Weather held to get the beans planted and the hay baled. Got a couple custom hay jobs that I cut-ditioned on Thursday. Rained on Friday morning and again Saturday morning. About 1.5 inches total. Will be beneficial for the beans, but will delay the hay baling a couple days. Sure way to get rain it to cut hay.

Most of the past 10 days has been very hot with temps in the mid 90's most days. Has cooled off for the weekend and looks like more favorable weather coming for the first part of the week. Soybeans have gotten off to a good start before the rain and will most likely relish the rain. I do have a couple small lakes in one field, but should be down in a day or two.

Neighbor came over Wednesday evening to help with the baling. I started loading the wagon, but after only 1 round, I was not able to take the heat so he worked the wagon. He relished the exercise and I got along fine on the tractor. He loaded the first wagon and another friend showed up and loaded the second wagon. Decided to call it a day and I finished the last 79 bales myself on Thursday morning and got along fine after a good night's rest.

Funny situation is next door neighbor has not been able to mow his lawn this year. Was there last Sunday night and he was unable to get his lawn mower started. I told him I would bring my tractor and sickle mower over and cut it for him. He paid me $20.00 for cutting it and said to do whatever I wanted with the grass, so thursday evening I raked and baled and got 32 bales of grass hay. Called a friend to see if he wanted it for his donkeys and mules. He bought it for $50.00 and came right over and hauled it away. I came out $ 70.00 to the good. Pays to be kind to neighbors.

Got my grass all mowed today, even the wet areas. Have to wait till Monday for teh cut hay to dry enough to bale. I may be able to take most of Sunday off.

Gene

Gene, glad the weather has given you a chance to catch up. Similar here in Sask. as I finished seeding last Monday in spite of a flat dual wheel on the tractor. Had not cut any lawn here all spring either due to other jobs being more important. When I finally got to it a couple of days ago the grass was already headed out in places and a real challenge for the little John Deere 111. Didn't go far and the front axle collapsed bringing me to a sudden halt. I thought it was going to be a major repair but was able to get it apart and welded, back to cutting the next day. Video [video=youtube;If2d9bJI7UE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If2d9bJI7UE[/video]

Another Ohio update. Very hot and muggy. Was over 100 degrees and 74 percent humidity. I had 100.3 degrees at 3:30pm. Ground is getting dry and crops starting to show stress. My soybeans seem in good shape and not stressed yet. Starting to set a few blooms. So dry that the grass has stopped growing and only thing to mow is the buckhorn, wild carrots and mares tail. Forecast for at least 2 more hot days then cooling some next week. Promising some rain for Friday night and Saturday, but only hit and miss t-storms. With the heat buildup, we should be getting some strong storms and rain.

May go to an auction sale not far from me on Saturday. An estate sale of a couple who were murdered last winter. Be a chance to get away for a while.

Gene

Gene - Don't forget that it always rains and storms near or at Portland's August Show and that's not far off. I think the heat you are getting is now here on the East Coast. The weather man said some towns here in Eastern North Carolina had a heat index of 118 degrees yesterday. Merton

Mighty hot here in Dayton too, Gene.  Last night at 10 pm it was still 90 degrees out... can't say I ever remember that happening around here before.

I've been reading the occasional news item about that couple--what an awful story.

Dean

Western NY is a cookin' as well, Gene.  Yesterday around 11 AM when I left to head to the Hospital to visit my wife I had one thermometer at 100.0 and another at 98.5.  I am sure it got a little warmer later as the SW wind was pushing hot air like the Santa Annas in California. It was strong enough to drop a few dead branches in the yard.  Today was somewhere in the 90's, but I did not have time to look.  It has been quite a hectic week for me.

Charlie V.

Yesterday was another 100 degree day here in Ohio. Showed 101 at 3:20. Went out about 4:00 to reposition some machinery so I could mow. Was 98 at the time when I started mowing. A very strong northwest wind started blowing and cooled off to about 78 in less than 20 minutes with only a sprinkle of rain. Made for a pleasant evening. Forecast back to 92 today. 75 now at 7:30.

Gene

We have had a major turn around in weather here after the intense heat and humidity earlier this week. I don't think we hit 70 yesterday and this morning is 52 degrees. Its a land of extremes. Back to the insulated shirts today.

Weather finally starting to moderate here in Ohio. Forecast for cooling temps after Tuesday with highs in the upper 70's to low 80's. Been in the high 90's almost every day since first of July. Soybeans have fared pretty well and had a couple nice rains the last 2 weeks. 2 inches 2 weeks ago on Sunday, 1/2 inch last Wednesday and another inch today. Soil is nice and moist now and the beans have responded really well. They are about waist high in some places and starting to bloom real nice. The cooler weather should help the polination. Rain today came hard with the inch coming down in 20 minutes. Some of the taller beans are leaning, but will recover. Hoping for a good harvest.

Gene

Good to see a post , Gene.  I have been pretty laid back internetwise since 7/18 when my wife took a morning dive to the floor and broke a hip.  Surgery on 7/19 and thankfully she is well on the mend now.  When the 70% portion of a two person team is taken out, the 30% guy remaining has his work cut out for him.  With some valuable help from daughters and SIL, we got through it.  Mrs. Charlie V. came home on 7/26 and is back into doing many of the light household chores.  I knew home would be the best place to get her back on her feet, because she just can't be still for long at a time.  

We are still in pretty dry mode here.  We did catch nearly one inch on 7/18, but have had no real measurable amount since. Temperature on average has been about ten degrees F less than yours in Ohio.  When My oldest came back for a few days from Delaware O., she thought she was in heaven by comparison.   Not many miles to the north and south, it may be a totally different story.  Numerous thunderstorms have traveled those tracks and delivered some decent amounts of rainfall.  From here we see the flashes of lightning, hear the thunder, but remain on the sidelines.  All that being said, about 200 acres of beans nearby me that were planted around mid to late June are looking good.  They are in nice green rows like snap beans would be so I am not sure what they will turn out to be.  Last year those fields had soybeans.  The many acres of winter wheat looked very good and were harvested on schedule for this area.  Even though most wheat these days is a stunted variety probably not more than 18 or 20 inches high, if that, it seems almost all of the straw was baled up and taken in.  I have seen less oats than normal, but what I have noticed looked to be a good crop and seemed ripe for harvest perhaps a little earlier that usual.  Lots of corn in the fields.  No way for me to know feed corn from sweet corn from field corn from bio corn.  Those fields that were planted prior to this years spring monsoons are looking great and some over 6 feet tall.  Other fields that were much later in the ground still are doing well but some behind the early plantings.  Here and there  some land can be seen that never did get planted.  I may be seeing a little droop of the leaves in a few fields.  Not sure if that is from dry weather or just the variety of corn.

I have not paid much attention to hay lately, so that is about all there is to say.  Keep 'em coming.

Charlie V.

Charlie;

Good to hear from you. Sorry the Mrs. has been laid up, but happy to hear she is on the mend.

Wheat in the area came off normally, about July 1st to 5th.. Reported yields were good and good quality. Corn close to here is late, but growing pretty good now. Was seeing some firing and curling before we got that late July rain, but looking pretty good now. lots of variation in different fields depending on when planted. Later planted corn hasn't started tasseling yet, but as you say, the corn planted before monsoon season is doing well. Will be a late and drawn out harvest and expensive drying. Only oats grown here is the Amish and they are done with the binding and threshing now. My third cutting alfalfa is ready to cut and plan to do that Tuesday or Wednesday. Temps today only to mid 80's and lower humidity, so made a pleasant day for outside work.

Been getting ready for Portland show. Will take the tractor over this weekend. Plan to meet Steve Sewell and Tim Brown, probably have dinner in Portland. Will take the motor home over on Saturday, the 20th., then stay till the following Saturday.

Got bad news on my dog last week. Took him in for a kennel cough shot so I can board him. They tested him for heart worm and tested positive, so will start his treatment as soon as I get home from Portland. We caught it early and he is in good health, so the treatment should be successful. Hasn't shown any sign of being sick, other than the heat. Still goes for our walks and keeps the groundhog at bay.

Hope you get some rain soon.

Gene

Another update:
Having given my opinions on crop conditions currently in WNY in an earlier post, I am adding the following statements form the experts.  This information is as published in MPN Now newspapers today.




Farmers went from wishing every day for an end to the rain to wishing every day for it to rain, all in one all-or-nothing growing season.

Experienced farmers know that every year will not be perfect and so plan on summer days like these. But that doesn’t change the fact that working the land has been a challenge, said Jim Ochterski, agricultural program manager for the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ontario County.

“I’ve not seen a year that has had such poor planting conditions to such poor growing conditions,” Ochterski said.

That’s a sentiment echoed by Mike Lincoln of Linholm Dairy in Bloomfield, who has been working at the farm his parents started since 1997. The rain delayed the crop, and the extended dry spell stunted its growth.

“It’s probably the worst I’ve seen,” said Lincoln, who expects to take a financial hit because of the weather.

Poor conditions have hampered the corn and hay crop at Black Brook Farm in Farmington, said owner Henry Adams, making it among the worst seasons he’s seen in 30 years.

“The last year it was this bad was 1995,” Adams said. “We had corn die before it fully matured, and we’re close to
that again.”

One crop’s folly is another’s potential bounty. Grapes and apples are doing as well as expected, aided by the heat.

Here’s how the weather is affecting the region’s cash crops:

Corn
“Some corn that is supposed to be knee-high by July is not knee-high. Normally, all the corn is at the same height, but we have a wide range of conditions,” Jim Ochterski said. He points out another potential concern: Some ears of corn may not have as many kernels as normal. Corn is resilient, though, Mike Lincoln said.

Grapes
All things considered, the grape crop is experiencing a normal pattern, Ochterski said. Grapes benefit greatly from sunshine and warmth, but they also suffer with changes in soil condition, such as swamped land in the spring to arid soil today. “Generally, the grapes have been faring as well as expected,” Ochterski said.

Apples
No rain, no problem — at least as far as the apple crop is concerned. The sunny summer will produce unusually sweet apples and cider, according to the New York Apple Association.
The size of this year’s New York state apple crop is expected to be at or near last year, at about 30.3 million bushels.

Link to article
http://www.mpnnow.com/canandaigua/x1852603601/A-bummer-crop-for-corn-grapes-and-apples-fair

Charlie V.

Charlie, sorry to hear of your wife's mishap.
Busy summer here and the crops are looking not too bad. Maybe a couple of weeks to go before canola swathing can start. Although the flax is still flowering so it will be a while.
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Me and my Chevy II and a friend's Ford Fairlane recently.

Nice Chevy II, Ralph.  I worked with a guy who bought one of those new.  I think it was 1967.  The first thing he did was put a V-8 in it.  I think a 305.  That wasn't enough so a few months later he built a 327 and put that in. Guys his age that rode in the car with him claimed that when he shifted gears the body would twist enough that the steering wheel jumped about six inches. He drove the car daily on the streets for transportation.  It sure was a different world then.



Charlie V.

P.S.  I have had second thoughts about the six inch statement.  It may have been two or four inches.  Too many years have passed to remember exactly, but let me just say the steering wheel moved a visual amount.

CV

No doubt the Chevy Ii with a v8 of any size would be a real power house.
I've seen enough old iron in the past couple of days to get really lost in the fifties. Here was one of my favourites. A 54 Chev with a semi modern power train including a 350 v8 and an overdrive automatic (700R) transmission.
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Perfect summer day with my favourite kind of cars (and trucks).