When I last blogged, we were very close, within an hour of completing our planting. That was on June 8th. We finished on June 18th, and there was a very small parcel that still had water on it. We simply skipped over it.
During the ten days, we received more rain blessings. In between wet spells, we had wind, which meant we ran sand fighters. We also prepped two rotary hoe rigs, and on the 16th Slats ran a sandfighter at Wastella, while I ran rotary hoes South of the barn. We were both streaking every other pass.
When Slats finished with the sandfighter he hooked back up to his rotary hoes and began filling in the streaks. By days end we had completed the entire home place.
The following day we moved to the section and we began on opposite sides and worked toward one another, streaking every other pass. When we met, we turned back, filling in the streaks again. By end of day we had finished the section.
Slats had a hydraulic leak on the big tractor, and as we were planning on going to finish planting at the section, repairs were necessary. Slats removed the hose and I took it to John Deere. They didn't have one, nor did they have the fittings to make a new one. Finally after three hydraulic shops, I was back at Fisher Hills in Sweetwater. Keith machined and welded a fitting to get us going. About three in the afternoon I returned to the barn and after an hour and with Slats and I both bleeding profusely, the repair was complete. This was one of the deals where you could see what you needed to do or you could put your hand in and try to visualize. To do both was impossible.
When we finished, we filled the tractor with hydraulic oil. However, the tractor would not come out of park. You could move the shifter, but it would not shift. I called my friend BJ at John Deere and he told me we must have accidentally unplugged a park over ride circuit. We inspected the five relays and all were plugged in, but we wiggled them anyway.
Walla. The tractor moved. We hooked to the planter and spread two sacks of see across eight planter boxes and we headed out. Prior to leaving the shop though, I put the planter on the cement slab and made some adjustments to the seed press wheels.
When we arrived at the section I raised the planter unit gauge wheels out one full notch. I was convinced we were not going to put much dirt over the seed.
It took us a couple of hours and another bag of see plus two pieces, plus a borrowed sack (that we replaced the following morning) to complete our planting.
The following day we put rotary hoes back on the big tractor and Slats and I moved the two rigs to Wastella.
I wanted to see first hand, exactly what we had, plant stand wise. That was one of the primary reasons I insisted on driving one of the rigs across all the farms. About six and a half hours later we were done with Wastella. I was very disappointed with the stand there but will wait until Monday to make a decision on replanting.
It is weird that when you are the boss, you get the older, less desirable equipment. At one point during planting I was filling terrace washes with a 38 year old tractor with no air conditioning, then I bedded some with a 29 year old tractor (which did have air conditioning).
My rotary hoe tractor was a 1982 model which I dubbed the rain forest tractor. The 32 year old tractor runs good, and has great air conditioning, but the drain tubes from the drip trays located in the roof of the tractor are clogged up, so every time you turn are get on a terrace or hit a pump, you are doused with cold water.
Of course the reason I was driving these older tractors is because they don't have guidance. Slats isn't a farm hand but he can press a button.
All together we have had seven to nine inches of rain. The outlook for this year has improved dramatically.
On Friday I worked in the office and ran errands. Slats mowed, edged and weed eated at Memama's.
Memama is good. We had date night Thursday night with Pat, Kyle Chloe and Carson. Late Thursday I was in the kitchen and heard the back door open and it was Rian and the boys. They were in the motorhome headed to San Angelo to see Rian's mother and sisters. They camped in the driveway, and Frances fixed a huge breakfast for everyone Friday morning.
Last night I woke to the sound of thunder. We have been teased with light showers and sprinkles. I say, do your thing LORD!
Today I am doing R & R.
FATHER, thank YOU so much for Your rain blessings. Thank YOU for the promise the new crop holds. We thank YOU and ask that YOU continue to bless us and our efforts. YOU are so good!
