For some reason, what I just wrote didn’t get sent to the paper, so it’s floating around in space somewhere.
Julie and I went to Princeville Saturday to the family reunion. My “great cousin” has the get together in his shed.
The food was terrific, and we had a good number of people that came. My generation is “dwindling”, so we treasure getting together. Last year at Colchester’s Labor Day I ate breakfast under the tent, and found a backyard sale that had old, old maps from a big atlas. The fella had Eldorado and Jubilee townships. I gave Cathy and Steve the El Dorado map, and I kept the Jubilee (Peoria county) map. Took it to the reunion and found a lot of folks gathered around remembering people they had heard about when we were growing up.
Still mowing green grass. My garden has been taken over by grass which was hiding the beets. I decided next year I will just go to the grocery store and buy sliced beets, make the pickling vinegar and sugar and forget growing them. After about 5 trips to the basement to bring everything up and take it back down, I ended up with 5 pints of pickled beets!
Grain prices went up this week. Part of the reason could be a lot of us wonder where USDA “found” 1.4 million acres more of corn and soybeans. How could they be that far off when we have to report planted acres by July 15. Beats me.
Crops around here really look good except where the raccoons have devastated, and I mean down to the ground damage, places in fields of corn. Don’t know if it’s the variety that tastes better, or just the easiest corner to get to. Or, maybe they’re having a reunion!
The last rain of 6 inches did a lot of damage that in my case showed up days later. The water had come down so fast from the pasture north of me, filled the huge culvert with water and went over the road and into our pasture. OK, so this week Erik called and said not to drive on the road north of our house because a huge hole appeared. The water was so strong that it washed alongside the culvert and took a bunch of dirt out from under the road on one side. After a few days of people driving over it, the 6 inches of blacktop collapsed.
In no time, someone found it, got in touch with the guys that work on the township roads and they brought the backhoe and loaded rock and fixed it so the road was open again.
Thanks!
I would guess people may find more places like that hidden.
For some reason my computer did not send the first chores to the paper, so this is a shortened version. Maybe I’ll see you at Colchester for breakfast, or at the backyard sale I will head to check on again. Either way, have a good week.
Sharon Chenoweth is a resident and farmer of McDonough County. Her column focuses on rural life and will be featured every other week in the Community News Brief Friday Edition.
