The dust is flying, the combines are rolling, trucks are moving, tillage equipment is running, fertilizer is going on fields, yields are good despite stunted growth in places where the water stood too long, and the sun is shining.
I’ve been working cleaning up the garden, and cutting unwanted brush along some fences. The autumn olive and wild honeysuckle are really a problem. While the birds are happy to eat the red berries, I’m unhappy that the growth of the two species are taking over the woods, and are a real nuisance in the fence rows. Birds spread the berry seed!
I have only seen one wooly worm to get a prediction of upcoming winter weather. It had a black head and the rest of it was brown. Someone asked me if I was sure it was its head that was black, and yes it was unless it was crawling backwards. Anyway, from the wooly worm forecast I predict a mild winter. However, the picture of I have of 5 doesn’t show that color of black and then all the rest of the worm is brown, so don’t count on me.
I saw the huge pile of corn on the ground at the shuttle east of town. On an errand drive to Adair FS, I saw so many trucks dumping corn and it was transferring to the pile outside. Farm Week headlines yesterday were “Grain storage capacity ample this harvest.”
Farm Week “urges documenting dyed diesel use on roads.” That is the red dyed diesel and there is a lot of confusion about paying the road taxes.
Well, now I come down to me driving a car I traded for.
It’s not new, it’s used but is “different.” I hadn’t driven at night, but a couple weeks ago when I was getting ready to leave Macomb it was dark! I decided I should put on the dome light to help me find the keys I had dropped. I was pushing all kinds of buttons, and finally got one of the dome lights to come on, found the keys, tried to shut it off by pushing the button, tried another button and the sun roof began to open!
I got it closed again and decided to just drive home with the dome light on and read the “book” then. One final try found I had to push the dome light harder to get it to shut off. l tell you that story in case you see a car driving with the dome light on...it’s me.
Oh, my niece from Texas stayed overnight on her way to Princeville. We were visiting about the windmills that have gone up around the area, and she related this story. She said she was driving near her home in Texas, and had a friend in the car who looked at the windmills and said, “You know, I bet those people living near them are really uncomfortable because those big blades turning would make it so much colder for them.”
Hadn’t thought of that!
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.
