View from the Cab: Smelling the Roses

Hauling seed around during the crazy spring planting season may not be my favorite thing to do, but it reminded me to pause and enjoy our rural surroundings the other day.

As I was transporting corn between Gridley and Chenoa, I had to roll down the window and take in the fresh country air. Plus, the sun was out and skies were blue which provided the perfect backdrop. It was nice just taking some time to look at all of the activity in farm country – a good reminder that spring is not cancelled as the wheels keep turning in the soil.

I had the chance to photograph several tractors, planters, field cultivators and parked trucks in fields all throughout the area. You know a journalist can never have too many photos on hand. I don’t know where I would be without my trusted cell phone which I use for pictures, storing information, retrieving information and everything in between. What will Apple think of next?

Some time outdoors can do a body good and it sounds like we finally have some great weather coming with sunshine and warmer temperatures. We deserve it after several weeks of below normal temperatures which felt more like early March than May. The extended forecast from the National Weather Service is calling for a warming trend for the second half of the month with average precipitation, whatever that means these days.

We made a nice dent in planting progress last week before the rains moved in. Now we are down to a few corn fields and a couple of soybean fields before closing out the 2020 planting season.

Much like our world right now, this has been a whirlwind of a spring season so far as we started clear back in early April with soybean planting before all of the cold, wet weather occurred. Some may regret planting into those extreme weather conditions but time will tell how those seeds do.

The boss lady showed up to ride in the tractor last week. I’m talking about my one-year-old daughter Kaislee. She was joined by Rebecca, Kasen and Kenadee as we all squeezed into the cab. The kids always enjoy a brief getaway to the field during their busy day of school work and chores. If you see zig-zag corn rows along Route 24 in a few weeks, now you know why.

Hopefully, the next time you hear from me this planting season is in the books.