View from the Cab: Cold thoughts
As I write this, the old Dean Martin song “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” comes to mind.
Alright, maybe it’s not cold but it was nice and cool during several mornings last week. My thermometer even dipped to 49 degrees early one day. It was refreshing to open up the house, not only to let out any germs which may have been trapped in there for months, but to also cool the place down without racking up a high energy bill.
The air conditioner got a break along with the developing corn and soybean crops. An agronomist once told me you never want corn to have a bad day and last week should have been ideal as we try to fill out the ears. I’m sure the soybeans appreciated the below-normal temperatures too as August is a crucial month.
If I remember correctly, the last time we had a fairly cool August with a few timely rains, we had an awesome crop in the fall. Let’s not get our hopes up but my fingers are crossed for a bin-busting year. With all of the excess rain and extreme weather we received early in the season, it could be difficult to see consistent high yields but we shall see.
The recent early cool weather snap reminds me that fall isn’t far off – including the hum of combines traveling up and down fields, trucks hauling grain away to the elevator and harvest moons. You really can’t beat a clear day in September or October and that’s what we have to look forward to soon.
I have been busy battling that evil weed we refer to as waterhemp in recent days. The wet month of July has led to an abundance of weeds here in August. We are walking beans just like in the old days, except all of my Casson cousins aren’t here to help me out. I may need to give them a call. We were professional bean walkers back in the day, so it seemed.
Harvest preparations are already starting as we continue cleaning-up equipment and preparing it for another fall season. The kids and I hopped in the semi the other day and it felt good to get out on the open road with the old Freightliner. They seemed to enjoy it as well.
