As I predicted, it is now August and we were starting to suffer. Several days of temps right at 100F was taking its toll. Most of our rain came hard this spring and early summer, packing the ground tight. All the late planted stuff was really showing stress. Thankfully, it is raining this morning, an inch so far. Actually we got .8 about 9 days ago, you would think we wouldn't be that bad off, but when your temps get that high it doesn't take long to really dry out. This rain will finish all the corn, even the very late corn I am going to silo. It has a respectable ear now, and while it will not be any kind of great crop, there will be plenty of grain in the silage. The mown haymeadows will get a nice regrowth now, the alfalfa should make one more cutting at least, and what hay has not been mowed will freshen up, as will the grass. The soybeans are going to need rain into the first part of September to make a really good crop.
Last year we had ample grass left in the pastures, we got through the spring without any big fires, and if I had been a betting man I would have bet no way could we have such big grass this fall. We will go into winter with grass at least as big if not bigger than we had last year, meaning if we get a dry snap(and surely we will, it has been rainy for such a long time) we will be prone to big fires.
The last several weeks have been dominated by haymaking and babysitting. My brother and his wife welcomed another daughter the end of June, Mrs. KF and I had my older niece Olivia(2 and a half years old) for a week, then my sister-in-law and the baby came to pick her up and stayed with my parents another week. My dad has been a bachelor now for some time, as mother spent about 3 and a half weeks in Nebraska with the new grandchild. We had a nice bonding experience, however this time around Olivia found out her uncle was not bluffing about spanking her and she ended up getting spanked 4 times, 3 right in a row, the effect blunted by what is called a pull-up, more or less an emergency training pant type diaper thing. We were at my parents and she was messing with bottles of my mothers perfume, when her grandmother told her to put them down she walked out of the bedroom and dumped one on me, well half of one, then dumped the other half on the floor. That was it, it was smackdown time. Of course, I was careful, and the net effect of my spanking was that the soft pullup kept it from hurting, so as soon as I released her she turned around and stuck her tongue out at me, prompting another spanking, getting the same result which led to a third spanking and the dire warning the pull up would come off if there was a fourth.
My nieces grandmother then informed me that she and the grandfather did not believe in spanking. Quite odd, because as best I can recall these also happen to be my parents,and I distinctly remember getting spanked by both of them. Funny how turning from a parent into a grandparent makes you change your attitude toward discipline. So on one hand I have to listen to 30 minute phone calls from my brother griping about how everyone down here spoils his daughter, then on the other I have Grandma telling me that when Olivia tells people in Nebraska her uncle spanked her, I will have social services after my head, I just can't win.
In spite of the spankings, we had a good time, Olivia is a smart little girl which leads to some problems actually. She got her first tractor driving lesson, you just can't start training help too soon. The great thing about having a niece is after a couple of weeks, she goes home.
On the haymaking front, the going has been somewhat slow, constant forecasts of rain and a few flat tractor tires has slowed progress some. I have baled about 200- 1300 pound bales, and since I was struggling to catch up hired 400 more baled that I mowed. Best I can guess I have about 100 bales of prairie hay left to bale, 60 or so of crabgrass, and another cutting of alfalfa which will be light, maybe 80 or so bales. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but as soon as hay is up it will be time to silo, then shell corn and plant wheat....the work never is caught up.