That was quite a storm that passed through last Friday! At the Research Station we received 40 mm and 31 mm at home. It soaked up quite well, but we do have a few sticky spots to avoid today. I did hear of a few places locally that received some strong winds as well. I guess we shouldn’t have been shocked with the intense heat we were experiencing. Even though we are expecting some showers today and tomorrow I decided to cut some hay at home because the waiting time is a killer. I told my mom that it wouldn’t be the first time we had hay rained on. I baled up on the hay down on Thursday night, so I had an enjoyable weekend of catch up. I even took the time to dust my house! Despite the rain I was still able to get my lawn cut and trimmed. I keep thinking that last summer I had places on my lawn that I had to avoid all season because it was so wet.
I was telling my students that I seemed to feel sad. I think July and haying makes me miss my dad and I just feel kind of lost at times. I miss him telling me what to do or giving me the gears for some of the silly things I get myself into. Every year he would tell me that it was his last year for helping me hay, but he always showed up. I think I have some frustration at work with a few trials and that weighs on me, so it is easy for me to get feeling sorry for myself! Now that we are planning for our Open House on July 31st that kind of bothers me as well because we are moving into the final stages of the season. I always miss the students so much after spending the entire summer with them. They are both so excited to head to school and I secretly wish they would always stay. My mom and I did a drive by Blackhawk over the weekend. I understand that the gold mine has been a good thing for the district but the change in the land over that way kind of makes me sad. We had a pasture over there and spent summers driving over at least once a week to check cows. It is amazing how things change. I am hearing the frustration of lack of processing and line ups at the abattoir. We all need to put our thinking caps on and figure this out! Encourage some young people to take a serious look at meat cutting and they could have a good business! We don’t want to lose the abattoir because I am afraid if it closes, we won’t see it open again! It is time to start working on cattle for the fair… Like I always say – I wish we could get haying down before that needs to start but that doesn’t ever seem to happen. I hate to take a year off because I think it would just be like the abattoir: if I take a year off, I will likely never get back to it again!
I know I will snap out of this feeling sorry for myself! This week we have a 4-H Beef meeting and there is nothing like being around a group of kids to put you back into a better frame of mind. Here’s to some good weather so we can all get back into making some hay!
Many of you will know Wayne and Sharon Meyers from Littlefork, Minn., – they have spent a fair bit of time on our side of the bridge! Anyway – they celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary over the weekend! Wishing them the BEST!
