Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Pre-seeding frenzy

You may think that harvest is our highest stress season, but it's not.  Harvest is the end of the year.  By harvest, you have done all that you can do, and now all that's left is to cut the crop.

The most stressful season of all is seeding.  This is where it all begins.  So, in order to get ourselves completely ramped up and near hysteria before we actually even put a seed in the ground, we go through pre-seeding frenzy.

This is where we worry about everything imaginable.  Is it too hot, is it too dry, what kind of wheat should we seed, will we be able to finish the second set of drills, when should we start seeding, will the equipment work, will all the electronics work.....you get the idea.  At this time of the year, Reynald usually declares that he is going to retire from farming.

It will all be over in a couple of weeks.  The seed will be in the ground, tiny green shoots will appear and we will be filled with hope for the next bumper crop!

I have been running the coil packer over all the ground that we will be seeding.

Colt and the coil packer and a hazy sky.

It was so smokey that I could smell the smoke in the tractor cab.  Look at the residue on this field.  The straw is so thick and has been insulating the seed bed from a record number of 90+ degree days in August.  

More smoke.


More smokey haze has been hanging around and today was particularly bad.  Thankfully a nice breeze helped to move out the worst of it near evening.  

Reynald and Alicia have been working furiously, and I do mean furiously on getting the second set of drills ready for service.  They have also been doing some repair work on the original set.  It's hard and physical work, plus, the temperature has been in the high 90's all week, yesterday reaching 100 degrees.

Miles and miles of hoses and wiring have been placed in the last three days.

We are hoping to try both sets of drills on Saturday to make sure everything works.

Since the boxes that usually hold the seed have been removed, Reynald and Alicia put these plates of steel on the back of the drill to add a little extra weight.  This will help the boots to penetrate evenly in to the soil for more accurate seed placement.


Good progress is being made however, and it looks like we will be able to reach our goal of starting on Labor Day.  I always think it's appropriate to labor on Labor Day.

Yesterday when I went out to do my chicken chores, the most glorious sunrise greeted me.  It definitely was a good morning!





Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Nature's solar glasses

Yesterday we all were wearing special glasses in order to look directly at the sun to observe the solar eclipse.  This evening, nature provided the glasses with a very smokey/hazy sky.  No glasses needed to look directly at the sun as it set in the west tonight.  








Monday, August 21, 2017

Totality Cool

This past Friday, August 18th, we launched the SS Rolinco and made our way to Dooley Summit, just south of Baker City Oregon.  We were staking out a claim on what we hoped would be a remote enough location to view the solar eclipse in the path of totality, without a billion other people.  When we arrived Friday evening, around 7 pm, we were the only ones in a campsite that Reynald and Alicia had scouted out the first part of July.




It was a beautiful location, despite a wild fire having burned out most of the trees the summer of 2015.  That actually made us feel more comfortable, knowing that if a fire did start anywhere near, we were in a "black zone" which had already been burned and we would not be in any fire related danger.


Sunset on Friday night.

Charlie's first camping trip.

Saturday morning a few others arrived, setting up camp, including our friends from Vashon Island, Warren and Mary Ann.

Charlie plays hard, then conks out for a few hours!!

Sunday more campers arrived, and there was a steady stream of cars going past our camp on to higher ground.  While the view may have been even more spectacular, the road was treacherous for cars and SUV's and certainly not suitable for the SS.
Reynald scouting out the landscape.

A few more folks arriving.
Several people drove clear to the top of Bald Mountain.

I enjoyed meeting people as they arrived.  I was officially tagged as the "camp host", a title I was happy to assume.  We met people from Israel, the Netherlands, London and from many parts of the US.


This family is from the Netherlands.  I love his t-shirt!
We kind of adopted Adam, who teaches 2nd grade in Anchorage Alaska, and drove down for the eclipse.

Monday morning our campsite filled up rapidly and it became impossible for me to meet and greet everyone that arrived! We estimated that there were around 100 plus people in our direct area.



This guy is taking a snoozer before the big event!

There was lots of serious equipment for recording the eclipse.


Carl and Steve drove over from the west side of Washington state and set up these large telescopes.
This fellow had witnessed 8 total eclipses and was looking forward to his ninth!

Such an appropriate t-shirt for the day!!!

The eclipse began shortly after 9am, with totality at 10:21am, lasting in our location for 2 minutes and 5.3 seconds.  I know this because Reynald kept repeating it, over and over.
Sunrise on Monday morning.

Alicia and Charlie and Reynald and Baxter going for a pre-totality walk.
Beth is looking through a lens that the fellow that has seen so many eclipses loaned us for a few minutes.

Alicia with her NASA approved solar glasses.

All eyes glued to the sky.
Many people at our campsite had experienced a total eclipse and they were most happy to talk about their previous experiences.  One fellow said that this was his 9th total eclipse!  They all gave us advice on what to look for and be aware of.
Again, the fellow with lots of eclipse experience.

Our friend Warren had some cool stuff set up as well.




Everything we were told would happen did, but there were a few things that I was particularly surprised by.  First, when the sun was nearly covered, the temperature began to drop significantly, and when it was totally covered it was down right cold.
Totality!


Crayton, Beth and Adam at totality.


Second, I was not prepared for the 360 degree sunset, which really wasn't a sunset, since the sun had not set, but the horizon was simply spectacular.




Third, the change in the light both before and after totality.  I can't describe the color, but it was kind of eerie.

I was surprised how quickly folks packed up and left after totality!  We watched until the sun was once again restored to fullness.

How many glasses does it take to view an eclipse?
Me and Baxter decked out with our glasses.
A very happy eclipse observer.

And a happy girl with her puppy!!