HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Corn Harvesting

This big contraption invaded our cornfield yesterday; possibly it is some sort of political machine chewing its way across the landscape.

Nah! Of course, you know its a corn harvesting machine known as a combine. I believe the name derives from the fact that the processes of picking and shelling corn are combined in one machine. When I was a kid, farmers still used corn-pickers, which harvested the corn on the ear. The ears would be stored in a corncrib, to dry out and later be ground up or shelled for feed.
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We hire another farmer to combine our corn. Recall that much of our corn was already chopped and put in the silo several weeks ago. Now, whatever was left is being harvested as shelled corn. In this next photo, the combine gets ready to dump its load of shelled corn into the green grain cart.
The grain cart----which also belongs to the guy who owns the combine----dumps its load into the red gravity box wagon. From there, in this photo, the corn kernels are being blown into our blue Harvestore silo which is made to hold high-moisture shelled corn for the cows to eat. This silo is like a great-big canning jar.

It was my responsibility to monitor the grain flowing from the red wagon into the silo blower. Here we're looking through the little hatch window on the side of the red wagon to watch the corn dump from the grain cart's auger.

My job included turning this wheel to raise(open) and lower(close) the gravity box wagon's door.

After the Harvestore silo was full, we moved the wagons and started augering corn into a metal bin. In this picture, the corn flows into auger's very handy hopper.

Nowadays, farm equipment comes equipped with many safety features like the shield and grid you see in the hopper. The shield covers the spinning auger blade.
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Nevertheless, the chance for injury always exists, especially if you are careless and not paying attention. NEED WE SAY MORE?......these warning decals seem to be saying:

Obviously, you would NEVER want to stick your hand or any other body part into an auger!! I know of many guys who lost fingers or parts of hands or feet in augers. People get in a hurry and get careless. Like I said earlier, though......the safety shields and such are much better now than they used to be.

Sadly, every now and then, a farmer will get electrocuted while moving an auger.......if the auger comes in contact with overhead power lines. The auger must be lowered way down for safe moving. A few years ago, in a neighboring county, a father and son BOTH died one autumn day while moving an auger. Oh, my.

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Well, the combine is on its last round. Another corn harvest wrapped up successfully!

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Next up on the farm docket........chopping cornstalks and baling them to be used as livestock bedding through the winter. I wouldn't be surprised if Husband asked me to chop stalks sometime soon.

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Hey........I also had a pleasant time yesterday on my drive to and from picking up the baler netwrap. Lots to show and tell you eventually. Here's a hint about the historical site I visited: A well-known Confederate figure spent time there in the 1840's.

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Oh.....and, Happy Friday the Halloween Day! Here's a link to some

historical Halloween info......always fascinating. We don't get any trick-or-treaters coming around out here on the farm.......except for possibly a young niece or nephew once in a while. I'm hoping to carve a pumpkin today; I just love watching a real, flickering, glowing jack-o-lantern face on Halloween night! I rolled a log over to the fire spot in our yard and hope to start it burning for s'mores later on.

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SkyWatch #16

Welcome one and all to this SkyWatch Friday post! Please be sure to visit Skyley.com to find the list of this week's SkyWatch posts from around the world!
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One morning a couple weeks ago I was completely mesmerized by the cloud display above our farm. These photos are from that day.

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BUTLER DID IT! YES, HE DID.......IN THE MILKHOUSE.......WITH A PIPE WRENCH! (My apologies if you've never played the board game "Clue".) I hope you enjoy the photos anyway! (Uh.....in case you are confused.......the brand name "BUTLER" is on the bin......its a BUTLER bin......very common in Iowa.)

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AUGER WILL FIGURE THINGS OUT, FOR HE IS AN AUGUR! PERHAPS HE WILL READ THE CLOUDS.

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MEANWHILE, THE CORNFIELD CONTINUES TO HOLD ITS OWN AGAINST THE ARMY OF CLOUDS.

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HAPPY SKYWATCHING!!

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Turbines & Football

Around sunset last evening I passed by a wind farm along Highway 218 on the way to my son's substate football game. The turbines are intriguing eyecatchers.......this is the first time I've ever seen them silhouetted at dusk. Sorry for the blurriness of the pictures.

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And, hey......we won the game! In the first half we built up a commanding lead which carried us successfully through the rather ugly second half. As Russell of Iowa Grasslands blog (Click the link to see a very cool post!) mentioned in a comment on the previous post, the high school play-offs in Iowa were expanded this year to allow more teams to participate. Thus the reason this game was referred to as a "substate" contest. The expansion is good for the smaller classes.....8-man, A, 1A, 2A, because of the numbers of teams in those divisions. But, in the larger classes of 3A and 4A, it means that the majority of teams will make the playoffs, despite having losing records in some cases. My daughter teaches at a 4A school and she said 5 of the 6 teams in their district are in the playoffs, which she thinks is a bit ridiculous.

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After the game, I grabbed a late supper at an Arby's drive-through and headed back east on Highway 18, listening to a replay of the game on an AM radio station. It was fun and interesting to hear the play-by-play, but eventually the station retreated into the ocean of static. I rolled the radio dial around, landing on a late-evening religious broadcast. Oh, my.......it made me feel young again to hear the self-proclaimed prophet speaking intensely about things to come. He said we are now in the Night of the Lord......it began around 500 years ago, when the U.S. began its rise. (Everything's about us.) The Night is almost over........what needs to happen now is prophesied in Zechariah chapter 14, verses 12 and onward.......the speaker said this passage refers to a nuclear war, which must take place before the Day of the Lord can dawn when WE righteous people will be drawn up into the clouds to watch the evil people be destroyed. Then WE, the sons of God, will return to earth to be the rulers. And......he repeatedly promised, "This WILL happen in YOUR lifetime!" It was such a joy to hear this message that I almost detoured to Independence, where I could have begged to be admitted to the Mental Health Institute. Thank goodness for words of wisdom wafting over the airwaves to bring enlightenment during the darkness of night!

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Happy I am, of course, that the airwaves in this country can be used to disseminate all kinds of teachings. Its good to hear many, many ideas, and get a handle on what people are thinking about. The other day during lunch, Husband and I turned the TV to a religious station which is rather fuzzy, but does come in at times. The show right then was an interview with an author who's just written a book containing teachings similar to what I heard on the radio broadcast. Husband, who usually brushes off any comments I make about End Times prophecies, listened attentively to this TV show. He told me this morning that he has finally made up his mind who to vote for, and it was this TV show which convinced him. I didn't ask him who's he's voting for, though.

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Now......Husband has just asked me to go pick up netwrap for the round baler. Once the corn is done being combined here today, we will make round bales for bedding from the cornstalk debris left in the fields. Anyhow.......the town where I'm going to get the netwrap has a historical site and I might stop there quick to snap a few photos! Very exciting.......it makes the trip worthwhile!!

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Have a wonderful day!

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Hay There Area Code

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Hay there, blog readers! Here's one of my favorite autumn decorations:

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But, hey.......do you ever get hang-up calls from unfamiliar numbers? We just received one this morning, from this number: 853-958-9558. So, I decided to try and look it up online. Here's an interesting and helpful website: 800Notes: Directory of Unknown Callers. You type in the caller's number and it links to pages of comments from other people who have received calls from the same number. Interesting. As far as I can tell, 853 is not an area code, so how can a call come from an area code that doesn't exist?

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Oh, and a Jehovah's Witness guy stopped in this morning, too.......very pleasant and well-dressed, as they always are. He kindly gave me a brochure.

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At the time this post publishes, I will hopefully be at a play-off football game, 1-1/2 hours away. My daughter and her husband are driving there from Ankeny; it will be fun to spend time with them. I'm taking some caramel apples along for them, too, and apples from our tree. Today has been sunny, quiet, warmish.......just a perfect autumn day, giving hopes that tonight's game will take place in cool, but pleasant weather conditions. No blustery winds to contend with, thankfully.

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Towers, Steeples & Nose

On Saturday, during morning chores, Husband announced that he wanted us to go visit our newly-wed son and daughter-in-law, who live 2-1/2 hours away. Years ago I learned to never suggest going anywhere........Husband must come up with the idea himself, in order for me not to be considered a nag. Call me anything you want........but don't call me a nagging wife......that's the absolute LAST thing I ever want to be thought of......because I AM NOT ONE! I'm a blogger, not a nagger!!

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After chores were done, I hurriedly packed a cooler of snacks and drinks and off we went, heading south to catch four-lane Highway 20. As we motored east, the sunlight filtered soothingly through the clouds and into my passenger-side window. Ah-h, very relaxing......

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Along the way, I zoomed the camera and blindly snapped at watertowers, steeples, old barns, trees........you name it! The following photos show some of the results. As you view these pictures, remember we were sailing along at 70 miles-per-hour, thus there was no way to plan the composition of the photos.

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First of all, the patriotic Independence, Iowa, watertower, backed up by the Mental Health Institute's spooky buildings. MHI was built back in the 1800's.......it was probably known as an "insane asylum" then. Its a big place......there must have been alot of crazy people around then, and it would probably have been my abode, had I lived at that time! Years ago, when I was in LPN school, our class toured MHI.....even the dungeon-like basement. My parents referred to MHI as, "the silo", a corruption of the word, "asylum". They would speak of so-and-so being "in the silo". And, sometimes my mom would yell at us kids: "You'd better straighten up, or you'll drive me to Independence!" To us kids, "Independence" was not a town......it was the place where parents ended up after their kids drove them crazy!

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Next we have the Manchester, Iowa, watertower. "Adventuregirlwannabe", this photo is for you, because you once lived in Manchester:

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Slowly, slowly......the sun made itself known across the landscape, but with clouds casting long shadows here and there. As for a farm harvest report: the majority of corn remains in the fields and we noticed many soybean fields not combined yet, either.

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Ok, these next twin church spires belong to a very famous landmark in Iowa........

The Basilica of St. Francis Xavier in Dyersville. (Its by complete chance that the DQ sign ended up also in this photo.) There are 52 basilicas in the U.S., and this is the only one located outside of a major metropolitan area. A few years ago, I had the privilege of touring the Basilica with a school group; it is gorgeous inside and is probably as close to a cathedral as I will ever experience. Somewhere in my shoebox archives are photos from there; maybe I can find a few to post someday. A few miles northeast of Dyersville is another famous spot........

The Field of Dreams, where the Kevin Costner movie of the same name was filmed (rhymsie, that's for you). I've also been there several times on school trips.

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A few miles east of Dyersville is Farley, Iowa. My sincere apologies for this random encounter between Husband's nose and the church steeple. I guarantee it was entirely unintentional! A large car-racing stadium exists at Farley, too, on the south side of the highway.

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Not far down the road is the town of Epworth, home of Divine Word Seminary. The scenery there went by too fast; I couldn't get a photo. This part of Iowa is definitely Catholic country, and traditionally Democrat, though who knows how things will turn out with next week's election. We saw many political signs promoting Democrat candidates, state and otherwise.

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This next photo, obviously, shows the Peosta watertower. Let's see.....what else is at Peosta? The Northeast Iowa Community College, I believe.

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This next scene came along later, on Highway 61.......the old Hurstville watertower. Someday, I hope to be able to explore the historic Hurstville lime kilns built into the hill below this landmark.

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Just past Hurstville on Highway 61 is Maquoketa, Iowa. Years ago, when our first two children were very small, we spent a day here in Jackson County, touring Maquoketa Caves State Park and artist Patrick Costello's renovated grist mill/art gallery.

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This final photo is my favorite of today's post........it was snapped along Highway 61 and I don't recall the name of the place. I like the random combination of the steeple, the leafy tree branches and dead trunks, plus a spindly evergreen tree. If you click the photo, you will see that the bellfry louvres are in need of a paint job! Maybe they'd hire Husband to do it.......he painted the cross on top of our church's steeple once. Seeing him up there scared me half out of my mind.

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Now your day is complete, right?! You've seen some really exciting sights from along Highways 20 and 61 in Iowa. Yeah, right. Like Kate the Country Girl states on her blog's header......"Try not to get too excited!!"

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Apple Peace Offering

Here's my peace offering to those offended by my previous post.......and to anyone not offended.

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Caramel Apples........from scratch!! Deserthen posted this easy and delicious recipe the other day on her blog,

Gravel Roads and Daiquiris in the Dirt.

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I made these this afternoon and must confess that this is the first time I've ever made caramel apples from scratch! They weren't difficult at all, although I didn't have enough sticks and had to use nut picks for holders on the last few.

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I used small Red Delicious apples given to us by a friend and Golden Delicious from an orchard near Dubuque. We had a nice crop of what I think are Harrelson apples here at our farm, but they are a very big fruit, too large for caramel apples, in my opinion. I wish I could find a picture of a Harrelson apple so I'd know for sure if that's what ours are.


Anyhow.......jump on over to Deserthen's blog and try the wonderful caramel apple recipe!!

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A Blog By Cats

I know.........I know.........stay away from blogging your political opinions, Jeannelle!! But, just now I had to turn on my heel and stalk away from Husband. He is so taken in by the Obama/Joe-the-Plumber story. Husband is convinced Obama wants to GIVE away the wealth of this country to people who are lazy and don't want to work. (Husband is a very hard worker.......work is his life!) I retorted that John McCain is pussy-whipped by Sarah Palin, as are many men (perhaps). I have often observed the effect that attractive middle-aged women can have on men of any age! Its an instinctive reaction.......heart/gut trumps head. Boy-oh-boy, Husband didn't like to hear that, of course. (I happened to read Kathleen Parker's editorial in the newspaper yesterday, also.)

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Anyhow........I ran in from the barn and Googled "pussy whip Palin"..........only TEN links showed up. One was a blog written by some observant Democrat felines,

"My Cats Are Democrats: Purrceptions on Politics, Journalism, Bad Grammar, and More".

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Of course........maybe it would be good to have a female leader who holds the trump card of attractiveness. Male world leaders might tumble like dominoes......or, then again, maybe they wouldn't......I could easily be wrong about the whole deal. At any rate......watch yourselves, guys!!

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Man In Tree

Its a hidden picture game! Can you see the big, overgrown tree branch that seems a bit out of place? Haha. That's Husband.......Man in Tree!! Should I call the Fire Department to rescue him? Hardly. He climbed up there of his own free will to trim branches off this tree next to his dad's house in our nearby small town. His dad passed on last fall and the house is not sold yet. The other day in the mail we received a letter saying the trees need to be trimmed.......15 feet above the street and 8 feet above the sidewalks!

The branches filled the pickup:
Oh, golly.......there he is up there again. I can't even watch him.......he makes me so nervous sometimes!


I'll just wander around, watching things on the ground, instead!

Leaves, leaves everywhere..........and not a rake in sight!! Too bad.

So many bright, beautiful red leaves here and there........but, wait.........this next one is not a leaf! Its a petunia!! A lonely little petunia in the onion patch.......I mean, the autumn leaf patch!!

Ho-hum. Might as well check the temperature on this trusty, old Yoder Feeds thermometer hanging by the garage door. Cool, but pleasant.......around 50 degrees or so. Ho-hum.

After Husband was finished showing off his tree-climbing and sawing abilities, we drove the branch-laden pickup to the outskirts of town where there is a dump area for yard waste.

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That's my post for the day.......not very exciting, but the tree trimming did need to be done. We'd sure like to sell the house soon to get the estate settled. If any of you have a hankering to live in a small, very quiet (or possibly, boring) Iowa town, and are in the market for an older house on which to practice your fix-up skills.......please let me know!!!

MyWorld - Wapsipinicon River

Hey, kids......guess what.......its time for MyWorldTuesday, where bloggers showcase sights from their own local worlds! This weekly event is brought to you by the talented SkyWatch team of Tom, Sandy, IMAC, Klaus, Ivar, Wren, and Fishing Guy.

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About five miles from our northeast Iowa farm flows the Wapsipinicon River.......known by locals as simply "The Wapsi" (whop-see). The Wikipedia link in the previous sentence shows a map of the Wapsi's course and offers the following information about the origin of the river's unusual name:

"The name of the river in the Ojibwe language is Waabizipinikaan-ziibi ("river abundant in swan-potatoes"), on account of the large quantity of arrowheads or wild artichokes, known as "swan-potatoes" (waabizipiniin, singular waabizipin), once found near its banks." That meshes quite well with another source I once found which said that Wapsipinicon means "white potato water". When I was a kid, the story was going around that the name came from the romantic legend of two star-crossed lovers from warring native tribes who lost their lives in the river. I did once write that into a story for an English assignment back in high school.

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At any rate........let's take a look at the Wapsi. These photos were taken two days ago, Sunday afternoon, around 2 p.m.

This bridge over the Wapsi is on a lonely gravel road northeast of Dunkerton, Iowa.



The next scene is looking south from the bridge........the sun cooperated for a few minutes, peeking bashfully through the gray clouds. If you would climb up the riverbank on the left (east), you would reach some farmfields where people have found many Native American arrowheads and other artifacts over the years. I had a friend back in grade school whose father had a display case full of arrowheads he had found in this area.

The next photo looks north from the bridge, towards a railroad bridge in the distance. Looks like someone's had some fun with an ATV on the sandbar! In the foreground are autumn leaves floating on the water.

Here's looking at you, X!

Leaves on the water.........as I typed that phrase the song Smoke on the Water came to mind. Yes, my mind wanders too easily!

More of the bridge structure:

Well, we can't stay here all afternoon.......so, around the bend in the road we'll go. Good-bye, Wapsi River!!

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Here's another interesting tidbit from the Wapsipinicon Wikipedia page:

"It (the river) defines the western boundary of the Driftless Area. While the Wapsi has a soft, recent catchment, the Driftless, to the east and north, tumbles down to the Mississippi in rugged canyons."

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Thanks for stopping by and be sure to travel to other MyWorldTuesday sites!! Its a great, inexpensive way to see the world!

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