LOTS TO DO

It's the last day of September - where on Earth did 2007 go? It seems like only yesterday we were dealing with all the hoop-la over the millennium, and now, here we are almost at 2010. It is a mystery how time can speed past so fast.

Harvest is pretty much done for everyone in this area. I think it's a different story up in the northeast of the grain belt of Saskatchewan. They've been over wet for two years now so they can't get their crops planted until later in the season which just puts their whole crop year behind schedule. Here we haven't had more than a drop or two of rain since August (enough to stop harvesting, but not enough water to keep the pastures green) so Glen has been having to feed the cattle bales out on the pasture for weeks now. We have lots of hay put up so there is no worry of running out, but it's an extra job that shouldn't need done until snowfall. We have a pasture we want to move them to, but first the bales have to be hauled off it or the cattle will just destroy them. Glen has hired a guy to come and haul them home, but so has everyone else in the countryside. A guy with a bale hauling truck is a busy man this time of the year.

We were pleasantly surprised last week when our butcher called to say that he could come and do an animal for us. We had thought we'd be waiting until November for him. I had been warning Glen all through August that we were down to the last of our beef in the deep freeze - and I had put some pressure on at the last, telling him that if I ran out of the "good" stuff (our own home-grown beef) that I wasn't buying what they sell at the stores because it doesn't even compare in taste or texture. What I was going to do was switch to chicken until our beef was ready. In Glen's eyes, that's an out and out threat. He hates chicken. I don't know if he had to bribe the butcher to come early, or not, but it sure worked out in his favour; we are down to one roast and one package of steaks. That should keep us fed until the end of next week when they'll call us to come pick up a whole deep freeze of meat. Hopefully it will be before the kids are home for the long weekend so they can take some back with them. That way we can share the wealth and help them with their student food budgets at the same time.

Today looks like another fantastic fall day out there. Yesterday I washed all the windows on the house - inside and out - and today looks like a good day to go out and clean up the flower beds. I obviously don't ache in enough places yet! I will also be trying to figure out my choices for annual flowers next year. Jesse and Andrew are officially engaged and have set their date for September 13th next year so I'll be aiming to have to yard looking in top shape for late summer. I think that will mean lots of asters, marigolds and zinnias. Maybe some dahlias too, although I never have very good luck with them. The wedding will be in a church, but she wants her pictures to be taken at the farm - in September it will be the luck of the draw as to what kind of weather we end up with, we could have shirt sleeve temperatures like yesterday, or snow - but I guess there are no promises with weather no matter which date you choose.

There is much to do, both short term, and long term so I had better put down my Sunday morning cup of coffee and get on with my day!

A BUSY TIME

The days grow shorter, the nights cooler, and the trees prettier. Harvest drags on - or so I hear the farm wives say when they’re in picking up their mail. Glen and I have so little that we actually combine anymore that we’ve been done for ages, but the big grain farm operations are barely halfway.

One conversation between women on their parts and grocery runs earlier this week was all about how this harvest was going so slowly this year. It’s true that there have been frustrating little rains many days that grind everything to a halt for a day or two each time, and as the days shorten up, there are less sunshine hours to dry things up again. If farmers could only have a week of dry and hot weather they would be done. What made me smile, after these younger women had said their piece, was when an older one spoke up - about how when she was growing up, and how harvest always took the whole month of September back then. The farms were smaller size-wise, but so was the machinery that did the harvesting, and no one had the added conveniences of straight cut headers and aeration fans to lengthen out the harvesting hours of a day. I don’t know if the younger women even stopped long enough in their busy rounds to ponder these things, but I kind of sided with the one who remembered the harvest days of my childhood. Obviously I, too, am getting old.

Today must be aggravating the heck out the neighbors again. There have been two different ten minute showers since I got up this morning, and by the look of the skies, number three is about to happen. I love the smell of the fresh, clean air ... but then, our grain is already in the bin.
Of course, there is always something to be done on the farm, though. Glen is still trying to find enough hours in the day to do his farming and go and earn a paycheck as well. He’s off building an oil well lease today but the bales still need hauling home and the cultivation of the calving pasture, so that we can re-seed it, is still undone. I’ve told him often enough there are but 24 hours in a day, and only seven of those in a week, but my words fall on deaf ears. He has managed to get our barns scheduled for cleaning before freeze up and got busy and sold the rye we’ve been storing for three years ... that’s some progress, at least. I know if I offered, I could do some of these jobs, but I’ve learned the more you know how to do, the more you are expected to do. I already cover enough bases, and besides, if I lessened his load of those jobs he’d just think of something else he needed to take on! One of us has to say "Enough!"

So, I’ve spent today cleaning my house, washing floors, and have a roast beef in the oven. I think it will even be accompanied with an apple crisp for dessert. My contribution on a Sunday afternoon.