As he shall sow, so shall he break down...

I am talking about Bruce, of course, what he was sowing was anhydrous ammonia into the bean ground so next year our corn will grow tall, strong and vivid green. My job is to haul the tanks from town. We started Tuesday and I hauled tanks till dark so Bruce would have plenty to work with while I was off on a mission Wednesday morning with two friends from the garden club.

Orange City, IA has a tulip festival each May, after the tulip foliage dies down, they are all dug and stored somewhere, the beds replanted with colorful annuals, and the public is invited to 'OCTBGDs' (Orange City Tulip Bulb Giveaway Days), I just made that up but I think they should adopt it. I have never gone but Eva knew I was interested so she let me know it started on Wednesday. Sara was driving and I begged a ride and the three of us set off with bags of bags.

The bulbs are spread out in huge wooden trays in the interior of the band shell on the corner of the OC park.

Did I say HUGE TRAYS?

There were three rows of these trays, each one labeled with the color but no other statistics, it was like Christmas in there!! On the way up Sara asked Eva if she thought she could get 15 or 20. Eva snorted, "Bags!" I said, "You mean you would drive all the way to OC to get 15 or 20 bulbs?" Sara said she didn't want to be greedy.

Let me tell you, Sara was whipping bags out and filling them with the best, I think I even saw her elbow a little old lady out of the way!

(I just made that up also but it would have been funny and totally out of character, I think.)

I kept telling myself, remember you have to plant these!! After leaving the building with bulging bags, we headed for the bakery, we needed sustenance after that and preparing for the work ahead of us, a card store, locker famous for their meats and the Staples Outlet Store. If you need a winter coat, shirts, back pack, etc., head to OC and shop the store. I got a name brand back pack for all my photography equipment, everything for a mere $15, of course that means it weighs about 50# but when I have it, I won't be wishing I'd left this or that home.

We were just leaving the store when Eva received a text from another garden clubber who asked her to pick up a 'few' bulbs also so back we went to the band shell. I chose to stay in the truck while Sara and Eva went in to shop and people watch. I saw a young woman come out with her hands full of bulbs, she went to her car, rummaged around and came out with a Frisbee. Frisbee? Well it is a park, maybe she was going to play? Instead she went back inside the band shell and came out later with her Frisbee loaded with tulip bulbs, guess she doesn't keep extra bags in her car!

Finally we were on the way home, I called Bruce from our car to ask how things were going and things were not going. He was merrily driving along when he heard a noise and the tractor lost power. Upon further investigation, he discovered, to his dismay, a chunk of the fan blade broke off, cutting some hoses and belts, disabling the McCormick.

But you know it could always be worse, right? It could have gone through the radiator, but didn't. He called the dealer at Lawton, they ordered what he needed and said it might be there the next afternoon. The rest of the day was spent in odd jobs, cutting and splitting wood since a cold front was coming in. Rain was supposed to accompany it so I was vacuuming up leaves for my compost pile and kept thinking of all the bulbs I had to plant. Every so often the leaf vac needed a time out so I dug some holes for the bulbs but then it would run again or I needed to stack some wood to dry so I never actually planted any. But I reasoned that I can plant bulbs in the rain but can't vac leaves in the rain.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

It was getting dark and we had a shed to move for the neighbors, that will be my next blog, so I didn't get any planted. Thursday morning I was headed to my sister, Rosanne's house, so I threw in the bag of bulbs, hoping to pawn some off on her. I took my working clothes as an incentive, she dug and I planted. Next spring she should have a few bright spots around her house. She fed me and I left for home. Halfway home I received a phone call from Bruce, "I'm going again!!" That was very good news, the other good news was even though it got cold, it did not rain. I hauled an empty tank to town and another one back home. Since I had my 50# photography backpack in the truck, really, I never leave home without it now, I pulled over to the side of the road, partly into a field driveway, hauled out my big, honking lens and mono-pod to take pictures of Bruce out in the field.

I love my lens! That tree is the half way mark of our pasture, a big owl lives there and someday I'm going to catch him in flight.

See that house in the background, it is 2 miles away!

You can see their machine shed and even the skid loader if the picture was larger.

Not that I'm spying on the neighbors, I don't think I can catch them in their skivvies out in the yard, I'm just always amazed when I download the pictures, how far away it captures. In the larger picture the windmills even show up and they are several miles north of us.

But back to Bruce, I was happily snapping away, here he is turning around at the end of the field, be thankful you are not downwind when the anhydrous puffs, that stuff is nasty! And to think that is what the drug meth is made of, who in their right mind would think that is a good idea?? As my sister, Rosanne, says, "They aren't in their right mind."

Obviously.

Our road is not very busy, I was pulled off to the side and suddenly heard a loud noise, looked up to see the school bus thundering down the road toward me. Wouldn't you think he would slow up just a little??  NOOOOOOOO! The dust was flying, I quickly pulled the camera inside the truck cab but couldn't get the window up to avoid the dust. That was not very neighborly!

Well, I'm coming to the end of a very chatty blog, it is quite chilly outside and windy but the sun is shining and we get dinner out today, thanks to our neighbor, Jon. He was the recipient of a 'Feed the Farmer' promotion at the Agronomy Center in Paullina and invited us to partake also. Several years ago we were chosen and invited the entire Fuhrman family to eat with us so he is returning the favor.

I must get dressed and go do battle with the bulbs, unfortunately they are not going to plant themselves. 

Now that would be something, a self planting bulb, like a self defrosting freezer? 

Hmmmmmm.....