The Benefits and Problems of Rain

Our cows and calves have all been hauled to our three pastures for the summer now.  The recent rains have made the grass grow which is always good.  The cows are so content to get turned out onto the green grass but by fall they will be equally content to be hauled back and turned out on the harvested corn and soybean fields for the winter.
My caption for the photo above is “Watch Your Step”.  This pasture has some washed out gullies but the cows seem to be aware of the drop off so stay clear of the edge.John took all of the above photos as he was checking the cattle after the heavy rains we had last two weeks.  (We had a total of around 9” so had lots and lots of water.)  He went especially to check on the dam in a neighboring pasture.  As you can see it is full, full, full.  Normally there is just a little water in the bottom but now it is to the top and backed up the valley so it was dug out a bit to lower the level to make it safer and room for more rain if it comes.  Thankfully we had a few days without rain so that some of the flooding could recede and drain away but we had 1.6” on Wed. so things are wet again but not to the levels they were a week ago.  A lot of the rivers, creeks and low areas have had flooding and problems in central and eastern Nebraska.  We don’t get flooding very often so this is new for many residents.  I got up early one morning after a heavy rain during the night and went out to get some  photos and captured the barn and the rain gauge (3.15” overnight – the day before we had 2.75” of rain.)  You can see the water backed up behind the barn but it was not more than a foot deep at the deepest part.  It took several days to all drain away since it all had to go through the one culvert under the highway and backs up whenever we get a heavy rain.  I always say we have “Lake Greer” when we get heavy rains.   This last photo is of our house taken at 6:30 am that day I was up early taking photos after the rain.  You can see the morning sun reflected in the windows and the yard looks so pretty, although you really can’t see all the flowers that are blooming. 

We don’t like to complain about rain but we really can use more dry days.  The corn and soybeans are really needing some sun and John will be needing to be cultivating to remove weeds before the crops get too tall.  I know we will be wishing for rain before long but that is the life of a farmer - too much rain, not enough rain and a few days of it being just the right amount of moisture.

Until Later,
Lynn 

Secret Miniature Quilt and Rain

Yesterday I worked on a miniature quilt that I can not show you a photo of. Now don't you just hate that teaser. It is to be sent to a friend and she reads this blog so guess until I get it finished, mailed off and know she has gotten it everyone will just have to wait to see it.

We had rain here off and on all day yesterday but it didn't amount to much - only .30". I had an interesting conversation with a cousin of mine from Florida last weekend. She grew up on a farm in western Nebraska but now lives in a city where she raised her three girls. She commented that her girls would get to laughing at the letters her mother (their grandmother) would write about getting rain. They though it was so funny and would laugh and joke about the fact that she always included how much rain they got, down to the hundredths of an inch. She said they would never understand that to a farmer the amount of rain that comes down is very important. Rain equals more profit at harvest if you are a farmer that can irrigate and if you are a farmer that can't irrigate it comes down to just having any profit at all from a years work. It is the first topic of conversation when ever farmers meet after any rain storm.

That being said, we have been wanting a little more rain to keep from running our irrigation wells again this season on the corn. With the price of fuel the costs are enormous. Each well engine burns approximately 3 gallons an hour so over the period of a day it mounts up. Most farmers here have to farm quite a few acres to make a living so there are lots of wells to run and huge fuel bills to pay. I am not sure the .30" will do it but it sure helps.

The next thing the farmer will worry about is when we will get our first hard frost which means the end of the growing season for most of the crops. Milo will continue to mature if not hit by a hard frost but soy beans and corn will pretty much be done. An early frost will also reduce your yields. It is never a sure thing until the crop is harvested and in the elevator or bin. Well, that is it for farming 101 - a lesson on farming!

Back to quilting....Today I hope to quilt the mini I am working on and get it bound so maybe I can get it mailed tomorrow.

To keep this post more interesting I will post a photo of another quilt so there is something to look at today. This miniature quilt was finished in 2007 and named "Summer Night Sky" It is 10.25" x 10.25", machine pieced and machine quilted. the quilting is a little wobbly in places but I do love the colors of the fabrics together even though the photos are a little darker than in real life. The center Mariner's Compass is 4 .25".

It is a good thing I have older quilts to show to hopefully keep your interest since I am not a prolific quilter or a fast quilter.


Lynn

Aie Rossman class-QuiltNebraska

I did get the fabric washed and pressed for the Aie Rossman class I will be taking in Chadron at QuiltNebraska. I am so excited to get to take a class from her and learn some new tricks with applique. The photo on the right is the class project and the photo on the left are the fabrics I have chosen to work with (I think.) I have several other choices I plan to take along in case I just don't like these when I get there. You can see more of Aie's quilts on her website http://www.lotuslands.ab.ca/

Today I am working on stitching small (.75") paper pieced log cabin blocks. I am not working too fast it seems as I keep having to stop and do something else but did get those done and now working on some PP trees. If I work fast I may get the miniature wall hanging done for the challenge at QuiltNebraska. The theme they chose is Stars Over the Pine Ridge and my quilt will have trees and a star. Will take photos of what I have finished maybe tomorrow. Not sure I can get it done as we will go to our granddaughter's birthday party on Sunday and that will be an all day event since we live 3 1/2" hours away.

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We got more rain last night so everything is really wet. It rained 1" last night and 2 1/2" on Tuesday night. When you live on the farm you are always aware of how much rain you get and it was so nice to be able to shut off the irrigation wells for a while anyway. The price of diesel makes running them very expensive so anytime we can turn them off is good and money in our pocket.

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I should be out mowing but decided the grass could grow a little more - maybe I am just lazy or maybe I just want to sew! Maybe John will feel the urge to mow tomorrow morning so I don't have to. Keeping the lawn looking nice is not too hard nor time consuming but mowing all the other areas around the farmstead takes a lot of time and usually results in a dirty face and very hot body. Since I don't do sun well I have to wear long jeans and shirt plus wear a hat and gloves - all that can get pretty hot in the middle of the summer. I am reluctant to use sunscreen too much as I have developed an allergy to a lot of the sunscreens on the market. I have a couple I can use but don't use them too frequently as I don't want to develop an allergy to them too.

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Back to sewing my PP trees now.

Lynn

Rain and Quilting...They do mix

Yesterday was so wet and rainy most of the day. Had to go out in the afternoon for a while but made a dash from the car to the places I was going to keep from getting wet and managed pretty well. It is on days like this that I really like living on a paved road. It has been only 3 years since we moved here and already I am loosing my skills driving on muddy roads. Another advantage to living where we do is I don't get the car plastered with mud every time it rains. Remember sometimes the how the wheel wells on the car would get so much mud in them that I would hear a scraping noise when I turned corners after it dried some. Washed the car when the roads dried out but sometimes that could be a while. I am so glad we didn't get any snow like they did in western Nebraska yesterday. It is supposed to be spring and I think Mother Nature forgot to flip her calender over the last two months.

I did get more of my leaves prepared to applique on the mystery quilt yesterday but may have to stop doing that for a while. The China Luncheon/Bed Turning our guild is having is next Saturday and I am having trouble getting a center piece figured out for my table.

My original idea was to hang the stars I made from branches stuck in a vase but the more I thought about it I decided that would block people's vision across the table so back to square one. I guess it is back to square two as I do have my large stars all made and am going to use them no matter what as it took me so long to make them!!!

I went to our local antique/flea market store and bought a couple of glass pieces that I am fiddling with now. I stuck one on top of the other and may hang some smaller stars from a branchy thing I found in the basement that I once had hung small Easter ornaments from. Thinking about having the large ones scattered on the table around it. So last night I started making smaller stars using the same patterns as the big ones but about half the size. Am getting faster at making them now so have one done and another ready to cut out. I score all the lines before cutting them out so the folds will be sharper, plus they fold easier. Takes a little time but is well worth it.

Today I will include photos of a lap quilt I made my mother for Christmas. I took a photo of a quilt that intrigued me at the State Fair this year and figured out the divisions and drafted it in EQ6. I used all blue fabrics from my stash to make it and then machine quilted it.

I am really making an effort to learn to machine quilt well as it irritates me that my stitches are sometimes wobbly and not consistent in length. I tend to get tense and forget to move the quilt and get a bunch of stitches in one place. It is getting easier with each thing I finish but you will notice a lot of wobbles in the close up photos.

With rectangle pieces of paper I figured out how to quick piece the blocks and saved the left over triangle squares to use around the border. The back is also pieced since I rarely buy more than fat quarters and used most of the light blue on the front that was a larger piece to start with. Each rectangle is 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" and the finished quilt measures about 45" square.

Lynn