Seedlings

One of my favorite Spring sounds is the sound of the Red Wing Blackbirds in the wheat fields. They just sound cheery. The males look beautiful with their black feathers and red shoulders in the green of the wheat. I have to say though, they are camera shy. I no sooner whip out the camera and they hop just out of range.
Well the corn is up...

...and growing fast. There few sights that feel as good to a farmer as seeing the seedlings come up. Basically you have one shot to get it into the ground. It can take a couple of weeks for the seedlings to come up out of the ground. The weather might be nice when you plant, but it can turn to crap as soon as you are done. You have no control over what it is going to be after you plant. There is nothing you can do but wait. So, it feels good to see healthy plants poke their little heads out of the ground.

   We will cultivate it next week, then put some fertilizer on while we can still get a tractor in there. Then water, water, water all summer.

We got the caps off the cotton this week---just in time. It hasn't been hot, just nice Spring weather. But, boy, oh boy, did the cotton come up fast. We started dragging the caps off on Wednesday. By Thursday morning it was all ready to go and we can only de-cap a hundred acres a day, or so. Ruben turned on the jets and set a new land speed de-capping record. He had everything uncovered by Saturday morning.

I couldn't leave you without one more picture.

My exercise program consists of taking the dogs for a one mile walk nearly every morning. This is Toby. He is Sheryl's puppy and he is a water dog. He cannot resist. Whenever he finds a puddle he finds it and lays down in it. When we cross the canal he is in in a flash.He loves it when I irrigate the trees, then there is water all over the place.
I hope y'all have a great week.

P