Yesterday we celebrated the anniversary of our Nation’s independence. I hope you did something fun and traditional.

I sent this picture to A Kansas Farm Mom after she challenged those of us in agriculture, “If you or your family is spending the holiday producing food for others, share a picture on this page. Happy Fourth of JULY!”

 Our day was spent in the wheat field. This is typical for the Z Crew. What wasn’t typical was not having to convince Jim we should shut down early for our “celebration”. For the past many years, I’ve always been the one to TRY to convince Jim he needs to either just quit at dusk or shut down earlier than usual. The girls were always good about providing a Fourth of July meal – barbecued hamburgers, hotdogs and Jenna’s Rice Krispie flag and then fireworks. We got the flag.

Thanks, Jenna! Wonderful, as always!

The day was spent in the field, thankfully! Due to the wet weather, we hadn’t had a full day of cutting since we got to Garden City. We worked on an irrigated piece yielding 100+ bushels per acre and weighed 60 – 62 lbs. So, it was a slow go. Not only because of the bushels but also because of a couple of very muddy areas. If you haven’t figured it out by now, mud makes Jim a little tense. This field, though, even with the mud made Jim smile (a little).

Jenna came out and hung with her parents for a lot of the afternoon. She took turns in the truck and in the combine.

Look closely, she’s sort of camouflaged. She’s sporting the brand new High Plains Journal T (which we hadn’t seen yet). She and the Yellow Beast sort of blend in.

When she was with me, we sat together in the heat. It wasn’t as warm as it could have been but it still felt warm if the breeze wasn’t hitting us just right. If I were her, I would have been spending way more time in the combine!

She let me take a picture of her but only if she could take a picture of me. I reluctantly agreed.

So, while we were sitting there basking in the sauna, Jim pulled up with the combine and stopped. I watched for a little while and then told Jenna, “I guess I better go see if he needs some help”. He did. On the far west side of the field, there were two dry land corners that had a lot of weeds in them. Jim tried going through the weeds only to find out the Yellow Beast wasn’t liking them so well. The monitors were showing way more grain loss than there should be. So, while he was stopped, he took a shield off which revealed the problem. The grates that surround the rotors were completely jam-packed full of a very wet (squeeze water out) weed mess. Jim and I worked on that for probably a good 1/2 hour before he felt like it was good enough. It smelled like something a cow would probably enjoy eating. When we were done digging this green weed play dough out of the belly of the Beast, this is what our hands looked like.

A small patch of the green weed that didn’t settle well with the Beast.

Look at the size of that head of wheat!

As the evening drew closer, Jim and I reminisced about the Fourth of July pasts and all the different stops we’ve been. I recalled this list in a previous post, “Celebrating the 4th “Wheatie” Style“. I was amazed at the number of different places we’ve been for the same day of the year! So MANY great memories. If you have young kids, I urge you to enjoy each and every moment you have with them – especially during occasions such as this. The years go too fast and before you know it, you’re wishing you could pause and replay over and over and over again! Jamie sent me a text after the day was over and asked how our 4th was. My reply, “Just weird…just another day”. She replied, “Yeah – my 4th’s are just starting and yours are coming to a close”. Why didn’t someone warn me of this? I feel like I should have been told by someone that it wouldn’t last forever! Sad…very, very sad (and something that will take some getting used to)! You always remember the kids’ “firsts” but don’t think about something being their “last”.

The field we were cutting was just north of Garden City and the town of Holcomb (of Truman Capote’s, In Cold Blood fame). So as soon as the sky was dark enough, we could see the large fireworks from both communities. By the time it got really dark, we decided we just needed to get back to the Cottage and take showers. Not one firework was lit this year – first time in like 25 years.

We weren’t the only ones working on the Fourth. I’d like to give a great big shout-out to the guys that remained at the Garden City Big Lowe elevator! They were there till the very end weighing and dumping trucks. I bet they would have rather been home with their family and friends but instead they were doing the job that was required of them. THANK YOU!

We finished that irrigated field this evening. And that’s when we discovered Frank had had enough. I couldn’t get him to start so we had to leave him in the field. He may have to stay there a few days. Poor Frank. Jim thinks the starter needs replaced. Jenna was back out for a few hours this afternoon. It was much hotter today than yesterday. I believe it got near 100 degrees today. Felt more like July in Kansas, that’s for sure! When the sun went down and the field was finished, Jim took time to blow the dirt off the Beast. This is my favorite time of the day during the summer. The sun is finally going down and the countryside is beginning to cool off.

Jenna’s vacation time is up and she’ll have to leave tomorrow while Taylor and Callie will be arriving. They’ll probably pass each other somewhere along the route. It’ll be good to see T and C but so very sad to see Jen leave.  I thoroughly love having the kids around! With that, I’ll leave you with a few pictures of this evening as Jim was cleaning.

Gonna be a little lonely in that great big field all by yourself!