Tecumseh, Nebraska store fronts around the town square.
So, it seems I’ve been to more small towns in Nebraska the last several days than usual. From one end of the state to the other. East to west and back east again. I’ve seen thriving communities and some that are basically dying – if not dead.
And hidden gems.
Our brief, but eventful, weekend ended yesterday.
We left Lusk about 8:00 am “their time” or 9:00 am “our time”. I’m certain the Graham family has a love/hate relationship when the Z’s come to visit. They are always so good to us and take care of us so well. And we ALWAYS have a grand time with them – ALWAYS! BUT…when it’s time to say goodbye, I know they are secretly thinking, “Oh no, here we go again”. Goodbyes are never easy for me. The tears come easily – they always have so I can’t even blame it on getting older. And then there’s the dreaded hugs. I know not everyone is a hugger; however, I am. And if you’re going to be someone I care about…you’re going to get hugged – at some point!
We left after the hugs (there were no tears…well, none that were visible to the Graham’s anyways). Taylor behind the wheel and Callie sitting shotgun. I took the backseat for two reasons. 1. The car we drove has awful front seats even though it’s supposed to be a “luxury” car. All they do is create more of a lower back issue for me than I already have. 2. I figured the sisters would have a good time being able to chat. Taylor was on a mission. We needed to get to the Kearney Archway in plenty of time to go through the exhibit and it closed at 5:00 pm “our time”.
Taylor sent a text to the entire family several weeks ago, “Going to Lusk the first weekend in May to Collette’s graduation. Who’s in?”
No one had to ask me more than once! I was definitely in!
The Graham family has been more family than friends for a very long time. It goes way back to the first year we landed in Jordan, Montana in 1981. My grandparents and parents cut for Nicole’s dad, Charlie. Nicole was five years old. She now has a family of her own. When we used to go to Jordan, the girls hung out at their house all the time…practically living there, I would say. So, they’ve been pretty darn special to us for quite some time. And not just Nicole but the whole darn Murnion clan!
Celebrated Jenna last Friday night with a surprise 30th birthday party. Her sisters did a fabulous job of keeping the secret!
Seems I just need to start writing. Beware…you won’t know what you’re about to read until you get to the end.
Good question. And it’s the #1 question most people seem to think to ask me when they see me. My reply? It varies. How much do you really want to know? Is it just a brief question in passing? Seems the most common one goes something like this, “Good question.” Then, depending on the look on their face (whether or not they’re happy with that answer or I sense further questioning) depends on what additional information I provide.
It’s sort of like this. Last summer was a tough one. When it was finally over, we had the hope that 2018 would be better. Just a little better would be better. Right? It would be. Well, 2018 is setting up to be even more of a challenge (right now) than last year.
Harvesters are already experiencing the dreaded phone call from their farmers in the southern country.
Wheat acres are still lower than they have been since records began being kept in 1919. However, I recently read the number of acres planted for 2018 are 3% higher than last summer. That’s good, right? It seems Mother Nature is trying to weed even more out. Maybe just to make the harvesters concerned about how everything is going to fall into place? Guess what, she’s doing a pretty darn good job! Between the severe drought in the south, the late freezes (also in the south) and the late spring conditions in the North, 2018 is setting up for a shipwreck.
I hope not.
Our bank account hopes not.
Our lifestyle hopes not.
Jim’s blood pressure hopes not.
But, as I’ve explained to you many times before…when there’s no acres to cut…there’s no income for the harvester.
Why do we do it? Another good question. Just about as good as the one EVERYONE asks me, “What’s your favorite part of being a custom harvester?” Every time it’s asked, I struggle. So, these two questions can/should go hand-in-hand! Oh wait…let’s not forget the first one I mentioned. So, that’s three very good questions.
Easter Day – the only members of the Hermesch crew to join the rest of the family. The rest of them were home sick. They’ve had one heck of a winter with sickness!
Maybe everyone asks those same three questions because they honestly want to know. OR because they’re trying to figure out why in the world we have chosen this as our job. OR maybe both. I always try to tell them the positives – hoping they will outweigh the negatives.
We haven’t received “the call”…yet. Unless Jim’s not sharing. But I’m pretty certain he would fill me in. A lot of acres are being “zeroed” out in the Texas panhandle, Oklahoma, Western Kansas and Eastern Colorado. No rain. Nothing for months and months. Some places exceeding 200+ days without measurable rainfall. Not very much can struggle to live (let alone just exist) without a drink for very long before it just quits. Except weeds.
Another result of the lack of rain is the lack of severe weather. To be specific, tornadoes. I just heard both Kansas and Oklahoma had no severe weather during the month of April. I believe I heard the last time that happened was in 1980. The first thing I think about when I hear that year (besides it being the year I graduated from high school) is the June 3, 1980 tornado outbreak in Grand Island. Now, as I’m typing this, we are under a tornado watch (meaning conditions are favorable for something to happen). Sort of exciting. But, I’m hoping if something happens, it’s after I’ve returned kids home safely from the track meet I’ve been sitting at all day.
Am I rambling? I hope it doesn’t read that way because it feels that way to me.
Lincoln Children’s Zoo – celebrated Eli’s 5th birthday there.
Happy birthday, Eli!!!
So, as I mentioned, acres are being zeroed out. What does this mean? To a harvester, it means nothing to do. No work. No income. For a farmer, it means his/her crop is basically dead. Everything that went into that crop will have a zero ROI (return of investment). The insurance company will zero it out when there is no hope of it being harvested. The most recent report from Ron Hays with the Oklahoma Farm Report states:
Among the worries of the crop scouts across the state were the many acres that will not be harvested for wheat this year- many of those will be grazed out or have zero forage and will be zeroed out by crop adjusters. In southern Oklahoma- there are thousands of acres that continue to be shifted to cotton and in north central Oklahoma- there is significant freeze damage.
What will we do if we have nothing to head to Texas for? I guess stay home? I mean, if there’s nothing worthwhile to justify the expense of moving equipment that far away, why would we do that? It’s all so up in the air right now. What about Kansas? Who knows. Probably nothing to do beyond Kansas. A strong possibility could be Montana. They’ve had a tremendous amount of moisture over the winter. BUT they’re also at least a month behind in getting their spring crops planted. What a mess! Could it get any worse? That’s what we were asking last summer.
When two worlds collide – brought the welding class to Grand Island to tour the CNH plant and Hornady.
So, back to the original question, “When are you leaving?” I just have to shrug my shoulders because I honestly have no idea. I’m sort of believing this is going to be a summer of complete faith in God’s plan. Nothing we thought we had planned is panning out right now. So, I’m going to go with His knowing what’s ahead for us.
In the meantime, I will continue to drive the bus when needed, spend time with Eli, Nora and Ben when I can, get together with the girls when their schedules allow and just wonder what the day is going to bring…until I know that it’s time to begin packing the “cottage on wheels”. Am I concerned? Absolutely! Who wouldn’t be? Our entire livelihood exists on what work we can do with the equipment we’ve invested in for the last 36 years. But, God has provided every year and I’m expecting to see some amazing things handled again this year!
So…hang onto your hats – it’s gonna be a wild ride!
To be honest with you, I’d much rather be in sunny Anaheim, California today. It’s Commodity Classic week and seeing a lot of my social media “tribe” in one location and not being there makes me feel like I wasn’t invited to the party. 🙂 But, you know, if you don’t farm, you’re not involved with an organization, not part of Ag media or selling anything a farmer would want, why would you be there? For the best reason, I guess…to see friends…to reconnect. So, I’m hoping everyone has a great time in sunny California while I’m left here to deal with foggy, cold Nebraska. (Sense my sarcasm?)
So, December rolled around. And so did some of the coldest temps we’ve seen in quite a long time. We had -20 on New Year’s Eve. And Jim agreed to go out. I’m certain it was only because we had already made plans with friends. And these friends only live about three miles from us but we don’t do anything together but once a year – on New Year’s Eve.
So, let’s start at the beginning and work our way through the month.
We celebrated Miss Nora’s third birthday with a Barbie cake, lots and lots of pink and one pretty excited little girl!
This was taken on her actual birthday.
On Nora’s birthday, we kidnapped Eli and took him to the Nebraska Power Farming Show – the 2nd largest indoor Ag show in the US. We had great fun climbing in and on and around and through every piece of equipment possible. Eli truly was in heaven.
Beginning the day of fun!
About ten days later, we escaped for a few days and hung out with awesome friends (Bruce & Leigh Krumbach) in Kansas City. Our excuse was to do a little “antiquing”. We had so much fun! We got to hang out with friends, eat out and stay in a hotel. Something the kids always loved doing.
We really didn’t plan dressing alike that morning!
If you haven’t visited Union Station in December, you really should. It was absolutely beautiful!
Do you know how hard it was not to start laughing? I was trying so very hard to keep a solemn look!
This is what it’s all about…lifelong friendships!
And now we’re getting closer to Christmas. I had the little kids come over on Jamie’s birthday (the 23rd) so she and Curt could go out and celebrate. They spent the night…under the Christmas tree. The next day, the bigger kids (Brooklyn and Jillian) came over to help us decorate Christmas cookies.
We turned a large box into a “house”. They claimed they were going to take their naps inside… yeah right.
Making Christmas gifts for Mom, the Aunties and Grandma Sandy.
The gang was all together for the annual cookie decoration day (Christmas Eve).
And then it was Christmas.
Our house is so small when everyone shows up. BUT…it’s full and it’s loud and it’s chaotic and I absolutely love having everyone home!
One of my lucky “finds” in Kansas City. Eli was going through quite the cowboy stage at this time.
The house got a little bit fuller in the evening when Mark, Candi, Brooklyn and Jillian came over for supper and more presents to unwrap. We all decided, again, to bypass getting gifts for everyone and instead spending the money on a family vacation. We’ll be spending a week together the middle of March in Florida. Can’t wait to wake up to the kids every day for a week. Something we used to do every day and didn’t even think about years ago. Now, it’s a treat!
Oldest and youngest.
The gang!
Jamie sent me this picture of Eli one day after Christmas. What a kid!
And that’s it for 2017. Another year come and gone and now we’re well into 2018. Jamie just made a comment today, “You’ll be leaving for the summer before we know it”. Yep, it seems once February is over, spring comes pretty quickly. I know we’re all ready for the warmer weather and getting outside again. The day I’ll have to tell everyone goodbye, though, comes all too quickly now.
We had a nine-day window of time before Callie and I had to be back to Vegas to pick up the Nebraska Wheat Growers’ Mobile Baking Lab from the convention center.
In that time frame, we celebrated Taylor’s 23rd birthday and I made a brief trip to the corn field for an afternoon.
Callie and Taylor
Celebrating in style! Jenna, Callie & Taylor
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TATE, TEE TEE, DEET, TATOR BUG…TAYLOR!
I did something tonight that I don’t usually do (unless I’m sick). I was actually laying on the couch, wrapped up to my chin with a fleece blanket. We’ve been cold and snowy here in Eastern Nebraska much longer than I really care to be. Once my body gets cold it takes blankets and/or a hot bath to really feel warm again. Tonight, I was hoping the blanket would do the trick. I guess that’s why I was on the couch.
The TV was on (more so for noise) and Jim was sitting in his chair looking at his phone. I thought about this particular scene as I looked at the carpet on the floor. My thoughts immediately went from the current moment to remembering what the floor looked like when we first moved in, which led to the carpet, which led to the chaos and craziness of this particular area of the house, which led to the quietness of the house, which led to why I’m writing.
The end of October was the beginning of a big adventure for me and Callie. Shortly after we got home, home from Colorado, I received a phone call from Caroline, the Executive Director for the Nebraska Wheat Growers Association. She had a plan and was wondering if Jim and I would be up for helping her out.
The plan involved a road trip from Lincoln, Nebraska to Las Vegas with their mobile baking lab. Ardent Mills wanted to use it as part of the Tim Horton Owners Convention. Would we be interested in driving the lab to Vegas, getting on a plane to come home, getting on another plane to go back to Vegas and driving the lab home? I thought it sounded like an awesome adventure and I was honored she even thought of us to help her out. I, however, didn’t want to get my hopes up because I knew Jim would be in the field and wouldn’t be able to help. I told her I would definitely be in…as long as I could find someone to go with me.
Oh my goodness! Why oh why do I put something off until it becomes a chore? I have no idea why it’s been so difficult for me to sit down and write. Maybe it’s some sort of writer’s block? I went through my pictures yesterday and decided today was the day to make it happen. Have you ever put something off so long you just wished it would go away – only it doesn’t? Today I have decided there was more than one way to skin a cat. What in the world am I talking about? I hope you know I would never really try to skin a cat. I know a couple of people (who are world-famous trappers) who DO KNOW what it’s like to skin a cat. Okay…now, I’m getting off subject.
Another reason I’ve sort of backed away from writing (I think) is the overwhelming amount of information that comes through social media about how I SHOULD be writing a blog. And how it’s SUPPOSED to be done. And how I’m doing it all WRONG. I admit, I began reading some of the information, hoping to learn more, only to end up even more overwhelmed. After feeling like a complete loser, I decided I was doing it just as it was INTENDED it when started. I wasn’t out to win the #1 spot on the Google search engine. I’m not making bazillions of dollars – not even one – so I shouldn’t feel the need to compete in any way with anyone. I don’t need to have a post go viral (although it would be fun to think I wrote well enough others liked it that much). I just want to write. To share my story and my journey through this crazy thing called life. If it helps someone somewhere along the way, perfect! No more worries about doing it wrong!
So, the last update I wrote about (a harvester’s widow), I was spending my days doing whatever I could while getting used to being home…by myself. How long ago was that? I just looked – it was October 28. A lot of things have occurred since that day. And because of recent events that have made me more aware of how important pictures and memories are, I have decided I have just got to do this. Staring at the closed computer every day wasn’t going to make anything just go away.
I have become a harvester’s widow.
Jim’s been the sole fall harvester since we started this business. That means he’s been the only one in the soybean and corn crops for the past 30 years. And this year is no different. There was some talk that I may be needed to run grain cart because they are one man short. If you remember, the day Ben was born, we also lost our fall customer and dear friend, Russell. Apparently, his son-in-laws have it under control better than they expected before the harvest actually got started because I’ve not been asked. Russell would be very proud of them! However, I was sort of hoping I would finally be involved but with this cold snap…maybe not so much.
So, while Jim has been doing the fall harvest, I’ve been the one left at home doing what needs to be done here. Until the past two years, a lot of my time has been involved with the girls’ schedules. Not so much anymore. So, the days tend to get long. I have been able to unload and clean the inside and outside of the trailer house with very little interruption. I have all but one small flower garden to clean out before the snow flies and I still have the house to thoroughly clean of cobwebs. Jim usually leaves the house about 7:30 am and most nights doesn’t get home until 9:30. Long days – much like the wheat harvest.
I’ve had a couple of fun outings with Eli and Nora. It’s probably a good thing they don’t live any closer than they do. We may not get anything done…ever!
Our first outing was a spur of the moment occurrence. It was one of those beautiful Fall days where it didn’t even feel like Fall. It was one of those “let’s make her think it’s going to be summer forever” type of days.
Whenever we go anywhere, we have to have Jamie put the car seats in the van. I almost hate to suggest going anywhere simply because I know just how much work it is to transfer those seats from one vehicle to the other. It’s not like it was when my girls were little. Holy cow! So simple back then (and they survived)!!! Improvements usually mean more work. Anyways, I headed over to the H’s house and had Jamie install these pieces of engineering genius in the van. Jamie had their bag filled with snacks, jackets and anything and everything we could possibly need. I’ll have to give that girl credit…she’s prepared!
Once loaded, I decided we needed to head towards the walking bridge (that used to be a railroad bridge) that goes over the Platte River. You can walk from one shore of the river to the next. I will have to confess, though, I worried about just letting the kids head out on their own at first. But, once I surveyed the amount of space between the fence and the cement bridge, there was no way a body could just fall through it and land in the river. So, they were OFF!
It was about here where I was making sure a little body couldn’t just slip through any sort of opening. Even though I knew they couldn’t, I couldn’t convince the uneasy feelings I had of that while watching them stand there.