Yesterday was a BAD day here. Yes, I FINALLY finished planting. BUT........
The final panic of getting it done got to me and I folded to mother nature's scam attack. She brought on some nasty weather that I just had to try and beat lest I get set back a week or more on a field that was already 95% planted. I was scared silly of dealing with the delayed emergence. Her pressure tactic worked. However, on the 2nd last pass, she decided enough was enough and declared war. I was no match for her.
Worse, I tried to ram it through and kept going. Even a local tornado warning didn't stop me. What a fool.......
I later learned she dumped an inch of rain in that half hour while I panicked and let her F my eyes out.
A cold front storm wind blasted in and slammed the tractor door shut. I kept going. Then the sprinkles started splattering the wind shield and the dust on the tractor hood. I kept going. What a fool.
By then she just had too much and called in a favour from the God's of misfortune. My planter monitor started screaming. WTF! Now? Really now? Of all times, to run out of seed you choose now? Sure enough Row 3 is out. So I grab the scoop and shovel what was left in other rows into row 3. My instincts told me - it ain't gunna be enough.... Sure enough, a few hundred meters later row 10 screams. Now what?
I always keep a spare bag of seed on the tongue for just this situation. But a bag of seed is $500, and I don't need a whole bag. Seed can be returned but once the bag is opened, it's yours. So I throw it over my shoulder and run through the mud for a pail of last year's left over seed. Dumb mistake number 42.
Soaking wet, I get to the barn and.... Yup, no left over seed with the same chemical genetics. So I gotta open the bag anyway. Stupid. Coulda just opened it in the field and saved a half hour of guerilla warfare charging the barn in the mud!
Oh, well it's done now. So I dole out a portion of the 5 gallon pail to each row, then climb back in to finish up hoping the wet seed doesn't stick too badly to the metering plates. As I climbed in, I noticed the extra space between the bottom of my shoes and the tractor floor - ya, a heavy whack of mud on the bottom of my shoes. I sat down anyway, and pushed the forward lever. Should have noticed the mud and then realized that the tractor and planter would have to be worse. Nooooo, too dumb and too Stubborn for that.
A little rain and a pissed off mother nature ain't gunna stop one very stubborn old man. Fk her and the storm she rode in on too!
Next warning happened about 100 ft further down the field. It started raining mud all, around me! For Cryst sake! I've heard of raining cats N dogs, but never saw clots of mud falling out the sky! Worse, some was bouncing back! No wait! It's mud from my huge ag tires going up, then down again!
Time to quit. But WTF, we are on the last row! Let's plant on the way out....... So I did. My tractor let out a huge scream and puffed giant clouds of black smoke but..... I finished that last row. Dunno if it will grow but it's planted....
As I left the field, I drove over some bushes to clean things off a bit. So what happens next? How can it get worse?
Ya, mother nature hates me. She knew exactly how to punish me even more. As I drove over a large bush, a wild turkey burst out and flew away. Only one reason for that. So I walked back and checked. Yup, I drove over her nest. I'm gunna be riddled with guilt for months.
At that point I was totally crushed and beaten. So I drove it another 100 yards, left everything there to get rinsed off by the rain, and headed home on foot in the dark and pouring rain. When I got home, I stripped in the garage, wrung out my soaking wet clothes, and prepared myself for the outrage of mother nature's sister waiting inside. I wasn't far off. Holy crap was she pissed. So I ignored her and crawled into bed like a big wet smelly sheepdog.
Today, mother nature is gloating, the sun is shining, and Susquatch is licking his wounds and promising never to do that again.....
The wife is prolly planning my funeral. Beans prolly won't even grow in that pig pen I created out back. What in hell's tarnation was I thinking!
The final panic of getting it done got to me and I folded to mother nature's scam attack. She brought on some nasty weather that I just had to try and beat lest I get set back a week or more on a field that was already 95% planted. I was scared silly of dealing with the delayed emergence. Her pressure tactic worked. However, on the 2nd last pass, she decided enough was enough and declared war. I was no match for her.
Worse, I tried to ram it through and kept going. Even a local tornado warning didn't stop me. What a fool.......
I later learned she dumped an inch of rain in that half hour while I panicked and let her F my eyes out.
A cold front storm wind blasted in and slammed the tractor door shut. I kept going. Then the sprinkles started splattering the wind shield and the dust on the tractor hood. I kept going. What a fool.
By then she just had too much and called in a favour from the God's of misfortune. My planter monitor started screaming. WTF! Now? Really now? Of all times, to run out of seed you choose now? Sure enough Row 3 is out. So I grab the scoop and shovel what was left in other rows into row 3. My instincts told me - it ain't gunna be enough.... Sure enough, a few hundred meters later row 10 screams. Now what?
I always keep a spare bag of seed on the tongue for just this situation. But a bag of seed is $500, and I don't need a whole bag. Seed can be returned but once the bag is opened, it's yours. So I throw it over my shoulder and run through the mud for a pail of last year's left over seed. Dumb mistake number 42.
Soaking wet, I get to the barn and.... Yup, no left over seed with the same chemical genetics. So I gotta open the bag anyway. Stupid. Coulda just opened it in the field and saved a half hour of guerilla warfare charging the barn in the mud!
Oh, well it's done now. So I dole out a portion of the 5 gallon pail to each row, then climb back in to finish up hoping the wet seed doesn't stick too badly to the metering plates. As I climbed in, I noticed the extra space between the bottom of my shoes and the tractor floor - ya, a heavy whack of mud on the bottom of my shoes. I sat down anyway, and pushed the forward lever. Should have noticed the mud and then realized that the tractor and planter would have to be worse. Nooooo, too dumb and too Stubborn for that.
A little rain and a pissed off mother nature ain't gunna stop one very stubborn old man. Fk her and the storm she rode in on too!
Next warning happened about 100 ft further down the field. It started raining mud all, around me! For Cryst sake! I've heard of raining cats N dogs, but never saw clots of mud falling out the sky! Worse, some was bouncing back! No wait! It's mud from my huge ag tires going up, then down again!
Time to quit. But WTF, we are on the last row! Let's plant on the way out....... So I did. My tractor let out a huge scream and puffed giant clouds of black smoke but..... I finished that last row. Dunno if it will grow but it's planted....
As I left the field, I drove over some bushes to clean things off a bit. So what happens next? How can it get worse?
Ya, mother nature hates me. She knew exactly how to punish me even more. As I drove over a large bush, a wild turkey burst out and flew away. Only one reason for that. So I walked back and checked. Yup, I drove over her nest. I'm gunna be riddled with guilt for months.
At that point I was totally crushed and beaten. So I drove it another 100 yards, left everything there to get rinsed off by the rain, and headed home on foot in the dark and pouring rain. When I got home, I stripped in the garage, wrung out my soaking wet clothes, and prepared myself for the outrage of mother nature's sister waiting inside. I wasn't far off. Holy crap was she pissed. So I ignored her and crawled into bed like a big wet smelly sheepdog.
Today, mother nature is gloating, the sun is shining, and Susquatch is licking his wounds and promising never to do that again.....
The wife is prolly planning my funeral. Beans prolly won't even grow in that pig pen I created out back. What in hell's tarnation was I thinking!
