Week Ending July 16
We are spraying fungicide and foliar fertilizer on the corn and soybeans in Farmer City this week.  This area continues to miss the rains.  We have had less than 1 inch of rain now in the last month.  The crops look surprisingly good despite the lack of rain but it is taking its toll on yield potential.

We are also working on the Farme City shed project getting ready to install new siding and doors.

Week Ending July 1
This week was much less stressful than last week.  We were able to get back to soybean spraying, hauling corn to market, and cleaning up planters.  The crops continue to look good both at home and in Farmer City.  Both areas could use some rain.

We got back to our machine shed renovation project in Farmer City.  We started repairing the base of the building so that we can install some new steel siding on it later this summer.

Below are some pictures from the week including Keith walking some beans and our shed foundation work in Farmer City.

Week Ending June 24th
This was a rough week for us on the farm.  The week started out well.  We moved an excavator down to Farmer City to start demolition work on several buildings on an old grain elevator site we recently purchased.  By Friday we had taken down three buildings, haul away the scrap metal, and we where in the process of cleaning up the burn pile where we had been burning the wood from the buildings.  Saturday morning my Dad dug a hole next to the burn pile to bury some concrete and the ashes from the fire.  The fire was still burning but it was mainly down to hot coals.  The dug hole was about 10 feet deep.  He backed the excavator up to the hole to get in position to lower some concrete into the hole.  As he came close to the hole the side-wall of the hole gave way and the 60,000 pound excavator tipped over backwards into the hole next to the fire. 

I saw the machine tip over and went running to the hole.  When the machine went into the hole, the door to the excavator was pinned against the side wall of the hole so Dad could not get out of the machine.  The other side of the machine was starting to burn as it was next the hot coals.  Dad was trapped in a burning machine.  I grabbed a spare bucket tooth out of the toolbox on the machine and broke out the window opposite the blocked door.  I helped him climb out and get to a safe distance.  About 30 seconds later the machine was fully engulfed in fire.  

The fire department came to put out the fire but the machine was nearly totally destroyed by the fire. It was truly a miracle that no one was hurt.  Dad had some small cuts and we took him to the local hospital to get checked out.  God was watching over us that day.  We are lucky to have Dad with us still.

We spent the rest of the day trying to drag the burnt machine out of the hole.  It took two 550 hp Challengers and several attempts to pull the machine up and out of the hole.  Thank you to Joe Plunk for all of his help that afternoon.

Below are some of the good and the bad pictures from the week.