[AT] Rain at last

[Dean VP]

Ralph:

That brings back so many memories from the 40's & 50's when I was a kid on
the farm. We were dry land farmers too. Rain or no rain, what is it going to
do? Do we put the seed in and hope it rains. It's so dry they won't
germinate anyway until we get a rain. But what if it rains just a little bit
and they start germinating and there isn't enough moisture. Worry, worry,
worry.

Then we will have to replant. What to do? Then an unusually heavy rain comes
and washes most of the seed into the ditches, etc. Then hail hits and wipes
out all the seedlings. Is it too late to replant? Do we need to replant?
What kind of weather are we going to have? What to do??  Oh and those 400
head of feeder cattle are going to have to go to market soon and the market
is down, if we sell now we will lose a ton of money. The milk cows provided
some financial stability and I hated milking. Especially by hand. 

I just don't understand how dry land farmers live with that uncertainty year
after year.  Most of the time it all works out. I know my Dad's disaster
plan was that he was going to get wiped out once every three years. It
didn't happen that way but his finances were prepared for it. His parents
got wiped out in the depression so failure once every three years was better
than that I guess. 

As a kid I saw some really tense situations develop and it made a lasting
impression on me. I just knew I didn't have the guts to live like that. I
decided early on I was going to leave the farm. There had to be something
better. Fortunately I was able to survive in a different world. But it too
had its ups and downs. But not anything like farming. 

I really have a lot of admiration and respect for those of you who have
lived under those types of stressful situations and not only survived but
have made a good life of it. I congratulate you. 

I now just get to play like a farmer w/o the stresses. I'm rather thankful
for that. In fact, extremely thankful. 

Dean A. Van Peursem
Snohomish, WA 98290

I'm a walking storeroom of facts..... I've just lost the key to the
storeroom door 


www.deerelegacy.com

http://members.cox.net/classicweb/email.htm



-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of Ralph Goff
Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2005 11:14 PM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] Rain at last

Yes Dean, the cattle guys will be happy now that the grass is growing. And
the crops that are already in the ground can now start to germinate. Its
been a cold dry spring up to this point.
Long weekend coming up and thats the traditional time to get the gardens in
for most of us. Guess it'll take a day or so drying up before we can do that
though.

Ralph in Sask.
http://lgoff.sasktelwebsite.net/
----- Original Message -----
From: Dean VP <deanvp at att.net>
To: 'Antique tractor email discussion group' <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2005 9:53 PM
Subject: RE: [AT] Rain at last


> Ralph:
>
> Lets hear it for the rain Gods!
>
> Dean A. Van Peursem
> Snohomish, WA 98290
>
> I'm a walking storeroom of facts..... I've just lost the key to the
> storeroom door
>
>
> www.deerelegacy.com
>
> http://members.cox.net/classicweb/email.htm
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
> [mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of Ralph Goff
> Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2005 7:03 PM
> To: Antique tractor email discussion group
> Subject: [AT] Rain at last
>
> Its been a busy couple of weeks here with the dry conditions allowing us
to
> seed crops for days in a row. Finally we have received around an inch of
> rain overnight and today so the machinery is parked til things dry up a
> little. It was the first significan precip this spring and should make the
> grass grow now.
> I've had a little time to update my webpage and posted a photo of an older
> crawler tractor and plow for your interest. I don't know what make or
model
> it is but almost looks like "Cletrac" on the front. I believe it was
> property of the municipality of Lipton at the time (about 1950) and used
for
> road building. Thats an impressive plough on the back. Possibly for
breaking
> up bushland?
>
> Ralph in Sask.
> http://lgoff.sasktelwebsite.net/
>
>
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