picture day

I soo wish I would have had my phone with me today. But, alas, it was turned off in the basement of Dick's house. I had to turn it off because I forgot my charger at home and need a phone to wake me up in the morning. Today was so cool though. It started off by me going over to the BIN's to get anamazing shot of the sunrise. You will see all these pictures Iam talking about once I get them developed and decide which ones Iam going to use for my final project. I got some really awesome ones of Dick working in the field, and on the tractor. Some really cool pictures that are going to look really awesome. I got some serious sun today too. It's just so much fun on this farm. Dick is the definition of. . . . .

The ALL AMERICAN FARMER. I can honestly say, there is no where I would rather be in all this state (Indiana) than on this farm. There is something about it that I just can't get enough of, and always miss when I leave.

I turned on my phone just before bed time, just so I could take this picture of Dick & Trudy.

G'Night!!

do all good things have to end?

I suppose some good things never have to come to and end. BUT, the farm did. Before I left for Fort Lame (kidding, I love Fort Wayne) I decided to change the oil in my car. I did it all by myself. Well, I suppose I had a little bit of help, maybe support from Bernie, the Saint Bernard (Dick's dog).

The drive home was a pretty one, but I am thinking that pretty much anywhere in Indiana with tree's is a pretty drive right now.

The drive home was enjoyable, but leaving the farm was not. It is like I am back in High School. When I was in High School, I would get a churning stomach feeling when I had to leave Dick's farm. I love it there so much, almost as if I belong there. ~SIGH~

The most bizarre thing happened too right before I left. I said my goodbyes, and received my final words of wisdom..things like, "don't eat the rat poison." But was completely thrown for a lope when I was handed a check for an amount of money far crazier for me to comprehend. I was paid for this weekend??? I was paid real money to do something that I would happily pay my own hard earned money to do myself. This was hard for me to understand. I am still not really sure why Dick decided to pay me, but I didn't turn back or rip up the check. I will just be extremely grateful, and put the money to good use.

When I got home, I decided I would go to the library to write some of my English paper......well that didn't go too well, so I went to my best friends parents house to hang out with his little brother Nicky. Nicky goes to Snider (the school I do contact work at for Young Life) and I have needed to spend time with Nick, so I just did it. Super fun too!! Nick is AMAZING at Call Of Duty 4 (action/first person shooter game for X-Box 360).Nicky is such a cool dude. Far cooler than most kids I know, and I know quite a few. He is extremely genuine, and funny. His humor reminds me of his brothers, and that is hard to come by.Yes, we ended the evening with some PIZZA HUT. By far not our first choice for pizza, but really the only place we could go to late at night none the less. So, we made it work. Nicky is the man! Pizza is the food! Bernie is the dog! And it is time to hit the sack.

I have arrived

So, it's FARM time. I am excited to finally get here and be able to just kind of let go of all the things that usually have a hold on me and my attention. It was about an hour and a half drive to Dick's (actually uncle's sister's husband) farm here in Wakarusa, IN. So glad to be here too.

Before I left my house, right before actually. Dick called me to say that there were a few break downs, and that I may stand stagnent for a while before there is anything to do. I assured him it was perfectly alright. And that I would see him in an hour and a half.

When I pulled onto his property, I saw the combine all opened up, and it's blood (hydrolic fluid) all over the ground.

This thing is really quite an amazing piece of machinery. To be able to walk around in the engine compartment and just get an idea for how MASSIVE it is, well it's something to behold. Now, Tyler, Dick's farm hand was over at one of his other farm locations working on a blower (dries corn off before storing it) that had just broke hours before the combine. Dick says, "when it rains, it pours." Good ole, Tyler. Working with corn up to his belly button. This is not too uncommon of a typical task you might see him doing around the farm. For sure not an every day type of job, but stuff breaks and has to be fixed on the farm all the time.

Now, as soon as the combine was fixed and the dryer was drying. I got to start driving as well. I was driving Semi-Trucks. The combine would fill up the truck, I would take the truck back to the main farm where the silo's were, and empty them, and then take an empty truck back to the field. Here are 2 of the 3 Semi-Trucks I was driving.

There is just something about driving a truck, 50 MPH, with 1,000 bushell of corn (56,000+ or - lbs.) in it that get's my blood flowing. "I think that is the correct figure, don't quote me though." Call me crazy, but I feel right at home in the driver seat. Good thing too, because I had to learn fast how to handle myself in that truck. After a few rough starts, I felt pretty comfortable, and was good to go.