Wheat Harvest & My Trip to the Elevator

I want to share with you that we had a wonderful early wheat harvest last month.  There has been so much going on that I didn't have the time to post about it.

Dean's job is to combine the wheat and mine is to take it to the elevator.

My first stop is at the elevator stop light.  I wait while they take samples with a large probe.

The next stop is on the scales.  You want to keep the truck in between the yellow sides.  I have never heard of anyone getting off the edge and I don't want to be the first!

I sit and wait for the smiling lady to give me a slip telling me whether I should go to dump 1, 2, or 3.

I slowly drive off the scales and turn to the left.  The weight of the wheat will push the truck in directions that I don't want if I'm not careful.  

Below is the Dump that I will be dumping into today.

The grain is very dusty while it's being dumped and I keep my windows closed!  

It doesn't take long for a hopper wagon to empty.  Today's grain is being sold and we will be receiving a deposit in our checking account.  Farmer's only receive a few checks a year so we have to watch how we spend our money.  

Usually our farm expenses are slightly over half of what we make.  

The elevator will store the wheat until they sell it and it will be moved out by railroad or semi.

 

I have to get weighted again and this time I receive a weight slip with information on grain damage, weights, and prices.  I point the truck homeward bound.  This year I visited the elevator six times!

Above is a beautiful quilt that a friend from my quilt club showed at last month's meeting.

Happy Quilting!

Kay Lynne

Kitchen Counter Painting & Tiling

There has not been any sewing going on at my house!

I have been doing some remodeling.  I have wanted to redo my kitchen counter top.  I have had the butcher block pattern for 30 years and I was ready for a change.

I love the granite counters they have now, but I rather put money into a new sewing machine--quilters do have priorities.  I bought a Giani Paint Kit.  I didn't completely follow the directions.  I painted two base coats of black primer since there was plenty of paint left.  When I sponged my three other colors and while the paint was still wet I sprinkled Gold Metal Flakes for a little sparkle.

I lightly used a very fine steel wool over the counter and cleaned all the dust.  The metal flakes are messy, but really added to the overall effect.  I put on 5 coats of sealer instead of the 2 coats that Giani recommends.  I don't know how long this will last, but I like the way it looks.

I also tiled my back-splash and if you notice--my tile has little spacers underneath so we can redo the counter with new laminate if this experiment doesn't work :) 

Below is my finished project!  I also put up some new oak trim, which was an experience!  I only had to go back to the store once to buy one more piece of trim that I messed up on.  My husband is very proud of my finished project.

Here is a sweet quilt top that a friend at my quilt club had brought to last month's meeting.

Since the June 29th storm, things have been extremely busy.  This week we will be fixing the storm damage done to our garage.  The people in our area are trying to get the storm damage cleaned up and we're all feeling blessed that we didn't lose anyone.

Happy Quilting!

Kay Lynne

P.S.  Special thoughts and prayers are with those that have been affected by the terrible shooting that happened in Colorado.

Being Thankful on the 4th of July

 On Friday, June 29th, we had a terrible storm that hit our farm and surrounding area.  We had some minor damage, but we are so thankful that no one was hurt.  Our barns are still standing and farm equipment is not damaged.

Dean always puts all of our farm machinery away, but left the combine and wagons out in the barnyard to be put away over the weekend.  Wheat harvest went great with no breakdowns.  Late Friday afternoon Dean's fire pager went off warning people that a storm with possible 80 mile per hour winds was coming our way.  I made sure everything outside that was loose was taken in and all doors and windows were shut.  My black lab was asked if she wanted to come in and she didn't hesitate following me into the house.  I unplugged everything that I could think of and checked all the windows in the house. Then the storm hit.  Rain poured in through our two window air conditioners faster than I could dry up with bath towels.  After a very short time, every towel I had in the house was wet.  I also had water coming in through my sewing room ceiling from a vented ridge cap on our roof.  This storm seemed to last over 30 minutes.  The damage is minor and things are drying out.

(This wagon had the trailer tongue facing the road and now it's parallel to the road! 

 Saturday morning we helped our next door neighbors get a tree off their truck.  It dented in the roof, but didn't do any other damage.

Here is Dad's tree that the high winds broke.

Everyone pitched in and helped each other clean up the storm damage.

We only had minor damage.  There were other neighbors that lost barns and a grain bin.

Some of our friends were shingling their house and the storm blew the tar paper off and it literally rained inside their house.  Another neighbor lost a two year old barn.  He witnessed a tornado take the roof off.  This barn is less than a mile from our home. 

The picture below is amazing!  Something hit this grain bin.  The roof of their home will also need to be replaced.  I'm thankful that whatever hit the grain bin didn't hit the house.

While Dean and I were cleaning up, family and friends helped us in different ways.

My son, sister and brother-in-law showed up with chain saws, water, and smiling faces to help with cleanup.

We also had people let us borrow their generators to make things a little easier.

My son caught me crying during cleanup and said "Don't cry Mom--it's only a tree".  He didn't understand.  I shed a few tears because I'm so thankful that people were there to help in our time of need.  I'm also thankful there was no loss of life caused by the storm.  We have a neighboring county that has their entire north/south electric pole that are either pushed over or broken by the wind.  The electric company estimates that it will be July 21 before they get power.  We were only out of power for four days. 

May you all have a wonderful 4th of July!

Happy Quilting!

Kay Lynne

P.S.  Jenny--I have your pink work gloves and thanks sis!