In the interest of a broader discourse

The privilege of living in a democracy is the freedom to express one's ideas without fear of political, economic or military retribution. It's every American citizen's constitutional right.

Within this marketplace of ideas, we have the freedom to think for ourselves, to study ideas other than our own, to analyze them with a critical mindset, not so much as to find fault with these ideas, but to give them an opportunity to present their case in front of a jury of peers.

In the interest of furthering such discourse among those who visit this blog, I've added a new link to an excellent site, The Expatriate's Kitchen. The author, not only offers ideas on how to secure and prepare great tasting and healthy food, her writing style is entertaining and a comfortable, yet thought provoking read.

Though I may disagree with her on some issues relating to agriculture, the environment and politics, that does not mean we don't have something in common. Each maintains a garden that produces food for our respective families. Our garden in Kansas produces tomatoes, squash, beets, radishes, lettuce, onions, ornamental flowers, peppers, dill, mint and sage.

All too often, the greatest barrier between people is the fear of the unknown. I remember reading Winston Churchill's great speech, where he said, "The only thing we have to fear is, fear itself." In essence, even as bad and terrible as the Nazis were, fear had greater control over the British nation than anything else.

Fear is a great motivator and used effectively by those who desire to bring about a major change that often results in harmful consequences for the majority of people. In a democracy such as ours, we should not allow that to happen.

Rather than give in to our fears about what we have been told or led to believe as the truth, we have an obligation to ourselves and to our future generations to discover the truth, to dispel the myth that invites fear into our lives, even if it means asking uncomfortable questions or listening to differing opinions.

Even if we find ourselves at an impasse where we agree to disagree on certain issues, at least we have reduced the darkness of fear to a more manageable factor. We've gained new insights into what motivates other people. We understand their role as citizens, whether they live in large cities, small towns or in the countryside.

So, let the discourse continue.

For less than a cup of free trade coffee

Lets put the cost of food security and safety into proper perspective. A cup of free trade coffee generally costs more than regular coffee. Whatever that price is, it exceeds the cost of supporting the entire farm program, on a per capita per day basis.

Assuming this cup of free trade coffee costs $4.50, one might think it is a bargain, depending on where this was purchased. Now, switch gears and think about the entire American agricultural industry and the Farm Bill that has been hotly debated in both houses and now is threatened by a Presidential veto.

About 0.25% of every $100 paid by the taxpayer, or 25 cents, goes to support the farm program, including subsidies, conservation programs, research, etc. That's about 9 cents per person per day. http://www.farmpolicyfacts.org/mm_Myth_Busters_Part2.cfm

Without a doubt, farm programs are a bargain, especially when considering what this 9 cents does for the American consumer. It ensures that the infrastructure of a diversified family farm based agriculture will survive. It provides a modest safety net when weather wreaks havoc on the crops and livestock. It pays producers when prices move to disastrously low levels. When droughts come as they are prone to do in semi-arid climates, they help farmers through these times with direct payments so they can pay their bills and survive until the next harvest comes. It assures the American consumer that there will always be enough food to serve on the plate.

9 cents per person per day.....who would even pick up 9 pennies from the sidewalk and think they found real wealth? Even when compared to a cup of regular coffee, it's not even a contest.

Renewed endeavor to write about important matters

Anything worth having comes at a price. Relationships with long-time friends is worth the price. This short video is a small reflection of my time with some former highschool classmates while watching OU play in the Big 12 championship game a few years back.

As they say, "when in Rome", I support OU, especially when my friend from Oklahoma calls up and offers a ride and admission (14 rows up from the ground) to an important game at Arrowhead stadium in Kansas City. But hey, I'm a transplanted, born in Texas, raised in Oklahoma, living in Kansas fan who supports any friend's favorite team, especially when I am the guest.

Our small highschool class of '68 has always had fun together, planning reunions that other classes even ask to attend. But that's the way we were as kids, too. Nothing exclusive or elitist, just "come on by and let's have some fun."

Wheat update pictures

These pictures show a little more of the detail on stand thickness.
Most stand counts of heads averaged between 90 and 140 in ten feet of row. Normal counts should be more than double that.

















This photo is from across the road of the previous picture set with the road in the shot.

Updates on wheat crop post-freeze, rain, bugs, disease

This view is to show this field is the same as the first photos.
In this field, the whiter heads were the stalks that survive the freeze, the rest were primarily secondary tillers that emerged.







Note hail damage and if you look close, the beards are gone from many heads. Army worms hit a couple days ago. They only take about two days to do damage, but the only green stuff for them was the beards as the leaves were dead from leaf diseases.






This is a picture of the field across the road. Mostly secondary tillers that survived in this spot.

update on wheat freeze

These photos are of the same wheat field taken earlier. The new tillers are emerging. Note the dead plants laying on the ground.









The tillers will not be ready to head for another two to three weeks, which means they will be trying to fill during the hot, dry part of June. Harvest for this field may be as late as early July, even though the normal tillers that survived will have been ripe for two weeks earlier.





I took this photo to show the surviving wheat plants that are heading out.















The last photo is to show the location as well as the overall view of the crop. Even though it appears to be quite good from the road, the close up photos reveals the true story.

Before and after pictures of same field

The first picture was taken April 1, 2007. The second was taken on the 14th. This was the second snow in two weeks.

Wheat deep freeze update

I've been visiting with local farmers and extension folks the last couple of days about the status of the wheat crop. According to the experts around the state, this part of Kansas has been hit about the hardest of any area, though the damage cuts a swath from North Central Kansas towards Pratt, southeasterly through Kingman and continues into Northeastern Oklahoma. Everything east of that line has received damage, ranging from moderate to total freeze out.

Having said that, one extension expert was cautiously optimistic as he noted in his travels and wheat inspections that the wheat crown is putting out new tiller spikes. He suggests we wait another ten days to see the extent of the emergence before deciding what to do.

Having said that as well, the emerging tillers will be numerous, yet will be very short and will probably head out two weeks later than the normal May 1 timeframe and the critical fill will be between June 1 and the 10th. The weather can turn hot and dry then, turning the late filling heads into light grain. He gives it a 50-50 chance of a normal, average yield.

I'm willing to wait. Actually, I have no other plausible option. My herbicide application on the wheat in mid March requires a 120 day delay before planting beans or milo. I used an extra light application so I may be able to plant 30 days earlier than the July 15 date, but that's not much consolation as it eliminates normal planting dates for either crop.

So, there you have it. My opinion of the grain trade taking a wait and see attitude is that they are misreading this market and the freeze much like they misread the freeze a decade ago. The odds of that optimum recovery happening again is too high. The freeze ocurred earlier giving the tillers a head start. The weather cooperated as well, with cool spring winds and frequent rains without the hassle of high temperatures that normally ocurr in Kansas.

I'll have before and after pictures posted by this weekend when the tillers have emerged a little more.

Deep Freeze in Spring

These pictures are from the snowstorm that hit Kansas April 5, 2007. The wheat was around twelve inches tall, standing perfect before the snow. As you can see, the snow depth is about six inches, even after melting ocurred during the snowfall.

Tonight's forecast calls for a low of 15 degrees, with Saturday to be as cold. The sun is out, the skies are clearing. Snow is beginning to melt. Without snow and cloud cover, the wheat's survival may be in jeapardy.



This field is planted to the Overly variety. I also have 2137 which is a little later in maturity than Overly, which may not be as far along and fare better through the cold spell.

Fire Truck pictures below

For those new to this site, you will find pictures of two different Fire trucks Ben S. and I checked out. You can access the posts either of two ways... Option 1. Scroll down to the post titled "Fire Truck #1" to see the first pictures. Option 2. On the left hand column, click on "Fire Truck #1" for the first set of pictures.

If township members have any questions or comments, click on the comment icon to post them. All pictures are downloadable by clicking on the picture, then when the picture comes up, save to your computer.

More of FT #2

This unit is only 2wd, however. Has 16ply tires. Central command control. Unit came from a Colorado city.

Fire Truck #2

This unit has a 3208 Cat, 250 hp engine, with 643 Allison transmission. Has very good pickup speed, can cruise 70+ mph. It has good handling and can seat three in the cab and at least three behind the cab. Has good pump capacity and a new 1,000 gallon fiberglass tank.

Front Mounted pump for our current pumper

This unit is similar to the pump we would be replacing if we decided to continue with the repairs. Cost of this unit is around $25,000, plus repairs needed to rebuild the drive shaft and the radiator.

Still more of FT #1

These are the last group taken of this unit.

More of Fire Truck #1

Tires are in very good condition. Equipment maintenance appears to be performed and everything in good working order. Truck has 4x4 drive with high and low gear settings. Again, click on comments icon to post comments. Only drawback from my perspective might be the lack of power to get to higher speeds quickly, but our test drive ran up around 65+ mph.

Fire Truck #1

Click on the
picture to download. The fire chief has the spec sheet on this unit. He can either post the specs on the reply option or email the specs to me to scan and upload in another post. More pictures to follow.

I look, therefore I am....taking pictures

These photos were taken back in August in Baltimore, MD. My window from the 11th story of the Rennaisance Harbor Hotel provided a great view of the harbor. The ship in the photo is the USS Constellation. To the left and out of view are a submarine and a Coast Guard vessel.

One night, after a grueling day of meetings, a couple friends and I strolled around the harbor boardwalk, which is located out of view, going in either direction in front of the Constellation. A percussion group played for an hour. I could have listened to them all night if they were in the mood to play that long.

The bad and the ugly

Needless to say, I will not plant this hybrid next year. It was a one time venture to determine if it was a reasonable replacement of an old time favorite. Will continue the quest next year with other potential candidates.

The Good

These photos show what is possible when rainfall arrives ten days earlier than the photos in the previous posts.

.60 of an inch is all it took to stave off disaster.

The beans were double cropped into wheat stubble after harvest.

These photos show the impact severe moisture stress during the boot stage has on the head condition and ability to produce grain. Looking at the center photo, 85G01 is on the left side of the screen. 8505 is on the right side.


The left photo is a field of 85G01. It should be completely headed out. Moisture conditions are similar to the field near the shed in the background where 8505 and 85G01 are planted side by side. It indicates 85G01 has a distinct lack of drought tolerance, much less than 8505.

Moisture-wise, rainfall was spotty from planting until last week. We finally received adequate moisture to stop the crop from detereorating further.