Slumber

I have been traveling back and forth to Marshalltown for the last few weeks.  If you haven't made this drive in a while, or if you have never done it, I would really recommend it.  There are some absolutely beautiful rolling hills and valleys between here and there.  Making this drive is the thing that really got me thinking this week.

In the past I've talked about Spring and the way that the land comes to life.  It is a great time of the year, but this time of the year is equally awe inspiring.  In the last couple of months, the world of agriculture has been absolutely frenetic.  The level of activity has been amazing.  The season has always been this way, but with the size of the equipment in use today, it seems as though giants have taken over the state of Iowa.  Even more so if you are out at night, as much of this equipment can light up football field size patches in the fields.

I remember being in Mixed Choir in High School. When I was a freshman, I sat next to Mark Cavin, a Senior.  We had way too much fun in there, which I am sure Tom Stewart, our director would agree with.  Anyway, one day, Mark came in and sat down, obviously upset about something.  After I pushed him a little, he told me that he had been doing field work the night before, may have fallen asleep for just a moment, made a turn too wide and caught a fence. Now he was going to have to spend a bunch of time that weekend fixing fence.

This is the same way that our agricultural community goes at field work in the fall today - 100% until it is done. The other thing that I remember in those days was that only about half of the students would be in class since they were busy with their families in the fields.  It gave us "townies" a little time off as well as the teachers saw no reason to teach for only half of us.  There were a lot of study periods and movies during that couple of weeks.

Experiencing fall and the beginning of winter fill my thoughts right now.  It is almost like watching a giant recline, taking a big breath and going to sleep.  A big long slumber ... one that will last until next Spring when the whole cycle begins again.  I know there are a bunch of things that still go on, maintenance, planning, buying for the upcoming season, and of course taking care of livestock, but it still seems to me like the whole agricultural world takes a bit of a deep breath and begins a bit of a slumber.  This year, that slumber is a bit more profound as the harvest seems to have been so strong.  Everything settles in to rest in order to come alive again when it awakens. Next time you are out and about, take a look and let me know if you see what I'm seeing.

Okay, let's turn to the Toybox.  There hasn't been much slumbering out there, in fact there has been a lot going on, and I haven't yet told you about the equipment addition that I made earlier this year.  I added a wide belt sander, capable of sanding sixteen inches in a pass, 32" by flipping the piece around.  I am really not sure how I ever got by without it.  I seem to turn to it all of the time now that I have it.

Additionally, I had made the mistake earlier this year of getting rid of my truck.  After a change in employment, I found myself without easy access to a truck.  That was completely unacceptable.  So, in the last month, I fixed that by adding a 2013 F-150 to the family's fleet.  Now we are back in the position of having a vehicle for everyone, no matter how many directions we are going.  And when I need to haul something ... I can.  This is important.

Also coming together at the Toybox is a project that I've been working on for a while.  I have been forming (sounds artistic, doesn't it?) a dining room table out of recycled heart pine and walnut.  The heart pine came from a mill in Peculiar, MO that reclaims old lumber from mills and warehouses and reworks them into usable sizes.  The walnut was wood that my father had milled out of trees in the Sigourney area and they have been with me since we sold mom's house back in the late 80's.  So these things are coming together to form what I think is going to be an absolutely beautiful table, and at this point, I am very happy to announce that I think that it will actually be finished and in place for Thanksgiving which was the request of the person that I am building it for.  I have included some pictures of the pieces as they begin to come together.

Keep your fingers crossed for me that I can get it all done and in place for the feast at Thanksgiving.