The perfect is the enemy of the good

Jill posted something on her blog that hit me "I'm lazy. And because I'm a perfectionist." A lot of people don't realize that is why many people don't get things done. I for example, am a closet perfectionist. (I keep it hid pretty well) One of the ways it manifests itself is I tend to put things off until I can do them "right" I hate starting and them stopping and then starting and eventually finishing. The downside is I tend to put things off until I "have time" and they don't get get done.

I have a framed quote on the wall from Eugenio Najera, President of Seminis Vegetable Seeds. I have no idea who he is, but the quote is a reminder to me

We have a saying in Spanish-
El perfecto es enemigo de lo bueno

The perfect is the enemy of the good

If you are waiting for something to be perfect, you are wasting time.
You will never be perfect, so don't wait.
Implement practicality, maybe not at 100% perfection, but something like 80% is good enough

I need reminded of that at times. My typing sometimes looks like it.

Sorry I've been away ...

well, not really away, I've been here. It is just my ISP has been ... less than responsive. The 19th sometime mid-day they made a change in their system, but forgot that necessitated a change in my equipment. I left a message on their voice mail Thursday night. It was Monday before someone had a "V-8 moment" and realized I was off-line. They Monday fix didn't work. It was Tuesday afternoon before we were up and running properly.

I had stopped by a friend's Sunday and checked my email, dumped a lot of spam. When I got home Tuesday I only had to download 57 new messages. So I've been a little slow about a new blog entry.

Anyway, here are some photographs showing one of the places I have been this week

Now, that MIGHT tell you something if you know where you are looking. Maybe this will help? (hint, it is on top of Grandpa Neal's barn) Notice I am looking down at it?
OK, the first one was looking east, the second was looking west. Here is where I was looking down.
Aman said it was my turn to get in the bucket. I was fastening down sheet metal on the roof. I forgot the camera but at least I had my phone.

Anyway, we are hoping to cut wheat this week. Tried a couple fields, but they were too wet.

Luke 12:22-26 Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

I’m trying, I really am. But if I am accomplishing it why am I up at 4 AM when there is absolutely no reason for me to be?

Let’s see …. Dad’s taking chemo fighting recurring cancer, which when they first operated on him to remove the doctors said this kind did not respond to chemo ... I have a grandson who has been fighting challenge after challenge … It is almost June 10 and I’ve had around 500 acres under water the past few days … we are obviously going to have to replant beans and the seed supply is so tight there may not be any … I have at least 150 acres of corn that may need replanted at this late date … we are maybe 2 weeks from wheat harvest and every field has either standing or running water in it … I contracted too much wheat if we have a lousy yield … I had an exceptional year last year and bought a couple things that looking back from this perspective I could have gotten by without ... historically a weather pattern like this is followed by a drought … our church has gone from nearly 180 to just over 80 and lots of hurtful words have been said … I thought maybe writing them out would help but I’m not sure it does. And there are more private concerns I would not list.

You know, thinking about it the last one is probably to hardest for me. Seeing what has happened at church really bothers me. The farming stuff … we’ll make it. Things will be tough for a while. But we will make it. If not we’ll just find another way of supporting ourselves. But the division at church REALLY bothers me.

I don’t understand how we got to this point. I understand why some held such strong positions. But I don’t understand how some could just up and leave just because they had a difference of opinion. And it is opinion. Nobody has opened their Bible and said to me “Here is what is being done wrong”. Well, let me clarify that. I don’t recall anyone doing that and being willing to discuss it. They just want to tll me what is wrong and not consider that fact they might be wrong. There is a lot of “I feel” and “I believe” and “I just don’t understand”. And yes, there has been some “This is wrong”, but very little really trying to understand the other person.

It is times like this we need faith. Hebrews 11:1 says Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. That sure describes where I am now. I know it will all work out. I have seen Romans 8:28 proved time and again in my life And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. But there are times it really takes faith, that being certain of what we do not see, to get through it.

I like to include a photo of some kind with these blogs that illustrates the thought. Here is one that may need some explanation.


I heard a preacher one time say someone complaining the conservative old farmers in his church didn't have faith. He told him to take all the money he had or could borrow and bury it and then tell him they didn't have faith. To me seeds are the ultimate expression of faith and hope. You take something that does not look alive and put it in the ground. Usually you put a fair amount of money with it, in machinery, fuel, herbicides, fertilizer. Sometimes you do that and the river takes it away. I'm still working on the faith and hope stuff.

Oh, and I mentioned one of my worries was my grandson? He stood and walked on his own last week! Not far, but a start. God is good.

9.25 inches

9.25 inches. That is how much rain we had from 5 PM Friday until 5 AM Saturday. A real interesting wind storm came through first, then we got rain. and it sat on top of us and just continued to rain. Here are a few photos.

This shed has a history. Dad had a barn burn in 1965. They replaced it with an aluminum sided pole building. About 15 years ago after Dad decided to put in an irrigator and the shed was in the way. He sold it to a neighbor who jacked it up, put it on a sled, and moved it about half a mile. When that neighbor quit farming my cousin Don bought it. I told you all that to show you this. Friday evening we had some incredible straight line winds that picked up the building and tossed it.
9.25 inches makes strange things happen. Tiles run backwards...

water ponds in places it never ponded before. This is looking north in Walnut Prairie. This is not a creek or river, not flowing water, just surface water
If you look near the left edge of the next photo you can see the blown apart building I showed in the earlier photo. This is flowing out of my milo field on the left into my soybean field on the right.

Here is a scarier photo. It was taken at the Raccoon Creek bridge on Illinois Route 1 just south of West York. When these vehicles were abandoned early this morning the tops were just out of the water. Water was flowing 2-3 feet over the top of the bridge bannisters. The strips across the road are not speed bumps. They are pieces of asphalt from the edge of the road. The water was flowing so fast it picked up the asphalt strips and tossed them. Here is a shot of the edge of the road where they came from.
It's been a challenging year and not getting any better.

I'll add this. The National Weather Service put out this rainfall map of the event. It shows Illinis counties and amount of rainfall by color. We are the dark blue:

Honeybees

We had something show up today in one of the trees out front I hadn't seen for a long time. We had a swarm of honeybees. Used to be a ... well, I won't say it was common but it was not that unusual to see a swarm in the spring. It's been years since I saw one.

Here are a few photos for your enjoyment

This was taken in front of the house looking northeast.

Closer ...

Just a little closer ...

This is the closest shot I have that came out. I really needed to get out the tripod for a zoom this far. I was probably 10-15 fet away from them.

They say swarming bees won't sting, but I didn't know if the bees knew that.
One last photo
I tried to contact a beekeeper, but there doesn't appear to be a local one anymore.

On hold

I got an email from a preacher in Louisiana asking how things were going. About the best description I can give is we are on hold.

Planting is on hold ... well, just about all fieldwork is on hold. We might get to plant a few beans tomorrow if the weather cooperates ... but there is a 60% chance of rain (it keeps increasing as the forecast updates). I may have to replant 130 acres of corn ... have to wait and see and even if we do it will be too wet to do anything about it for several days. At least I am out of the low river bottomThe pulpit search at church is on hold. Seems kind of like the whole church is on hold. I'm not really as depressed as I sound. But it could be worse:

not feeling very enlightening

I know, it's been a month since I posted anything. I just haven't felt very enlightening of late. When a farmer is in mid-April and basically done nothing in the field he tends to either get a case of the nervous "gotta do somethings" or else he falls into a sort of blue funk ... or some weird combination of the two.

Let's see, since the last time I wrote what has happened ? It rained ... and rained ... and rained ... (see a pattern developing here) I had a "John adventure". Maybe I should explain that ....

If I say I had a John adventure those of you who who know my friend John will probably grin and shake their head. John is every bit as impulsive as I am a procrastinator. If we are going from point A to point B in life we will start at the same time and end at the same place at the same time, but take vastly different paths getting there.

I stopped by his office a recent Saturday morning. He asked if I was busy? And in a moment of weakness I said no. He had a propane tank trailer that needed delivered to a job site. Well, actually it needed delivered the day before. He wondered if I could drive the delivery truck and follow him there while he took the trailer. Sure, no problem. It was an hour job, I figured it would take 2, still fit my schedule.

First difficulty, the trailer out back we were going to deliver would not do. I forget why, but it just wouldn't do. So he calls a customer with a couple at a grain dryer (won't be needed until fall) and tells him we are going to get one of our trailers for a temporary job and will return it before he needs it.

So we go out of town a mile to get a trailer. First one will not do the job so we look at the second one. Good, except for the flat tire. So we go back to the shop, get an air tank and return. We get enough air in the tire to get it to the shop, hook on and take off. (BTW the shop is almost 2 miles the wrong direction). We air it up, John says it will be fine ... I am hesitant.

We take off through the country headed for the job. Since I have more travel speed, John goes ahead while I put up all the hoses and lock up. I get within a mile of him and he call on the radio "Well, you were right ... it didn't make it". He is not in a good spot to change a wheel, so he is going to go on and I should get another wheel and bring it to where he is.

So I turn around and go back to the shop. I get in my pickup, grab a jack, and go out behind to a wagon that is on blocks and take off a wheel. I take it to the shop, air it up (of course it needed air) and just it gets to pressure blows the valve stem out of it.

I grab a jack, go back to another wagon NOT on blocks but with a brand new tire on it, jack it up and remove that wheel. I throw the jack in the truck, air the tire up, and take off. I did remember to go inside and grab a handheld radio.

I catch up with John the rim is totally destroyed, we replace the wheel and he goes on while I go back (about 15 miles to the office) and get the truck and head for the job site.

The job is a controlled access site. We must be escorted in and attended while there. By the time I get there John has been waiting about 15 minutes. Our contact does not respond to his page. Finally after a half hour or more we get someone to respond to security's call and come guide us in.

Bottom line, a job that should have taken just over an hour and got me home by 1:00 ... I got home after 5:00. Not bad for a John adventure.

Well, gotta run. See Y'all later.