a little gardening, anyone?

spent part of yesterday afternoon outside again...

and we were being watched...

we took out the backside of the rose of sharon...

it had rot...

and then we redid the birdbath...

it has sat in the white wicker chair for years, but it is in bad shape now...

I love this rose of sharon...

and I don't want to lose it completely...

so we are clearing out some things and cutting others back to stop the rot from happening again...

it just needs to get some air in there...

so this should help keep it drier...

and its easy for the birds and the cats to drink out of...

sure starting to look like fall more and more...

I love this time right now...

still summer with just a peek at all the magic that happens when everything green is ablaze with color...

usually by now we are so sick of green!

not with the drought this summer...

green is a wonderful color...

DH has been working 7-8 this week...

but this morning he had to go in at 3am...

they are having some major issues already this fall...

now the corn coming in has alphatoxin...

which is really bad...

when used as feed, it can kill chickens and cattle...

every single load that comes in to be dumped has to be tested...

and they are rejecting so much!

that which is accepted must be dried down to 14%...

drying the corn kills the toxin or it just fails to increase...

it needs moisture to grow...

so they dry it...

the dryers are running 24/7 at all the elevators...

trucks are lined up for blocks and blocks trying to get in...

makes it a longer harvest for the farmers sitting in line...

some of the farmers have sensors on their combines so they know how many bushels they are picking...

one guy averaged 97 an acre...

but it showed some areas were 200 and then others showed 0, so he wasn't getting anything at all out of some places...

harvest is hard work and long hours...

combine that with a hard harvest and tempers flair easily, things are overlooked, they are more tired and that's when major things can go very wrong...

farm accidents, guys getting caught in machinery, is a scary thing...

please pray for a safe harvest...

for everyone working out there day and night to bring this pitiful crop in...

so many things are going wrong for them...

a funeral should not be part of it...