clothespins

My sister-in-law, Jean, leaves her clothespins on the line as far as I can tell. I really appreciate that when I visit the farm with my camera. Colleen packed a few of her dish towels as props including a white one that was sometimes tricky to work with. It literally disappears in some photos I took. The sky was cloudy while we visited the farm. A breeze sometimes came up enough to put some life into the dish towels. I had a lot of fun with these photos.

the barn

I never get tired of photographing the barn. Colleen & I enjoyed our visit.

road side

I was out to see Dad again on Monday & made another trip to the farm. I took a few photos on my way home while still on the gravel road. Looks like Gene is finished with corn harvest. The landscape is spectacular & I couldn't resist tweaking the photos.

modern wheat harvest

When Nancy sent me photos of Mike harvesting wheat I thought they were great. But I also knew he didn't harvest the entire crop with this equipment. Too old. Also too time consuming. We are all about efficiency now. So when I asked her about it she said Mike saved back a few acres so they could use this Allis-Chalmers equipment. Most of it is owned by a friend. So today she sent me photos of how he really cuts wheat. Very impressive . . . and efficient. But I still love the old machinery.

wheat harvest

My sister, Nancy, sent me some photos of wheat harvest. I've photographed my brother, Gene, harvesting wheat in the past but he didn't plant wheat this year due to the drought. So seeing these photos is a treat. I only wish I had taken them as I think they are great photos. Thanks, Nancy!

Chinese visitors

Yizhi has family visiting from China: her father (in the white shirt), sister, and aunt & uncle. Her father & aunt are siblings. Yizhi says that she was mostly raised by her aunt. They arrived in the states last Tuesday & came to Lincoln Friday afternoon. Austin suggested we take them to the farm. He had been shown the home of Yizhi's grandparents when he'd been to China, so thought seeing our family's roots would be something to do. Gene & Jean were gracious hosts. We showed up Saturday morning & they fixed a feast of grilled burgers & brats, deviled eggs, jello salad, macaroni salad, baked beans and homemade cherry & peach pie. Gene shared some of his home brews too. Then our guests got the tour of the barn, hay bales and corn & soybean fields. The men hit it off with Gene discussing farming. Yizhi stayed nearby so she could interpret for them. Her sister is studying English but was always very quiet & shy. They all marveled at the wide open spaces and the big equipment. They enjoyed the farm tour. My Chinese guests brought me several teas. I shared some of it with them while they were here. I discovered that the reason the Chinese drink so much tea is that they have to boil their water before drinking it. So they make hot tea. It is the kids who drink more soda. I also learned their kitchen stoves only have one burner & no oven. Yizhi's aunt thought our American kitchens were amazing. Yizhi also explained that when school children get to middle school & high school they attend school from 7:30 am to 9:30 pm. They have a two hour lunch break & a one hour supper break. And when they get home from school they still have two to three hours of homework to do. An incredibly rigorous & competitive education. Only once a year can they take the college entrance exam. If you do poorly you have to wait another year to take it. Classrooms typically have a hundred students. We found the cultural differences to be significant & we only scratched the surface. But we also found that even with a language barrier we could enjoy each others company. Meals were enjoyed when shared. And the weather was mild enough we ate outdoors. A treat for all of us. Our guests left Lincoln yesterday morning with encouragement for us to come visit them now.