Barley Harvest

Late July in Wyoming is barely harvest season. The grain has looked ready for the last couple weeks, but it still needs time for the kernel to mature. Coors has been good to the Big Horn Basin and the farmers in turn do good for them. 

Today, Luke brought out his combine and Dad got busy threshing. 

Combines have come a long way over the years. Luke has had this guy for a couple seasons now. Makes light work of a field. 

Dad's right at home in a cab surrounded by green. 

The barley has looked good all year and we are just thankful to get it in the bin before foul weather hits. 

When we were kids, we used to shuttle the trucks to the elevator in town and bring them back out. Today, they primarily use semi tractor trailers. 

If you don't want to seed the borrow pit, you better tarp your trailer. 

Every load that comes into the Coors elevator is weighed and tested for protein, moisture, and trash content. This was a 65,000 lbs load of barley. 

This is quite the facility. It can dump a lot of grain in a hurry. 

Unlike most grain bins, the Coors elevator in Worland is horizontal and dumps off of a conveyor belt from the top. This allows them to mix the year's produce. This is last years crop that they are now shipping down to Golden. 

Looks to be a bumper crop this year. 

Dad's little field went about 120 bushel to the acre. Pretty darn good. 

Done just in time.

So God made a farmer... It really wouldn't be any fun if the necessities in life just appeared in front of us. The more we work for them, the more we appreciate them. The reason I enjoy Coors Light is because of goodness that goes into raising the High Country Barley. You can taste the love. Well done, boys. America thanks you. 

Youthful Zeal

Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

           https://youtu.be/TpoyouMl9QM         

Sale Barn

Once I’ve cased the local feed store in a town, I like to check out the sale barn. I've been to the Buffalo Livestock barn before. In fact, I bought my first pair of herefords here. 

The last there years or so have seen some big changes at this barn. New owners have really brought it up to speed, making it a real contender among other area sale barns. 

Their sale is on Wednesday, which is staggered from the other near by barns. Torrington is Friday, Riverton is Tuesday, and Worland is Thursday. 

The market has been at an all-time high for about two years. Sounds like the biggest reason is the low cattle numbers throughout the country. 

Good bulls like this will go for $175 a hundred weight. Making a big bull a $4000 hamburger cow.

You've got to think on your toes at a livestock auction. The column on the left is the weight of the current cow for sale. The going sale price is being rattled off by the auctioneer. The right column is the stats of the previous sale. On the bottom of the right column is how many have sold and how many are left to go. 

Good time and good place to meet new folks. I think ranchers' ship has finally come in. These prices are about double what they have been in recent years. I spoke to one ole boy about the high prices and he said that they are finally where they need to be. Fair enough, ranching is far from cheap. Even though I wasn't bidding on anything, the local sale barn can be a pretty fun place to kill a little time. On to the next one. 

Perennial Vocation

Discipleship is the universal vocation for us all.

           https://youtu.be/DF9xndJxbqg         

St. Mary Magdalen

A real treat for me is to celebrate Mass in my home parish of St. Mary Magdalen in Worland. I was asked to fill in the for the pastor, Fr. Robert Rodgers, over the weekend and he asked if I'd also preside at the Mass for St. Mary Magdalen's feast day. Can do. 

The present day church was built in the 1950s. In typical fashion back then, they first built a school gym that would serve as the church building until they got the real church built. But as often happened in the decades to follow, the new church never got built. Over time, the People of God and their various priests have worked well with what they've been given. First came the school portion, which operated throughout the 1960s. That same decade saw a remodeling of the sanctuary and later in the early 2000s a fuller remodel that really accepted that this is going to be our church. Within the past 10 years, they also put in an elevator.

This was also 75th anniversary of SMM as a parish. Many fond memories. 

SMM in Worland was originally a mission of Thermopolis. Fr. Endres was the iconic priest who traveled the Big Horn Basin on horseback in the early 1900s, celebrating Mass and building up the Body of Christ. In 1949 Worland had become big enough that it was made it's own parish. Today the tides have changed and St. Francis parish in Thermop is now served by the priest in Worland. 

This is the baptismal font that I was baptized in. 

December 23, 1979. John Schmeltzer and Frances (Schmeltzer) Hesseel were/are my godparents. Fr. Cyril Hmelovsky presided. 

Here's where I received my First Holy Communion. May 8, 1988. My cousin Beth Schmeltzer was beside me. Fr. Joseph Fraher was the priest for much of my youth. 

May 8, 1996 I was Confirmed by Bishop Joseph Hart. My Aunt Nancy Martinson was my sponsor. 

Though I wasn't ordained here, I do enjoy celebrating Mass for the family and friends I grew up with. 

           https://youtu.be/e5FrFV3qvy8         

After the Mass for today's feast day, we had an interview with a long lived SMM parishioner. Dee Arps will turn 108 in a few weeks. She's sharper than a tack and has much encouragement for the younger generations. Like, Go to Mass! 

A parish feast wouldn't be complete without a picnic to follow. 

Fun stuff. This is what it means to be Catholic. The past remains present. We take time to celebrate all the Good water under the bridge. So many folks have gone before us to make this parish a reality. The Good News is that they are still with as members of the Body of Christ. It is in the liturgy where this truth becomes present. Thanks be to God for all who keep this parish alive. Worland thanks you. I thank you too. It is at St. Mary Magdalen that I received all my Sacraments of Initiation. Through this grace I have been able to hear God's call to the priesthood. Keep up the Good work, y'all!

Rest a While

We need to be healthy in order to be holy. 

           https://youtu.be/-CRsGDdrbe0         

Cutting Hay

The Big Horn Basin usually gets three cuttings of alfalfa a summer. Mid July, right before the fair and barley harvest, is a good time to knock down second cutting. Uncle Chris farms several fields and pivot corners in the Neiber area. With his big green machine, he made light work of about 45 acres of hay.

Water and heat is about all it takes for alfalfa to grow. Great source of protein and quick rebound in between cuts, makes it an ideal hay crop. 

As in all farming practices, cutting hay has come a long way.  There are still plenty of sickle bar mowers around, but most guys in the industry have gone to these rotary heads. Clean cut and fast. 

Uncle Chris has a deal with a local farmer to use this swather for cutting hay in exchange for driving corn truck in the fall. Win win. This guy is not your daddy's windrower. I could just imagine my Grandpa S., Chris' dad, wanting to ride a round with him.

So in memory of him, I took a turn. Good hay. 16' swath. 

On these bigger runs, he programs the auto steer. Then sits back and watch it make nice straight cuts, even matching the arch of a pivot sprinkler. 

While he was at it, he mowed our little corner. Not bad. 

The going trend is wide flat windrows. Good bed to dry in. 16' apart is about all you want to go. Any more and it's hard to dry and a twin rake can't reach them to bring two windrows into one for baling. 

Pretty much all hay cutting involves a crimper behind the mower. Alfalfa is a solid stem plant, and by crimping it every 4 or 5 inches helps it dry sooner. 

Looks good. 

Putting up hay in July is standard issue for dry land ranchers and irrigated farmers alike. The sooner you can get it knocked down the sooner you can get it put up. In the west, most of our summertime ag activity is geared toward surviving the winter. Cutting hay is just one example of that. The more bales you have in the stack the more time you can spend in peace by the fire. Good work, Uncle Chris. Keep those big green wheels turning.

Pump Repair

Water is everything around Worland. There are about a half a dozen canal systems in this area, and all are managed by a board of directors. Dad sits on the Bluff Canal board, which runs past our place south of town. Most of the water is gravity fed off the river. But every so often there is an offshoot pump station that lifts water to higher plane and allows for more fields to be water. Well, sometimes those pumps go down.

Not your standard pump. This guy sits in a cistern and, along with a sister pump, raises water about 75'. Not long ago it started making a real rough sound. So Dad and crew pulled it out and had it repaired. Today we reinstalled it. 

The Bluff Canal begins about 15 miles south of Worland near Winchester. It is actually fed by the Upper Hanover Canal. 

This telehandler was indispensable. When the canals need repair, often local farmers donate equipment and personnel to help. After all, it's their crops that are dependent on getting the water going.  

Stand back boys. 

Here's the set up. The station has been around for decades, but rebuilt and maintained along the way. 

Electrician, Anthony Marcus, was on hand to help with the technical work. 

It fit in the hole fine, but wouldn't line up with the bolts. We think that running the other pump while this one was down allowed the manifold to creep forward. So we drained the system and put a 20 ton bottle jack against the manifold and made enough room to get the pump set right. 

Once bolted down, we brought in the pump motor. 

This 150hp bad boy runs off 480 three phase power. Hence, the need for an electrician.  

Anthony's boy, Brendon, was there when we needed him. Good work son. 

These big pump motors sit vertical so that the entire bearing surfaces carry the weight at all times. Verses horizontal pumps that only the bottom part of the bearing carries the weight. The drive shaft also runs through the length of the motor. 

Not their first rodeo. 

Hooking up the power was the final step before touch off. 

Once kicked on the water started to flow. 

About the only adjustment on these pumps is the packing. 

They allow a little water by to keep the drive shaft cool as it goes through the packing, which keeps pumped water heading in the right direction. 

Done.

Alls well the ends well. Most canal board members help make decisions. Dad also helps keep the water flowing. Definitely a man you want on your team. It can be easy to take the water in the canal for granted. But there is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes. Dad and crew keep the pivots turning and the crops growing. To them, America tips her hat.