Shocking!

It's very dry here. We've gotten a few sprinkles this morning so I left my car outside hoping for rain. The dryness has been great for getting the crops out of the field, although they are much drier than is optimal. This is the first year that anyone in the area can remember harvesting all of their soybeans without being interrupted by rain. We finished up our soybean crop on Tuesday and started taking out corn Wednesday afternoon. The combine broke down yesterday afternoon, so they spent that time fixing and headed back out this morning. We're hoping to get our corn out before the wind knocks it all down.

One of the biggest issues here has been fire. In the past week nearly every fire department in the area has been called out for a field or combine fire at least once. The process of combining builds up a lot of static electricity. Throw in heat, dry air, and wind, and you have a recipe for fire. In fact one area dealership called all their customers and told them to start dragging chains behind the combine to dispel some of the static electricity.

A few months ago, I would have laughed if someone suggested we'd be praying for rain this year. Now, we are doing everything we can to get it to rain. We've left equipment and bales in the field. About the only thing we haven't done is wash the car!