Pics

     Have some photos! I'm in a bit of a rush today, so I'm keeping it simple.

     Photography (for me) is mostly about timing. I think I did well here.

     Cattle will sometimes be put into the corn stalks after the corn has been harvested. Title for this picture: Corn Hippo.

     Oh, hello there.

     If you want diffused light, there's nothing like clouds. These high ones glow real nice when the sun is right behind them.
     Anyhow, I'm needed elsewhere. Enjoy your Monday!

Things To See

     Here is something interesting: Did you know that the rotation of the Earth is wobbly? It's true, that's why this happens...

     This sunrise was photographed at the beginning of the month. Note the tall trees and the shop next to them.

     This one is from this morning. The sunrise is right above the place with the trees and shop. Fun, right? In spring the sun rises out of frame way off to the left.

     And did you know that cows can glow? Well here's the proof.

     And, last but not least. I've been wondering why the canal isn't draining out very fast. Here's why. Not all of the water in the county comes from the canals, just most of it. This water must come from a creek. But it's running into the canal, keeping a small trickle running through it.
     That's all I have for today. I hope you all have a good weekend.

Winter's First Chill

     You may already know that it's not winter yet. But here in Owyhee County, we're starting to feel the first of it. Starting with our first frosts.

     Just a bit of icing for the clods.

     And it doesn't slow anyone down much.

     The crops are almost all gone. Just a few beets and some corn remain. Though a few are left behind after the harvester has gone.

     More cold is coming though. Some are grouping up and getting ready to leave.

     While other just adopt the fuzz defense. Laying out in the sunshine helps too.

     Speaking of which, I going to have to come up with some better defenses myself if I'm going to keep this up. You guys stay warm!

Images

     I've collected some interesting images over the past couple of weeks. The time to share them is now.

     I'm not sure what these crows were up to. They were flying in a tight circle over this ex-popcorn field for quite some time.

     A farmer, out standing in his field. (That joke never gets old.)

     The other kind of Owyhee gold deposit.

     Picking popcorn in the dark. With temperatures getting lower and lower, the kernels are in danger of freezing and cracking.

     After hybrid seed corn is picked, the bull row are left behind. They look a bit lonely in their nice strait rows.
     I'll keep it at five today so that the page loads nice and fast. Hope you enjoyed them!

No More Water

     Irrigation has officially ceased, here in Owyhee County.

     You may recall from earlier in this blog's life that the irrigation water in this county comes from two sources: The pumps on the river and the Owyhee Reservoir.
     It has been nearly two weeks since the pumps have been on, and this last weekend they closed the valves at the reservoir.

     A day after the valves closed the canal was reduced to a stream. (As shown above.) But the pipes are long and even today, the canal retains a trickle. (That's the below picture. Don't let the pool in the foreground fool you, there's much less water than even a few days ago.)
    

     As the song goes: Times, they are a changin'. The crops are nearly gone, as are the swallows that once called this bridge home. But farming takes place on top of the cycles that most take for granted. And, like the swallows, the water will return next year. Any water the plants get from here until then will have to be by the old fashion way: rain.

Picking Corn

     Picking corn is different from chopping corn, which I'm sure you would assume. Here's how.

     The machines do have a somewhat similar shape, but their purpose is very different.

     A chopper chops, pretty straight foreword. A chopper harvests the entire corn plant. This machine (a picker) pulls the ears of corn off of the stalk. A picker only wants the kernels of the corn but must take the cob along with it.

     The ears then come up the belt in the back and are tossed into the wagon behind.

     This is popcorn that the picker is picking. Staying in the cob keeps the kernels from taking too much damage. Popcorn that is damaged might not grow next year. It also won't pop correctly, though that isn't the intended fate for this particular field.
     Once the wagon behind the picker is full it lifts up and tips so that they can dump the load into a truck. The truck will then take the ears off to have the kernels removed.
     These are some of the last seeds that will come out of Owyhee County for this year. Winter is coming, but the work isn't done yet. I'll keep you posted.

Foggy Friday

     This is happening quite a bit recently, the fog that is. But, it's Friday, and perhaps some nice serene foggy pictures are just what you need. Maybe? I'll just let the pictures do most of the talking.

     Farmer's in the mist (see him in his beet harvester?) are much more majestic than gorillas in the mist.

     But nothing could compare to sheep in the mist. (Nobody's home, sheep. Come back later.)

     Water and light: Photography paydirt!

     The spiders are very industrious at this time of year.

     As is Sudan grass. Corn are quitters.

     The fog is pretty localized to the areas closer to the river. You can just see it in the background off to the left here.

     Milkweed seeds and husks. Should make a good crop for the Monarchs next year.
     You all have a nice weekend. I just got a hot tip, so I gotta run!

Some Things

   I have a few things to show you. It's not much, but it'll have to do.

     
     Here's that pile of sugar beets I was telling you about. It's big, made of sugar beets, and pile shaped.

     This old dog chases me sometimes. (When he feels like it.) And by chase, I mean he runs down a dirt road that runs along the main road but is across a ditch and another dirt road from the main road. He starts running when I'm about a quarter of a mile away so he can get up to speed. Unfortunately for him, I don't drive very fast, so he often has to stop to wait for me. Or maybe he just wears out. He's pretty old.

     Honey bees are still working, though I'm sure it's getting trickier to find easy food since few flowers are left. When they get back to the hive, they pile up to get warm. Sounds like a good thing to do after being busy out in the cold.
     Have a nice Thursday. Being warm blooded, you shouldn't have trouble keeping warm. But if you're having trouble, do like the bees and make a nice warm pile.

Feel The Beat

     Guess what, readers: I have something new to show you!

     Beet harvest has begun! But before they can be harvested all that leafy matter must be removed. The Beet Topper or Defoliator (because it removes foliage) is an implement that removes the stems and leaves from a sugar beet. Its process that involves cutting and pummelling. Suffice to say (or don't) that it removes the leaves and stems.

     Like so.

     Then along comes the harvester with is sometimes called a sugar beet lifter or digger. It works in much the same way as the onion harvester, except that it is actually lifting the beets up out of the ground. It does this with a series of angled disc wheels. These discs' angles are such that as they pull through the ground the narrowing angle squeezes the beets up out of the ground.

     You might have noticed that the sugar beet harvester has bins on it. It can collect beets and then dump them when it's full so that the truck doesn't run over any.

     While not a particularly charismatic tuber, the sugar beet is a pretty neat one. Unlike sugar cane which will only grow in the tropics, sugar beets grow just about anywhere. These will be shipped off to be put in one of the massive piles you might have seen. (I had some pictures, but apparently my lens fogged up.) From there they get put into larger trucks, or in some places, trains. They'll then head off to a factory to be made in to neat things like granulated sugar, which we all love.
     So if you live outside of the tropics, when you buy sugar, you might just buy beet sugar. Who knows, the economy you strengthen just might be your own.

Misty Morning

     It was a somewhat foggy morning, here in Owyhee County. That cuts down on certain number of photo opportunities while creating a few others.

     The frost comes further down the hills all the time. This cut hay had a bit on it when I came across it, though the temperatures were not low enough for the frost to form on anything living.

     Most of the moisture deposited as dew, though I don't imagine that's what this spider wanted to catch.

     Nor did this ladybug larva appreciate the dew on her back. She won't be moving much till the temperature raises quite a bit.

     Few fogs can withstand the Owyhee sun (not to mention wind, though there is none now) and the fog dissipates quickly. As I write these last words, the sun is shining brightly through my window. And I think it will be a very nice day.

Morning Again

     Today's was a particularly soggy morning. A great deal of rain yesterday made for a lot of mud and dew today.

     And as of the time I made my picture rounds, there weren't many people out in the fields. Instead they were spending the nice sunny morning cooped up in their shops getting greasy.

     The sunshine did give some folks something to sing about.

     And of course the best time to irrigate is when the field is a bit wet already.

     So there's no time to stand around, unless that's pretty much all you do.

     Because this sun will have this moisture cooked off in no time at all.
     Have a wonderful Monday!