Farming (Thursday)

Thursday morning, Lori left about 9:00 a.m., armed with her leftovers -- 1/2 tenderloin sandwich, 2 pieces of Bobe's Pizza, and a bottle of water. After Lori left, Lucille took us out for breakfast at Dennys, then we made a quick stop at Rural King for some rope. The next "fix it" project in the house is replastering a section in the front room right under the window, which we have found someone to do. But a bookcase sits right next to this window (one Joe actually built in high school, that has to be wired to the wall), so it had to be moved out. It is now roped to the piano, but the rope they found in the basement was too musty-smelling to live with, so Joe was on the search for new rope. Which he found, and now the bookcase is roped to the piano with clean, new rope that doesn't smell like the basement.


I made Judy a batch of fudge (which she is addicted to), but Lucille really didn't think this was the right time of year to make fudge. Fred came out for a while, and accidentally left his phone, so Jim got to be his secretary for a day until he figured out where it was and came back to retrieve it. Southern Indiana is growing -- this is the beginning of the farming season and crops are coming up. We pass a watermelon field on our way into town, and Lucille likes to see if the plants are standing up. They plant them in 3-row bands through strips of plastic -- the process has changed a lot since her day in the fields. Now they order most of their plants whereas they started them from seeds in hothouses when she and Willy farmed.
  Another crop grown right along this road is potatoes, and those fields are in full bloom right now. A lot of the melon farms have switched to grain, at least partially, because it is so difficult to get adequate labor. So wheat and corn are also abundant. I don't know if the corn will be "knee high by the 4th of July" which is the old saying around here because they have had such a cool, rainy spring
. You have to be prepared to give up the road at any minute -- you never know what you will meet. This guy was coming down the middle of the road right at me, but he did move over a little (sometimes they don't and I have to take the grass)
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 I came across Watermelon Road and found a field of cantaloupes that Lucille has been trying to keep her eye on. They are also blooming.


 
 I tried to take a nap out in the RV in the afternoon, but there was a lot of activity outside that kept waking me up. Dixie had sent Jim and Joe to town for more mulch, and there must have been a great debate about unloading it, right outside my bedroom in the RV. Then Don came to mow the grass and it sounded like a train coming between the RV and the house. Then another big conversation took place outside. And during all this, Joe had come inside the RV and brought in the front slide so Don could mow, and then Judy came in and dropped off a gift for John and Bridgette. I finally just gave up and came inside, not sure I felt very rested. Dixie cooked a pot of ham and beans today so we were well fed. Jaclyn stopped by with her kids in the evening, and brought Ice Cream Balls from Lics (delicious), and Adam joined them when he got back from his day in Indianapolis, so we all had a nice visit with the Ray family.