Andy update - Weeks 19, 20 & 21 PLUS Sunday Stills

Wow!  I guess time must have flown right be me.  I did not realize I had gotten so far behind on my Andy posts.  With today's submission, I will be caught up on the 52 Weeks Photography project.  Coincidentally, another photo group (Sunday Stills) that I follow has a topic this week of multiple photos of one subject.  So Andy will be famous this week! 


WEEK 19:  Andy the Cookie Monster!

(Brett happened to like these cookies too!  They were soft sugar cookies with sprinkles in the batter.)

WEEK 20:  Ready to go to work





Andy is always in the camera bag ready to go to work. 

I guess that is one of the downfalls of being the photo subject of a full year!! 

Here he sneaks a peak at what else is going on!

WEEK 21:  Josh's graduation party

Andy thought he was a part of the centerpiece at this graduation celebration.

Spring finally Sprung! (and Week 18: Andy)

I am happy to report that we finally have spring.  We thought we might have slept through it!  We had about 5 good days in the field and boy were we busy!  Mark got all of our peas planted.  This is our first year of raising field peas.  We have about 200 acres of them. 

Yellow Field Pea Seed

After we finished the peas, we started planting canola.  Mark & Brett have taken turns running the air seeder.  There is plenty else to do.  Brett has a sprayer that needs to be fixed and gotten ready so he has spent quite a bit of time doing that.  I shared a little about seeding last year.

Once we started planting canola, I got more involved in the spring planting season.  It is my job to pull Anhydrous Ammonia (NH3) tanks to town to get them filled and return them to the field.  NH3 is used to add nitrogen to the soil. 

Andy waiting for the NH3 tank to be filled.

Christopher just finished breeding about 50 heifers using Artificial Insemination (AI).  He goes through about a three step process to get them all to cycle (come in heat) at the same time.  I helped him get the cattle in to work them but he had to do the inseminating.  I understand he wants to breed some of the cows too.  I don't think I've ever written about this so I should follow him around with a camera next time.  He will not like that! We artificially breed the heifers (female cows who have never had a calf) to better control the birth weight of their calves.  We AI our registered (purebred) Polled Hereford cows to help improve the genetics in our herd.

Our seeding came to a halt on Saturday due to fog and mist.  By Sunday morning we had a full fledged rain.  Since about 10:30 Sunday morning until this afternoon (Monday) we have had nearly three inches of rain.  It has been a beautiful rain for our pasture grasses.  We must now be patient for the soil to dry so we can finish seeding.

A day of sunshine and repairs

Our weather is finally getting better.  Today the temp was near 60 and the sun was shining nice & bright. 

This morning I took a 4 wheeler ride out among some of our cattle.  Mark had rolled out a big bale of hay.  This photo shows the calves even have an interest in hay - except for those looking at the dogs!

 

This afternoon I helped Mark & Brett "play" mechanic. 

 

Mark was UNDER a pickup changing oil.  I didn't help with that in fact I was probably more of an annoyance to the guys!

 

Brett was UNDER his high wheel sprayer.  He had to get the hydraulic wheel motors repaired.  Here he is hooking up the hydraulic lines.  I did help with this project.  The guys did the heavy lifting and I put the bolts in place when things were lined up.  This sprayer sits up so high & wide that we are sure someone could drive a small sports car under it!  This is the first project of many to get machinery ready for the spring planting season.

 

 

 

 

We had to JUMP  the batteries to get the swather started (moved) so we could get the sprayer out of the machine shed.  Well, technically we charged the battery but I need a photo of jump and this was as close to a 'jump start' as I got this week.

 

We need to hope the sun keeps shining so we can get the air seeder out of the snowbank/mud and get that ready too.  Planting will begin before we know it!!

 

 

As you may have noticed the words UNDER and JUMP have links.  They are both parts of a couple of photography groups that I am in.  Under is for the Saturday Photo Hunt.  Jump is for Fotos by Friends.  One of the main reasons I started this blog was so I'd have a place to post photos that I wanted to enter in various photo challenges/contests.  Andy is a part of a weekly challenge plus the two I mentioned here.  There are others too that I sometimes participate in.  I just enjoy the challenge of finding a photo to fit the various topics!