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A Dog’s Prayer

Published on May 24, 2013, by in Pet Escapades.

It’s finally Friday my dear readers. We made it. And with that, I found this cute, little poem written through the eyes of a dog. Thought it was a fun twist for the Friday before a long weekend. Plus, it’s very fitting for Pet Escapades.

A Dog’s Prayer
By: Beth Norman Harris

Treat me kindly, my beloved master, for no heart in all the world is more grateful for kindness than the loving heart of me.

Do not break my spirit with a stick, for though I should lick your hand between the blows, your patience and understanding will more quickly teach me the things you would have me do.

Speak to me often, for your voice is the world’s sweetest music, as you must know by the fierce wagging of my tail when your footstep falls upon my waiting ear.

When it is cold and wet, please take me inside…for I am now a domesticated animal, no longer used to bitter elements…and I ask no greater glory than the privilege of sitting at your feet beside the hearth…though had you no home, I would rather follow you through ice and snow than rest upon the softest pillow in the warmest home in all the land…for you are my god…and I am your devoted worshiper.

Keep my pan filled with fresh water, for although I should not reproach you were it dry, I cannot tell you when I suffer thirst. Feed me clean food, that I may stay well, to romp and play and do your bidding, to walk by your side, and stand ready, willing and able to protect you with my life, should your life be in danger.

And, beloved master, should the Great Master see fit to deprive me of my health or sight, do not turn me away from you. Rather hold me gently in your arms as skilled hands grant me the merciful boon of eternal rest…and I will leave you knowing with the last breath I drew, my fate was ever safest in your hands.

With that, I’d like to leave you with a picture of Molly eyeing some birds…

Isn’t she just the most adorable pooch you’ve ever did see?

Until next time, happy trails!

P.S. Have a safe and happy Memorial Day!

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Soybean Planting: Light At The End Of The Tunnel

Published on May 23, 2013, by in Fun in the Field.

I don’t know about you, but I am SO ready for PLANTING season to be OVER despite the fact that we have had a “late” start. Last week, my farmer finished up with corn planting and I was so excited because I didn’t think it would take long to finish planting soybeans (I told this to myself in an attempt to turn around my mood). I mean it’s one thing to do the whole distance thing, but it’s a whole other thing to do the distance thing with a farmer, especially during planting and harvesting. I love my farmer, don’t get me wrong, but it certainly is hard when planning weekend trips around the weather. How many of you ladies are with me? I was grouchy. Then I found an interactive soybean planting map on AgWeb.

There’s light at the end of the tunnel. After seeing this map, I’m sure I’m not the only farm girlfriend who has had to give herself a little pep talk (at least I hope I’m not) to see the light. The map shows soybean planting progress throughout the country. It is populated with USDA’s weekly crop progress estimates and is updated every Monday afternoon around 3 p.m. CDT. In Illinois, soybean planting is 19% complete, compared to 75% at this time last year.

How is soybean planting in your neck of the woods?

Until next time, happy trails!

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A Birthday Story

Published on May 22, 2013, by in City Adventures.

I’d like to shine the spotlight on Myron Rumbold today. Not only because he is a pretty legit crop insurance specialist (I may be a bit biased) but because he is another year older younger today! In case you’re wondering, Myron is, indeed, mi padre, my dad, my father, my role model, my hero, my car fixer, my giver of advice. See the resemblance?

So naturally, I have to write up a post that describes all his awesomeness. I mean who else can look that good taking a picture into the sun?

Or, pausing for a brief minute to snap a picture with a random longhorn steer?

Only to keep the trend going and order a ‘South of the Border’ wrap, which lead to complete devastation upon realizing, that apparently, there is no meat (i.e. chicken) south of the border. Just rice and beans. To this day, I’m still not sure which border the menu was referring to.

But more importantly, whom else can I read my Illinois State Alumni magazine with? Yep, dear old dad is a Redbird too!

Well folks, I hope you have enjoyed some of the random highlights of the past year. And to Dad, I hope this post will ease some of your anticipation until your birthday card arrives :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!

Until next time, happy trails!

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Massive Tornado Rips Through Oklahoma

Published on May 21, 2013, by in Social Media.

There will be no agribusiness updates today. Instead, I’ve gathered some Oklahoma tornado footage.

And here is the aftermath…

My thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected.

In the meantime, the Pioneer Woman, an Oklahoma native, has listed additional ways you can help out if you feel called to do so.

Until next time, happy trails!

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9 Ways To Utilize Your iPad Experience

Published on May 20, 2013, by in Agency Life.

Mobile technology has transformed the world of business. Just the other day, I was giving a potential contact my business card when much to my surprise he pulled out his fancy mobile device, snapped a picture and returned my business card. I was stunned. (I mean, not to brag or anything, but I have some pretty legit business cards so naturally I enjoy handing them out). Come to find out, he had a fancy ‘business card app’ that saves all your information with a quick click of the camera. This particular man is clearly on top his A-game when it comes to technology in the business world, however technology can be a real hindrance if you don’t know how to properly use it.

Want to learn more? Click here to view some tips and tricks for your iPhone/iPad that can benefit you whether you’re in the office, on the road or in the field. Here is just a little bit of what you will learn:

1) Take a Screenshot. To save an image on your screen, press the Home button and the sleep/wake button at the same time…
2) Sync Wirelessly. To wirelessly sync your iTunes with your iPad, plug the iPad into your computer, making sure both devices are connected to the same wireless network…
3) Set Reminders. If you have the iPhone 4S, you can create a GPS-activated location or time based reminders…
4) Jump To The Top of The Page. Forget which page you’re on? Simply tap on the top bar…
5) Save Images In Safari. To save an image while browsing with Safari, just touch and hold on the image until a menu appears…
6) Typing Alternate Characters. To use alternate characters, touch and hold a letter key then slide your finger…
7) Fit Content to Screen. When using Safari, double tap a column, word or image to fit its width…
8) Enter Addresses Faster. Hold down the .com button to get a popup menu of alternate suffixes…
9) Stay Informed With Mobile Apps. With more than 500,000 apps available for Apple devices, the options for customizing your mobile device are nearly endless…

Photo credit courtesy of aganytime.com.

What are some tips and tricks you use? Let’s keep this list going; share your thoughts/ideas with us!

Until next time, happy trails!

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Five Minute Friday: Song

Published on May 17, 2013, by in Social Media.
5minutefriday

Happy Friday my faithful readers. We made it. It’s almost the weekend. Today, I’m going to do something I’ve never done before. I’m linking up with Lisa-Jo Baker.

Lisa-Jo Baker is the mastermind behind Five Minute Friday. It’s a pretty neat concept really. She gives a prompt and we write for five minutes flat on the first thing that comes to mind. Often times, our need to be perfect takes the fun out of writing so as soon as five minutes are up we hit publish. No extreme editing, no worrying about perfect grammar, font, or punctuation. Just a pure glimpse into the soul of the author. So here goes. The prompt is Song…

GO

“As we go on, we remember
All the times we had together
And as our lives change, from whatever
We will still be, friends forever.”

Lyrics from Vitamin C’s Graduation song comes to mind.

It’s been exactly one year and one week since I graduated college and as I prepare to head west to watch my brother graduate from Kansas State University with an ag business degree, I can’t help but be bombarded with all sorts of college memories. Memories of late night study sessions, living with the best roommates a girl could ever want and then walking across the stage so proud to finally be receiving my diploma.

Now it’s my brother’s turn. He will go on to do great things, I am sure of it. Graduations have a way of making me look back and analyze the winding path I had to take to get to where I am today. I can’t believe the time has come for both me and my brother to finally get the chance at writing our own songs for the whole world to hear. Congratulations little brother!

STOP

You, too, can link-up with Lisa-Jo Baker. The only catch is you have to encourage the person who linked up before you because who couldn’t use some kind words? If you don’t have a blog but still want to participate, feel free to leave your five minute story in the comments section. It’s so fun to see what comes to mind with the word song.

Until next time, happy trails!

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This Week In Agribusiness…

Published on May 16, 2013, by in Fun in the Field.

It’s been a little over a month since Blake Hurst discussed farmland prices and how we may be heading towards a farmland bubble. Now, the word on the street has been about a “reversion to the mean”, which economists define as trends of all kinds fluctuating far below and above the average trendline. Over time, these trends typically tend back toward the average direction.

American agriculture has experienced a remarkable run, at least in some segments, so economists are not predicting for the bear to come knocking. However, there is speculation of a likely reversion to some long-term mean ahead and the Kansas City Federal Reserve has a paper on some implications of that:

Photo credit courtesy of the Kansas City Federal Reserves.

“After posting record highs the past two years, long-term projections suggest U.S. farm profits are expected to retreat over the next decade. With a return to more normal weather patterns, a rebound in U.S. crop production is expected to expand inventories and reduce crop prices by 2014. At the same time, stronger global crop production and slower demand growth from exports and ethanol is projected to weigh on crop prices and profits.

History has shown that significant increases in farm leverage set the stage for deleveraging cycles and farm busts if land values fall. Working capital is the first line of defense farmers can use to manage through periods of weak profitability. Whether this farm boom simply fades or busts depends on the wealth effect and how farmers finance agriculture investments.”

If you’d like to stay ahead of the market trends, don’t waste another minute and hop on over to aganytime.com to download agExchange. agExchange is a mobile app that is designed to find the best price for your inventory. It lets you review bids from local elevators so you can determine the best time and place to market your crops. It even allows you to maintain your transaction records in one convenient place. This app uses cloud synchronization to securely store your sales, futures and options data for easy access between your tablet and phone.

What do you think? Where do you think the future of agriculture investments will go in the next year?

Until next time, happy trails!

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3 Things I Learned From My Great Great Aunt Mae

Published on May 15, 2013, by in Back in the Country.

As some of you may know, my Great Great Aunt Mae just celebrated her 109th birthday on May 1. 109 folks, that’s 7 years younger than the oldest living man who celebrated his birthday on April 19 in Japan. Anyway, I finally got to go visit the other day and surprised her with a little something for her birthday.

I like to think we share a special bond because when I was a young girl I interviewed her for a 4-H ‘Walk In My Shoes’ project and I thought she had the coolest stories then. But now, as I’ve gotten older myself, she REALLY has some amazing stories like driving to Florida all by herself at the age of 90?! And I complain about driving 3.5 hours by myself at the rightful age of 23! Talk about a wake up call. She even lived in California for six years with her sister right at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. She went on to paint a beautiful picture of her little red house with green shutters and a tree that had bright yellow blossoms in the spring. With the blend of all those colors with the mountains in the background she said there was nothing better. I could sit all day listening to her reminisce about the good ‘ol days. I mean a LOT has happened in the last 109 years….

1) The Gold Rush. My Great Great Grandpa went out west with big dreams of coming back to his Midwest home with lots of gold. He made it out there, didn’t pan for any gold, but came home with a ton of it. Turns out, he set up shop and sold supplies to all the miners who paid him in gold nuggets they found! He came back home and bought some land from the president of the United States and paid with a gold nugget. Come to find out that piece of land he bought is now Woodford County (IL). Must be where I get my entrepreneur spirit from.
2) The Great Depression. This was a hard time for most people, but not for my Great Great Great Aunt Mae. Nope, she was a farmer. Her family had a huge garden, cattle, chickens. Everything they could possibly need was right on their farm. To keep their produce fresh, they buried it underground. She said none of their food ever went bad, but now we have refrigerators so that’s not a problem, however I don’t think she realizes how fast food goes bad in a fridge. She said the only thing they didn’t have back then was ice cream, but they made their own in an old ice cream maker. Her favorite part was crowding around the ice cream with all her siblings, digging in with giant spoons to see who could get the biggest scoop first.
3) New Beginnings. Her mother (my Great Great Grandma) grew up in France. She had French maids and everything. She was a city girl and it took some adjusting when she married a farmer in America. Mae says that’s why her mother had eight children (four boys & four girls) to take the place of her French maids. Can you imagine going from having maids to help you dress, tie your corset, do all the daily chores to a farm wife? That’d be quite the adjustment if you ask me.

We took a picture.

We’re looking at each other because she hates looking straight at the camera. “Pictures are more fun when you aren’t looking directly at the camera. They’re more spontaneous when they capture moments.” So this is our moment according to Mae :)

Mae is truly a remarkable woman. So strong. So independent. So fearless. Such a role model.

Until next time, happy trails!

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Fighting Like A Boss. What Would You Do?

Published on May 14, 2013, by in City Adventures.

What do you do when someone you know is fighting cancer? What do you say? How do you support that person? What if that person is a junior in high school?

On Saturday, I went to a benefit in support of a 17-year-old girl.

This person just so happens to be one of my sister’s best friends. As I’m typing, I’m getting goose bumps just remembering the camaraderie between this young girl and her classmates. You see, my sister and her friends are a part of Cora’s Crew. Cora is fighting cancer like a boss!

Cora’s Crew hosted a benefit in her honor. They had quite the turnout.

There was a fun fair with a duck pond, bozo buckets, face painting and many other activities.

And what’s a fun fair without cotton candy?

There was lots of yummy food.

And some pretty awesome dinner music.

There was a silent auction and the most delicious cupcakes I’ve ever had in my entire life. My favorite were the Reeses Peanut Butter Cupcakes with peanut butter cups on top filled with the creamiest peanut butter cream in the middle. Now that my friends, is perfection! However, it gets better. The best part of the evening was the fashion show.

The boys were excellent sports as they were auctioned off and the girls got to dress them up in whatever they’d like. There was make-up, bright red lip-stick, lots of kleenex (hey, had to keep those dresses up somehow), wigs, jewelry, purses, umbrellas, really anything you could possibly need to transform manly high school boys into fashionistas. I was shocked to see my prom dress from senior year.

He wore it well ;) Here is the poor soul my sister dressed.

In conclusion, I’d like to make a shout-out to Cora’s Crew. It’s not every day you see a few high school students pull something off as large as this benefit. They planned everything from the food to the silent auction to the publicity. It was truly amazing seeing everything come together the way it did. I guess that’s one of the blessings of growing up in a small town – when someone is in trouble, the whole community comes together.

I’d like to leave you with this inspirational video the crew put together. You may get goose bumps.

Until next time, happy trails!

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What’s Hayden Panettiere Up To?

Published on May 13, 2013, by in Social Media.

Have you seen the Hayden Panettiere cotton commercial? If you are a Hayden Panettiere fan, a cotton farmer, a fashinista or a lover of Nashville, you will absolutely love this commercial. It has really inspired my inner fashionista! In case you haven’t seen it, Hayden is the new spokesperson for “The Fabric of Our Lives” campaign launched by Cotton Inc. In the commercial she blends all my favorite things together: fashion, country music and agriculture. What more could this country girl want? The people at Cotton Inc. definitely knew what they were doing when they created this campaign.

If you enjoyed that, then you will really enjoy checking out all these glorious outfits in Hayden’s closet. This is a cool feature of the campaign where Hayden actually discusses each piece of clothing. From date night to the office, she has got you covered. I love, love, love all the bright colors.

When it comes to wearing cotton Hayden says (via Fabric of Our Lives: Q&A), “What could be better than cotton? It’s my go-to. I can dress it up and wear it as a form-fitting dress, or dress it down as a soft and comfy tee. I know I’ll be fashionable and comfy either way. When I can look good AND feel good, I’m happy.”

She took the words right out of my mouth, but why the focus on cotton? To increase cotton awareness, especially since cotton is EVERYWHERE. Did you know lace is even derived from cotton? It sure is, learn something new every day. Anyway, my friend, Janice Person, via A Colorful Adventure knows her cotton and answers this very question:

“What a lot of people don’t realize is that cotton farmers pay for those ads as do people who import cotton. It’s a way for these groups to pool funds to support market awareness. It’s fairly easy to understand that farmers would like to keep cotton top of mind and since the makers of all the synthetic fibers like polyester have ad budgets, advertising is a part of it.”

If you have any other inquiries about advertising in the cotton industry, Janice is your go-to person. In fact, she wrote an entire post about advertising cotton here and has several other resources on her blog.

Until next time, happy trails!

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