Nebraska
Last week, I was in Nebraska for the funeral of my wife's great-aunt. It wasn't the best reason to take the trip, but I like to go out there to visit her cousins. Life revolves around the farm that her family has farmed since probably around the time Nebraska joined the Union. They do dry land farming (no irrigation) on a pretty large scale; soybeans, oats, wheat, corn, milo. They have around 100 head of cattle on top of all that. The reality of that kind of life is pretty stark: if it doesn't rain, you don't eat. When the busy season hits, it's hard to call in sick; it's not like the crops will wait for a few weeks. On the other hand, it's not like in the old days. When Karyn's great-uncle started out, he was using a horse-drawn plow. They still have the first tractor he ever bought (with his father), a John Deere model A. I got to drive that one a few years ago, and it's hard work. Luckily, it wasn't a busy season (harvest comes later in September), so we got to hang out and talk, and even pull out a few tractors and a combine for inspection. I got to drive one of the newer tractors, which has an enclosed cab, air conditioning, and a radio. There was a field of oats that had been harvested and needed "disking" (essentially chopping up the topsoil) before they could seed it with winter wheat.
