It continues to rain. I guess that is a good thing as soil moisture is getting recharged. Our largest daily total this week has been about 1.25 inches and local totals are in the 2.5-inch range. The rivers and ditches are up, low areas are filling up a bit, but a good portion of this rain is being soaked in.

The correct color siding came in last week and builders were able to finish siding the pole barn that has replaced the Quonset building. It seems most of my energy this week has been spent working to finish the new building. Moving the chemical mixer machine and tote rack inside will be a project for another time. It will involve moving pumps and re-plumbing tanks which I don’t want to get into this close to planting.

The pressing issue right now is containment and entering and exiting the building. Our loading area is now inside the building. We moved a couple of poly tanks inside so we are having to re-work the containment area. We are doing this in conjunction with the ramps into and out of the building.

Since we built on an existing concrete pad, this part of the project has become a bit more difficult. We had to cut out some concrete and set forms. In addition, we had to prep the old concrete by installing pins to connect it to the new and apply adhesive so the old and new will bond. Intermittent rain has slowed us down, but everything is pretty much set now. Hopefully, there is an opportunity to pour soon.

Thursday, I received the email that the overhead doors came in, so after the concrete cures, the builder will be able to come back and install the doors. We also will start moving crop production products, micronutrient totes and seed boxes in as soon as possible. Since these products started arriving before we could put them in the barn, my shop is now overrun.

We had to stop receiving liquid products when we began this project, so we need to get it wrapped up quickly so inbound trucks can resume. Also, the next time fields are fit, I will need to be spraying. The loading pad must be accessible in order for me to do that.