It’s hard to believe, but summer in Indiana is nearly over. Softball season wrapped up a couple weeks ago with a second league title in three years. The end-of-season picnic was yesterday, fall ball practice starts tomorrow for our oldest child.

As the kids get older, life has become more of a challenge. This year we had four kids on seven teams at one point in May and June.

Unlike Michigan, which has laws that restrict kids from going back to school before Labor Day, many Indiana kids have already gone back to school. Even the home school co-op group will be starting soon. I will probably never get used to this ‘balanced’ schedule.

We squeezed in a short trip to the upper peninsula of Michigan with friends early last week. We tried to avoid the tourist traps and rented a house. It was nice to get away, but as usual, vacation was too short. As a farmer, you always want to check out the crops; however, our route didn’t provide for much of a view of the crop situation in Michigan.

On the farm, thoughts have been turning to projects that must be done before harvest. The list gets longer every day. The grain facility project at my house has been in process for more than two years. The load out processes and some electrical still require attention.

We need to remove some grain bin floors and turn the unloads to feed through the grain leg. We are also contemplating the installation of a scale. Freight is prohibitive, so last week we sent the prints off to the welding shop to see what it will cost to build the scale platform locally. Once we get the quote back, we will have to decide where to put it. The scale would allow us to better track incoming loads of manure as well as do a better job on outgoing loads. It would also serve to double check and calibrate the grain cart scales. Indiana laws have some flexibility for farm loaded grain. However, some of our grain goes out of state, where restrictions may be tighter.

The opinions of the author are not necessarily those of Farm Futures or Farm Progress.