From the Pastures: A bucket-list getaway

I did what most farmers and self-employed businessmen find impossible to do — take a vacation. At Christmas, I told my wife we’d do one of her bucket-list items: go to Alaska for two weeks. So, I’m writing this in Anchorage.

Of course, it’s late at night. We’re three hours behind Illinois time. When we left O’Hare airport at 5 p.m. Sunday, it was hazy and overcast. After we landed and got settled into our hotel in Anchorage at midnight, Alaska time, it was just as bright outside as it was in Illinois at 5 p.m.

Midnight Alaska time equals 3 a.m. Illinois time, so we were tired. But it is only dark here for one hour, from 1:30 to 2:30 a.m. I like to work outside until it gets dark, but I can’t do that up here because it will kill me.

We’ve seen Wasilla, Seward and some glaciers by car. Tomorrow we will see Mount McKinley, then more glaciers all from a train. Then we board a ship to see Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan and end up in Vancouver and fly home. All the while sleeping at night, when it’s daylight outside. We have not seen a moose or bear yet, but we keep looking for them.

Meanwhile back at the ranch I’ve got my 18-year-old granddaughter and 35-year-old helper holding down the fort. Of course, the day before I left I had two old ewes die of unexplained causes, so I buried them Sunday morning and left the young one to figure it out. Four days later I called Paige, the granddaughter, and she said everything’s fine. God is good or she’s lying to me, but there is nothing I can do about either option.

The wheat came off one week ago with average yield and no dockage. The following day Cargill sent me an email saying they were starting to dock for “sprouted heads” in the wheat. I didn’t have any, but I did have smut in the wheat. I’ll be planting an eight-way cover crop into the wheat stubble after I graze off the weeds and red clover. Hopefully, the planting will be after a rain in the first or second week of August.

We live in the greatest country in the world. Where else can you travel, safely, using four different modes of transportation to cover several thousands of miles in just two weeks? While at the same time we have an increase of homeless on the street out here in Alaska, Chicago, Bloomington or California. And there are about 30% of the businesses closed up or boarded up across the USA.

We have to turn this around or we will not have a country. God gave us free will. Our Constitution gave us freedom. Now what do you do with your 24 hours a day?