People seem to enjoy lists. We want to read about the best or the worst, the longest or the shortest, the biggest or the smallest, the fastest or the slowest, the most beautiful or the ugliest, lists can go on and on. I thought that maybe I would make a list of things to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving week.

Let us start with this fall’s harvest. Am I thankful that I have one day of harvesting left with rain in the forecast? No.

Am I thankful for the November weather that allowed my neighbors and me to finish soybeans and at last bring in most or, for those fortunate few, all of the corn crop? Well, sort of, but hey, it is the fourth week of November. It is about time to have a crop out of the field and in the bin.

Speaking of the crop, am I grateful for the crop I have harvested this fall?

Oh, do you mean the crop that was too wet with disappointing yields? Do you mean the corn crop that was light in weight, full of fines, and moldy? Those crops? What do you think?

Okay, maybe the fall of 2009 will not be on the Thanksgiving list. How about the rest of 2009?

Oh yeah, 2009, the year my neighbor and friend Dave died in his sleep. For Dave’s sake, who was missing his wife Kathy who died after a long and courageous fight with cancer and was making the best of being a lonely man, I am grateful Dave and Kathy are together. For my sake, I miss his phone calls, his booming voice and our frequent visits.

This Thanksgiving list is not going well, is it? Is there something about 2009 to be thankful for?

Well, harvest is nearly complete and it has been several years since a wheel fell off my combine. It has also been several years since I have had to call two wreckers to pull my combine out of a muddy rut.

Of course, I have another day to go of combining so I am not out of danger yet. Maybe the gods of harvest will give me a pass for this year. I would be grateful for that.

So far, it seems like 2009 has not been that great of a year and I believe there are many who would agree with me – both farmers and non-farmers.

I am grateful I live in a country that has a safe and abundant supply of food with good roads that let us gather to enjoy each other’s company while being well fed.

Over Thanksgiving Day and the following weekend, we will have many meals of family members around our kitchen table. For every person who pulls up a chair to our table, I am grateful to have them as our guest and grateful for their company.

I am grateful there are people who pause for a few minutes each week and give me their time to read my thoughts on whatever subject is on my mind. Thank you for putting me in such an honored place.

You know, maybe 2009 did have its moments. It could have been worse.

Rye is a Farm News staff writer and farmer from Hanlontown. Reach him by e-mail at crye@wctatel.net.