CLAYTON RYE
We had a visit from our family members to our relocated house over the Thanksgiving weekend.
It was their first visit to see how things have changed on the outside, while seeing that things are almost the same on the inside.
They knew they were at the right place because they recognized our cars and pickup sitting outside waiting for the garage to be completed.
Besides, Ike, the family dog was there to greet them. He made the move, too.
All the buildings that were just outside the door – machine sheds, pole barns, bins and silos – are not there. There is no more view of the ethanol plant, or of the state highway, only miles and miles of farm fields that stretch to the south and to the west.
Besides our house, the only other building now is the old barn that we left standing because it remains in fairly good shape and serves as a memory to Ray and Lena, my neighbors from when I grew up just around the corner.
Then there is the weather. We are sitting out in the open and frankly, we are quite exposed, especially to the south, west and north.
The wind is almost continuous and we understand why all those wind turbines that generate electricity are located around here.
It is not a good place to be a loose shingle on a roof or actually, a loose anything.
It was my son-in-law, who drove to where we used to live to pick me up after I returned a tractor there, who observed that there was a big change for only moving two miles.
Not only has the view changed, we are on an L-shaped gravel road that is about two miles in length and ends at a T-intersection at each end.
Anyone driving by gets a quick inspection because the only person we expect to see driving by each day is the mailman.
There are more trains each day on the railroad track we can see a half-mile from here than vehicles going by on the gravel road in front of the house.
We can be seen from the highway about two miles away but getting here requires a circuitous route.
There are only two roads a person can take to get here.
The result is that it gets very quiet around here, which one of the reasons this particular spot appealed to me.
The next question to be answered is what will the winter be like? The weather forecasters are saying that La Nina is still with us and this winter is shaping up to be a repeat of last winter.
My memory of last winter is that we had lots of snow and a fair amount of cold.
Are we going to be stranded for a day or so, while the wind piles up the snow and then we wait to be plowed out?
It seems inevitable, especially where we are now and in all probability, it will happen several times.
My wife and I hunkered down during those storms last winter and we are prepared to hunker down this winter.
As long as we have electricity and no emergencies, we will be fine.
I did have the electrician put in a connection at the power pole to hook up a generator just in case of a prolonged electrical outage.
Then once the 90 days of winter ends, we can emerge from our self-imposed hibernation and look for places to plant tulips and potatoes in the full sun we will also have.
Some things have not changed.
Rye is a Farm News staff writer and farmer from Hanlontown. Reach him by e-mail at crye@wctatel.net.