Dear Dave, By the time you read this letter, Dave, the portal will have closed for another year. This is a reference to both an event and a stage musical but more on that later. Combines are rolling here, Dave. The area barley crop started about two weeks ago . However, the spring wheat crop is what I consider as the starting point of harvest. Most of our spring wheat crop was planted at a time when farmers were pretty positive. It was still early in the planting season and small grain planting went pretty well. Corn and soybeans were less positive as planting was done in a rush and planting conditions weren’t always ideal. We will find out bushel production of wheat pretty soon however corn and soybeans may not see the hopper for a few months. I am pretty good at weeding trees, Dave. I’m not sure if being good at something I dislike is something to treasure but it was a job that had to be done. I had over 500 trees planted here this year by the Pennington Soil and Water Conservation District. The area around the trees is covered by matting however there is a small opening around the tree. This opening must be hand-weeded, and it is manual labor at its purest. I have been using something called a garden knife to remove the weeds and it works very well. It is a simple tool but quite effective, I understand that your wife Mary also has found it an effective gardening tool. I have used it for weeding and replanting trees but there are many markings and notches on the blade that tell me it can do much more. The village of Brigadoon is the focus of a musical of the same name in which the village only appears, through a time portal, to the outside world once every 100 years, Dave. The village is discovered by two men and one of them falls in love with a village woman and has to decide if he will stay in the village as it disappears for another 100 years. A similar phenomenon occurs in our hometown of Viking, only it is a yearly event. Good Old Days was set in Viking this past weekend. I like to joke that this is the one weekend when people can visit without a passport and the guard shack is not actively manned. It’s really just a nice couple of days with a parade and other events but after that Viking will disappear until next summer, Dave. It really doesn’t disappear but, just like in the musical, people may fall in love with the place; I certainly did. Dad used to always ask, “so you hear any news?” when he wondered what was going on in our lives. This is my news this week, Dave. Tell everyone hello, you’re little bro.
