We have been moving right along on our Spring work. We have installed some new drainage tiles to take care of some wet spots and fixed old tiles. All our bean fields have been chisel plowed and disced. Our soybean seed arrived yesterday so we are about ready to plant.

On Tuesday, one of our lowlines at Verne's had a nice heifer calf. I bought the mother at Denver two years ago. Last year she had a bull so this is her first heifer. Both the dam and the sire have outstanding genetics so we have great hopes for the calf. She is our 13th calf of 2009 and I'm not superstitious but I thought it best to call her W14. Sort of the way it's rumoured that there is no 13th floor in high rise hotels.

It rained today so I had some time to go to the diner. It's been quite dry and we could use the rain. Planting is well underway and the rain won't bother the schedule.

One of the diner regulars also has beef cattle. He was telling about how someone had abandoned a cat at his barn. It is not uncommon to find a cat that someone has dropped off. Since there is no ready source of milk from beef cattle for the cat, he drove it a way down the road to a dairy farmer who has lots of cats. He left it with the farmer and was quite surprised to see the cat back at the beef farm within a day. We all kidded that he should have blindfolded the cat. Apparently there is an old belief that if you put butter on a cats paws it can't smell its way back and will stay put. He has decided to forego the butter and keep the cat.

One of the other regulars let on that his children had given both him and his wife a gift certificate for a couples massage. As you might imagine in small town America there are not that many folks in the diner who know much about massages.

They apparently both went to the suburbs for the massage but it doesn't sound like he will be asking for another gift certificate for next year. He didn't offer many details but it didn't sound all that relaxing.

Along those lines my acupuncture treatment is still working. You wonder if the doctor actually did something or there is a strong power of suggestion.

When I was discing yesterday, I was able to stop for a bit and walk across the street to the high school. Jim's school was there for a track meet. He has managed to qualify for the Sectional Championships in both high jump and 800 meter race. I wonder where he got those genes. Those on my side of the family have never been thought of as fleet of foot or springy.