Son called to get an update on his aunt's condition. Couldn't give him much news, just a rehash of what we know. He asked if I was still working at the local museum and yes, we don't shut down until the end of October but with greatly shortened hours. Thought I knew what he was going to ask and yes, he wanted to know if I would either drive a grain cart or combine. CDL expired at my last birthday and I have absolutely no intention of renewing, not sure an 80 year old has much business hauling 25 tons of corn down the highway at 60 MPH.

Moisture in the corn now is above 30% and the elevators won't accept anything more than 15% but the feedlots sure will, in fact high moisture is preferred for feeding because it is sweeter and more palatable for the animals. You don't get as much money for it because the buyer is buying a lot of moisture but it is a good way to get operating capital and not having to pay the elevator to dry your harvest. He would rather start on soybeans and get them out of the way because they are so fragile a driving rain or very high wind will make the beans shatter out of the pods and you could lose the entire crop but the moisture is far too high for harvesting them.

Because Leone and I were gone last week, others filled in for us at the museum so we have almost a double schedule this week, in fact, she is there now until 2P.M. and then I'll relieve here and be there until 6 P.M.

Last week sis started talking about her pony when she was small. I hated that animal but she seemed to get along well with him. He was a shetland pony named Kirk and loved to bite people when they had their back turned , still have a scar on my right leg where he got me good. We couldn't leave him in the pasture with the other horses because he would pick on them. He would bite then whirl and kick them until we were concerned that he could damage these valuable animals so he was usually staked out where the grass was good for grazing and it was my job to pump a pail of water twice a day an bring it to him. I was pretty wary and didn't turn my back on him then. We didn't have a saddle for him, sis could get a bit in his mouth and would have reins and she was good at riding bareback except that darned pony would invariably head directly for the clothesline and go at full speed under it and of course sister Mary would be scraped off and land in a heap of arms and legs. The pony would stop and come over to her and act like, Oh, did you fall off?.

She also mentioned the time dad hired a man with ferrets to come and help us with a rat problem around our barn. We, of course had a lot of grain stored in various bins in the barn for feed for the cows and horses. The barn was full of cats and they did keep the rodent population down but they couldn't control it completely. Stepmothers sister was visiting with her Boston terrier when the ferret man got there. He had us station all our dogs around the perimeter of the barn, everyone was holding a dog on a lead of some kind. The ferret man began digging near the foundation and when he found a rat runway or tunnel he would let one of the ferrets loose in the tunnel the he would yell get ready. The rats seemed to sense the ferrets and came boiling out of the ground in the most unexpected places and the dogs went nuts killing rats. The Boston terrier was even allowed to get in on the hunt even though she was really a house dog. She was sniffing near a rat hole when one came boiling out of the ground and bit her on the nose. She went beserk and grabbed the rat and begin shaking until it literally was shaken apart. All the rest of us had clubs and 2 by 4 boards to whack any rats the dogs missed. Forgotten how many we got rid of but it was a bunch. Always heard that if you see one rat there are probably 20 that you didn't see, I can believe that

I had no idea at the time that you could buy dog food in cans. Remembet that that Boston terrier was fed only Ideal dog food and it cost 7 cents a can. We all thought that was hilarious, buying dog food. Ours were well fed but it was from table scraps and separated milk and we had plenty of wild rabbits that made good dog food also.

Sis asked, "do you remember when you and I tried to take a census of the barn cats"? "How many did we count"? I couldn't remember but know it was in the 30's. She and I were always playing with these cats and they were very tame even though they were only barn cats.

Hadn't intended to write a novel length but so be it.