Harvest

Harvest is another one of my most favorite times of year. I love just about everything about it. Ever since I was a little kid I have been out in the fields partaking in harvest time. I started so long ago that I can't actually tell you how old I was at the time. I started out just by going out and riding with my dad in the tractor. Usaully when I would ride with him, it was during sugar beet harvest. My dad drove the defoliator. Then as the years went by I would always continue riding in the tractor with my dad. Eventually I started riding with my brothers across the field in our old 3 door suburban. We called it "Old Blue." We would drive across the field just picking up beets we seen that the beet lifter had missed. My brothers and I had many great memories doing this. As we grew up we still continued going out to the field, but eventually my dad had found a different job and no longer was part of the harvest season.
Although my dad wasn't part of it anymore, I still was. During the summer I still worked on the farm. I was doing different work of course because it was a whole different season. Instead of picking up beets and riding in the tractor, I was either riding on the four wheeler pickng rock or I was walking up and down soybeans and beets pulling weeds. I have been doing this for about 4 or 5 years now. As I have grown older I have gained more responsibilities on the farm. I now am doing more field work during the harvest and after harvest. I have now gotten the chance to take my dad's seat behind the steering wheel of the defoliator. I also do a little bit of discing and other ground work.
Of course, all the equipment that is needed to do all this work just doesn't prepare itself. That's another thing that I am doing during the summer. We are fixing broken or worn parts on the equipment. We grease parts that need to be greased and replace parts that need replacing.
I love just about everything about the farm and I love working there. Yes, there are some things that I hate doing and just dread getting up for work to do it, but someone has to. When I see my work finished, I take pride in it. Then I just hope my supervisor/uncle also accepts it. They usually do. I'll be back for another year of farm work this summer. Hopefully it won't be my last, because I am preparing for college.

Philmont

Several years ago, in the summer of 2007, a couple Boy Scout friends and I went down to New Mexico. The reason we went down there was Philmont Scout Ranch. Philmont is a scout camp located in the mountains of New Mexico. While scouts are there, they hike around in the mountains to different camps that the people have set up down there. There are plenty of awesome things to experience down there. It is a very well set up scout camp that I would love to go to again.
The first day you get there isn't very exciting. You spend the whole time at base camp. In this time at base camp, you do a few different things. First of all, you have meetings. In these meetings, you assign the leader of the trek from your group. Generally this person should be a good leader and and if they have any background of Philmont that pretty much puts them first on the list for the leader. In our group there was only one person who had been to Philmont before. So, yes, he was our leader.
After these meetings, the next thing you do is make sure everyone one is eligible to go still. Once more, everybody has their weight and height checked. There are certain slot limits for weight within height limits. This is just a safety precaution. When everybody clears those, then it is time to get the gear. The gear includes everything you'll need from tents to food to the utinsels you'll need to cook that food with. Then we also had our bags weighed and were told what things we should bring and what we shouldn't bring. Every single ounce is crucial.
The second day is also another slow day. You wait around base camp alot until it is time for your trek to head out. It seems like a very long wait and can be quite boring. When your trek finally gets out on the trail, there is a ranger along with you. They start you out with a very easy day. My first day was only 2 miles of hiking. Then we set up camp.
For the next week or maybe even a little more, we spend hiking around to different places. We had a 12 day trek. The first and last day were spent at base camp. The other 10 were up in the mountains. We got to see many interesting things. My favorite was probably the toughest hike of them all, but well worth it. It was hiking up Mount Baldy. Mount Baldy is about 12,441 ft. We started out in the campsite Miranda that morning. The hike totaled about 13 miles that day. With alot of steep climbing. When you got on top of that mountain, it was an awesome sight.
In the end, we totaled about 84 miles of hiking. The last day of the trek was spent in base camp. We turned all the equipment back in, washed our pots and pans, had a bonfire, and then headed back to the tent for the night. The next morning we had everything packed up and headed back to Minnesota.
If I had the chance to go back again, I would. It was a very wonderful experience and I would love to do it again. If anybody ever has the chance to go I would tell them they should. If you don't try to make fun out of it, it won't be. So go and enjoy it. It's an awesome time and it is beautiful country.

Ice Fishing

My favorite thing to do in the winter is to go ice fishing. I'll take every opportunity I get to go ice fishing. I'll usually call up a few buddies and see if they wanna go. It's just a lot more fun having somebody else along to keep me company. Usually I'll switch up the lakes that I go to, to try to catch some different fish or just any at all if I got skunked the last time. My favorite type of fishing is about even between walleye and panfish fishing. They both have their advantages and disadvantages in my eyes. Walleye generally bite a lot less, unless you are in a very good fishing spot. On the lakes that I fish on generally don't have many of these. But the advantage that I like most is the fact that they are fun to fight with. Panfish on the other hand aren't much of a fighting type of fish. However, they can be quite tricky to catch if you aren't used to catching them. They bite alot different than a walleye does. A big advantage of panfish compared to walleye's is that they bite a lot more. Panfish travel in bigger schools than bigger fish do, or there are just more of them. In the end though, I love fishing for both of them. They can both be really fun to catch. I love spending the night out on the lake relaxing and just waiting for a bite. After all this talking about fishing, I really feel like going fishing. So off I go.