lose your hat?

 

Lose your hat?  I spotted it yesterday on this post near FM 2060 and Sun Road east of Abernathy.  Of course, with the winds today, it's probably in Petersburg!

 

Hale County, Texas

2.11.2017

"in tall cotton"

 

 The expression "in tall cotton" means "having it made" or "on easy street."  They stopped cotton stripping this weekend in order to take family photos in the cotton.  Great niece Ava was "in tall cotton."

 

Fortenberry Farms

Hale County, Texas

12.10.2016

boll buggy and pivot

 

Fortenberry Farms

Hale County, Texas

12.10.2016

harvest at sunset

 

Farmers don't quit at 5:00.  This crew may be stripping until midnight to get the cotton harvested.  The boll buggy, pulled by a tractor, follows the stripper, which dumps its load when full.  The boll buggy then transports the cotton to the module builder.  A completed module (on the left) contains 13-15 bales and a bale of cotton typically weighs about 500 pounds.  In case you didn't know, Texas is the leading cotton-producing state.

 

Fortenberry Farms

Hale County, Texas

clouds over cotton stalks

 

Today at noon it was 50 degrees and blue skies so I went cloud chasing -- not expecting that some would catch me!.  This is looking west from FM 400 in Lubbock County.  I could see storm clouds gathering in the north.

 



 

By the time I reached Plainview 30 something miles later it was 36 degrees and overcast with a bit of moisture on the windshield.  After a brief stop at the farm in Hale Center I headed home the back way.



 

This is the cloud that caught me on FM 2528 in Hale County.  Thunder, lightning, icy rain forming slush on the windshield and even a little hail!

 

 

As I headed home I looked back where I'd been.  Weather forecast predicts up to 2 inches of snow possible!  I drove south to Lubbock where it was partly cloudy and still 50 degrees.  Amazing what can happen in a little over two hours and less than 50 miles!





alien landscape

 

What appears to be a UFO is actually an eight-row cotton stripper working at night.  During harvest, crews work well after dark, trying to get the crops in while the weather is optimal.

 

Hale County, Texas

11.23.2015

agricultural architecture

 

I wanted to entitle this "bridges of hale county" after the book Bridges Of Madison County.  I found the pivot very reminiscent of bridge trusses although there are no bridges in Hale County or anywhere within a 100 miles probably.

 

Fortenberry Farm

Hale County, Texas

11.22.2015

moonrise over the grain stubble

 

With clear skies tonight, there wasn't much sunset. The color was in the east with the almost full moon.  The grain field after harvest the stark pivot add structure to the image.

 

Fortenberry Farm

Hale County, Texas

hitchhiker

 

As Pop and I drove the farm on Friday, checking the pivot, we picked up this hitchhiker.  He seemed curious about us as I took as the camera.  He even waved before flying off.

 

Hale County, Texas

spring plowing

 

The field lay fallow all winter.  Today the sorghum stubble is being chopped down in preparation for spring planting -- if it rains, if seed prices go down, if cotton prices go up --the perennial odds that the farmer faces.

Adcock Place
Hale County, Texas

straight lines

(but not necessarily perpendicular)

 

Our flat South Plains landscape is linear and often angular.  Sometimes because of wind and erosion those signs are not necessarily perpendicular to the horizon.  This photo also brings to mind that childhood riddle:

                  Railroad crossing; watch out for the cars.  Can you spell that without any "r"?

Surely you know the answer.

 

Hale County, Texas

2.15.2015

horses of hale county

 

The horses who live in this pen share their barn with a stately steed.  It's great to see art on the outbuildings and as soon as I become acquainted with the new owners of this place, you'll see more.

 

South of Hale Center

Hale County, Texas

2.15.2015

pop and his work hat

 

These past spring-like days have had my father working in the fields in his baby John Deere tractor.  He's wearing his "work hat" not to be confused with the regular hat or Sunday hat -- all Stetsons.  Pop started farming about 70 years ago after leaving the Marine Corps in World War II. 

 

 

The Fortenberry Farm

Hale County, Texas

2.15.2015



McCormick No. 181

 

The acreage behind the barn at the farm is the old equipment graveyard.  The McCormick Harvester-Thresher No. 181 was manufactured in 1960 and according to the International Harvester press release: "Combine size really took off with introduction of the giant N0. 181. In its day it was unequaled in capacity.  The 80hp 181 was designed to stand up to the rigors of bigger yields, expanding acreage and larger expectations. The 181 had tremendous internal capacity with a 46 inch separator that could handle a standard of 4 rows and 16 grain platforms."  However that modern machine is outmoded with today's machines.  Who knew that there were on-line bidding wars for No. 181 sales literature?  Wonder what someone who give for the original, used, rusted model No. 181?  We'd probably deliver!

 

The Fortenberry Farm

Hale County, Texas

 



big boots to fill

 

I did a photo shoot today with Breagan and little brother Braddick.  Daddy wanted photos taken with his fire gear.  We obliged him.

 

Hale Center, Texas

a good day for farming

 

The one and a half inches of rain not only raised the farmers' spirits but also helped raise the cotton.  The cottonseed recently planted is now sprouting.  Many farmers took to the fields to do some finger-scratching.

 

Cotton germination begins as the seed absorbs water and oxygen through its seed coat 4 to 14 days after after planting. The water swells the dormant tissues, and cell growth and division begin to take place. The radicle emerges through the micropyle, turns downward, and grows deeper into the soil, providing a taproot that will supply water and nutrients throughout the life of the plant. The hypocotyl elongates from the radicle and forms an arch or crook that begins to push up through the soil, a brief period often referred to as the “crook stage”. (Courtesy of Ag Extension)

 

 

Hale County, Texas

open concept

 

From the Dust Bowl to drought to urbanization, the rural demographics of the South Plains are shifting.  People are moving off the farms and into the larger towns and cities.  While the population of Hale County is relatively steady at around 36,000, those folks no longer live in the country or places like Cotton Center or Halfway.  Abandoned houses dot the landscape.  There was a uniformity of construction types in the 1930s and 40; many residences were lath and plaster.  As deterioration occurs, the layers are revealed --- from the exterior stucco to chicken wire to felt to wood lath.

 

County Road K

Hale County, Texas