[JustaDumbBlonde]

We just got all of our corn out of the field the middle of October, which is six weeks later than usual. We lost quite a bit because it blew over -- stalk didn't break, the whole darn plant blew over because the ground was so saturated. Many of the soybeans in our area never got cut and are now a total loss. We were lucky and got our cut with minimal damage.

Now we have hundreds of thousands of dollars in the cotton field that we are hoping to get out if the ground ever gets dry enough. A neighbor of ours buried his cotton picker in the mud yesterday. Then the boll buggy. Almost buried the tractor that went out to pull the others out.

Over thirty inches of rain in 5 weeks. At this point we are hoping to get done by Christmas, which usually marks the beginning of our wet season. Sigh.

[Wonder Warthog]

My sympathy for your problems. I grew up on a farm, and my brother farmed corn and soybeans until he finally decided that the family acreage just wasn't big enough to make it on. He couldn't tie up enough long-term leases to add acreage that way.

No farmer ever needs the "thrill" of casino gambling, because he gambles all year, every year (which is why I'm a chemist---couldn't take the stress).

[PapaBear3625]

Back in the early 1800's, we had a period where sunspot activity was way lower than normal. It was called the Dalton Minimum. It coincided with a period of lower than normal temperatures, including the Year Without a Summer.

An earlier period, the Maunder Minimum, where there was a long interval of few-to-no sunspots, coincided with the Little Ice Age.

We are currently in a situation where Solar Cycle 24 is very late getting started, and the models keep getting re-figured and lowered (Currently to close to Dalton Minimum levels).

Global Warming be damned.