This morning we took a drive into the countryside to visit our favorite butcher, Greg’s. I let the boss drive so that I could get some photos from the car as we were driving; and here they are!
Even though we are experiencing a very severe drought, it does not mean Minnesota does not have water – we still have all our lakes – we just did not have even average rainfall this summer. And in Minnesota you do not drive far to see one of the more that 10,000 lakes!
The road to Hampton is a nice smooth open road that will eventually take you past Rochester, where the world famous Mayo Clinic is. But we only travel about 24 miles from home – at a nice fast 65 miles per hour (105km/h), as you can see on the road sign.
The roadside reminds you of the Transvaal Highveld (South Africa) in winter – the corn (mealies) is being harvested and the lands lie yellow and dusty.
On the field in the next photo a strip of corn have already fallen to the huge combine harvesters that work at their ful capacity this time of year.
Last month the corn had huge yellow patches in most fields and we attributed that to the drought, but we heard now that the weather in July determines the corn yield – and that was not too bad. The big damage of the drought was in a 30% loss of the soy bean crop – that depends on the August weather.
On the above photo you can see a very typical Minnesota farm: Close to the road so that the buildings are easy to access in winter without a lot of snow ploughing – painstakingly neat with not a broken implement in sight anywhere – and very quiet; around the farmsteads you seldom see movement. You see the farmers out on the fields or must asume that at other times they are in their barns, where they work with most of the animals.
It is not long until we are back in a fast expanding suburb in the town of Rosemount. Here you can see the very typical houses of these parts. Before building starts, the grounds are landscaped so that the front of the house will have two storeys and three at the back – a walk-out basement, in other words.
Just a mile further and you know you are in John Deere country – green and yellow catches the eye where lawnmowers are being sold – little miniature sit-on tractors. And believe me, even in suburbia the lawns often warrant more that the push-me-and-sweat that we mow with.
Just a five minute travel to the north lies Eagan, our city. One of the long, backbone streets of the metropole runs past our church. You can see here how a very curious little white van is just leaving our church grounds – it belongs to the mail carrier – designed in such a way that the guy never needs to leave his van as he drives from mailbox to mailbox in even the worst weathers. Our mailboxes are all situated right on the street at a very spesific height – by law – so that they are accessable from these little vans.
