Top Ten, Amish TV, Tulsa Time

By Pete Burmeister on

News From The Coffee Shop

August 31, 2012 3:18 PM

It's been awhile. In an effort to explain my lack of new material lately, I'll use the all time number one cop-out and the biggest pet peeve of mine... "I've been busy." Have you ever noticed the people that use this line are never too busy to update their Facebook status, are completely inefficient in the use of their time, and in most cases just have no freakin' idea what busy really is!

 

Enough on that. Last Friday, Crop Tour '12 was held. Simply put, the day was an overall success. The weather cooperated, the scout teams made up of farmers and agribusiness people networked, saw interesting agronomic issues in the fields, and got a pretty good idea of Buchanan County's yield potential. You won't hear me talk much about the final yield results-- the estimates don't mean much to me or the folks who crawled through the fields on that hot August afternoon. The takeaways from this event are to learn something from someone you wouldn't normally interact or do business with, enjoy the company of folks that share your same interests, and have fun! Outside of one individual, the group of primarily 80 forward thinking farmers did what I'd thought they'd do-- tolerate each other's personalities and come up with an average county yield. (You can find the actual yield results at the top of this page). On a sincere note, I would like to thank all of the participants, group leaders, sponsors, and my friends and family that helped make the day a success in its 2nd year.

Here's My Top Ten List from Crop Tour '12:

10.   New trucks from Dunlap Motors for the scout teams
  9.   Surprisingly decent overall county yield potential
  8.   Door prizes
  7.   Jake Baldwin describing his scout team's 211 bpa yield check as "cherry-picking"
  6.   After hours w/ Adam White, Chris Soules, Stephen Burke, Rob Rudolphi & more
  5.   Wolfey's lunch stop in Quasky
  4.   Round table discussion with the scout teams
  3.   US Bank's hospitality tent
  2.   Scott Shelby plays until 3:40 am
  1.   Steve Walhart quits Crop Tour before 10 am

I've been tuning in to the Republican National Convention over the last few nights. Mainly due to the fact that we have Amish cable at home and it's the only thing on. Here's my thoughts/questions:

• Clint Eastwood- What the hell was that?
• Ann Romney- Well done. Sincere speech by the lady in red.
• Paul Ryan gets it. Unfortunately, if the Romney/Ryan duo wins in November, Paul will be charged with the task of reminding Mitt that his next speech is a "BIG ****ing DEAL", instead of straightening this country out. He should instead be the nominee for President.
• Mitt, I checked out at about the 6 min. mark of your sales pitch. I had to clip my fingernails.

The Iowa State Cyclones open their football season at home, Saturday, September 1st against the Tulsa Hurricane. My wife and I will be headed to Ames, IA to tailgate, catch up with old friends, and cheer the team to victory. You might have heard the Clones are 1 1/2 pt. underdogs.... My prediction, Iowa State wins by 4 in a turnover prone game, where the Cyclones defense bends but doesn't break in the red zone. I plan on spending the rest of the labor day weekend living on Tulsa Time!