Ahhh.  I love the smell of cotton dust on a hot afternoon!  And, who needs hand lotion when you have hydraulic oil?  We got the cotton in, and just in time.  In the last couple of weeks, we have received about 10-12 inches of rain that would NOT have been welcome if we were still in the field.  I had a blast running the module builder, and packed the first cotton of the season.  When my first module came out, Milton said I only made one mistake - I didn't leave room for improvement!  I even heard compliments that I was the best hand Jim had ever found to help with the harvest!  On the first day of picking it was so humid, there was a rainbow in the sky - and not a cloud in sight.  There are all sorts of creatures who come running out of the fields when the pickers start moving.  Lots of rabbits, doves, and quail.  And, never to be left out in this part of the world, we killed a total of four huge rattlesnakes.  Based on experience, I practically refuse to believe that they exist any smaller than four feet long.  Whew!  Click on the thumbnails to view full-size pictures.

Moving the equipment to the field	Nearly two bales an acre!	Traffic jam on the turning row
Michael dumps his basket into the builder	My "office view" for four weeks	First module
Cotton packer extraordinaire	Long rows	JW pulls up in the 2-row
Jim naps in the shade of a tractor tire	Snakes-Eye View of a John Deere 2- Row Picker	Sunset on the first day