Albin News Nov 8, 2010

Albin News Readers,

I would like to announce the beginning of the Wyoming Wind Festival in the Albin area lasting from now through May. Attendance is mandatory but admission is free. Pull out your carharts, put on the coffee, check out Pam's new quilt shop, take lunch at the cafe, whatever you have to do to enjoy the season. A couple of quotes from old cowboy songs come to mind: “The Wyoming wind, how it raps and it rattles, it blows the old road shut and chills to the bone” and “the wind whipped the granite above me, blew the tumbleweeds clean through my soul!”

Despite all the rapping and rattling, the wind somehow has a subtle cleansing affect that is usually only appreciated by those absent from it. Another quote from “Wyoming on my mind” goes like this: “..... and when those cleansin' winds would blow, I recall almost exactly how it felt: like my sins were all forgiven and my soul was minglin' with the rock of time.” Maybe the best way to deal with the wind is to step into its current, face it head on, then start walking. A walk in the winter wind can do a lot of good. In the sports world they call it resistance training!

In community news, the benefit dinner/auction for Garret is December 12^th, not November 12^th as I incorrectly reported last week. Instead of a Friday, it's a on a Sunday at noon. Once again it's at the Rendezvous Center in the Torrington Fair Grounds.

The cafe was closed Monday and Tuesday last week because Jan Rundell was in Nebraska watching her grandson Christopher Randall play football for Nebraska Westlyan. Christopher is a junior kicker for the team. Nebraska Westlyan won the game over Doane University by a score of 12 to 13. Jan stayed at Jeff and Don's one night to get her grandchild fix then reopened the cafe Wednesday for lunch.

The Boyce-Marlatt Legion Auxiliary met October 30. Guests were Pam Acosta, Chapter President of Legion Auxiliary, Dora Jone and Alice Norfleet all of Cheyenne Unit # 6. Albin members attending were Doris Sorensen, Sherri Sorensen, Jeannette Bishop, Bertha Sandberg and Mary Kay Romsa. Plans were discussed for the coming year. The next meeting will be at 2:00 p.m. Wednesday, November 10. Bring items to be donated to the veterans at the Cheyenne hospital: puzzles, 2011 calendars, fountain pens, small soaps, gloves, large toothpaste, hats, puzzles, and pocket books.

Here is the latest from Dixie on Tim's progress:

“Tim worked really hard in his therapy sessions---and he is able to lift his left leg and move his left arm a bit now! PTL!!   He is holding his neck and head straighter and stronger and we know that will help him walk soon! We worked a group a cow and calves on Saturday and he tells everyone he so badly wants to walk and work!! Part of goal-setting is saying over and over what the goal is!!  So good to be in church with family and friends--favorite day of the week! We are excited for the upcoming week--even if the snow is coming!  Continue to pray for Tim's strength and movement, and please add my sister, Shena, in your prayers--the cancer road is really rough and bumpy this week!  We ask God for a miracle with her!  God Bless!”

Traci had this to say about her son Garrett:

For about a week, G has wanted his trach out. He would hook a finger or two around the strap that goes around his neck. Wed when we were outside, I had a friend visit. It was 'kind of' mentioned that if he wanted the trach out, he could do it himself. It was suggested that he put his fingers under the gauze. . . I told him to wait till I shut TV off (and preferably asleep). Yes, he was listening, while in the shower, I thought I could hear him cough. When I shut the water off, I could really hear him coughing, stuck my head out the door, and G had a death grip on the trach. I could not pry his fingers off - HELP. Poor Respiratory if they didn't have quite the sight when they walked into the room!!! He had pulled the gauze off and RT could not find the cap to the trach. I told them to check his hand and sure enough there it was. (He has pulled the cap off before.) I told him to wait till tomorrow so we could talk to Speech and he gave me a thumbs up. Long story short, he is decannulated - trach out. Where the trach is, there are no stitches or anything. They just cover it with a piece of gauze and in a couple of days, it is healed. Fri outside I took the gauze off so the fresh air and sun could do their healing affects and that night G pulled the gauze off. I guess he knows when enough is enough!
Fri he was negative for C-diff. While outside they cleaned his (our) room so we did not have to move. T-h-a-n-k Y-o-u Jesus! I did have to go and wash all my stuff though.
G is not talking but he really wants to. Thurs PM he was looking at me, mouth just a moving, and a strain in his eyes. Thumbs up if you are in pain - nothing. Thumbs up if you are trying to talk - thumbs up. I put my hand on his face and told him not to worry about it - it would come. Ever since the ABC's his hand will be very active. It's kind of like a baby who first starts to talk - you are trying to guess what it is saying. Well with G kind of the same thing -- T. . . D. . . N-M. . . (OK son I need a vowel!) He wants to communicate so bad but just not there yet.
Was flipping through the channels tonight and came across a BB game. Asked him if he wanted to watch BB - his thumb went up so fast. He wanted Denver and I was for Dallas (I think - who knows - who cares). I lost. I believe that 'sharing' my TV will be more and more. What he does not know - when he shuts his eyes, I can turn the channel!!  :)
Thank God for friends. Two friends from Laramie came today and of course he was showing off. I was so pleased and I know that it was good for G. They were telling stories and laughing AND G got a big ole half smile on his face. Very obvious! We even believe he was laughing because you could hear 'sound' periodically. Laughter is a good healer. Thank you Sarah and Becky - he sure does love you both as he showed you more than once today. (I had to keep my eye on them!) Actually, I didn't want them to leave and what was really neat, he knew exactly what they were saying.”

In ag news, it's the time of year when farmers must sharpen their pencils. There's a battle about to be waged over which crops get planted on the one thing we aren't making any more of - land. With the price of corn and wheat staying high, companies that want farmers to raise dry beans, sunflowers, hay, sugar beets, millet, barley, etc are going to have to pony up. Meanwhile, the farmers have to know what it costs to raise this respective crops and try to figure out what returns the most dollars per acres to the land. With the prices for seed, fertilizer, chemical, utilities, and rent all moving around, this can be tricky to do. This is where those math classes start paying off!

Last week I said that this acres war would only happen if corn prices held through next spring. The latest crop production report was just released and was about as expected. However it was still bullish (caused the markets to rise) because they once again lowered the expected corn and soybean crops. The corn crop is now projected at 12.5 billion bushels down from 13.2 billion bushels last year. The next crop production report is scheduled for December 10. At this point most of the corn is harvested and the yield picture is pretty clear.

With the supply side of the equation pretty well known, the wild card now becomes the demand side. Hopefully the speculation on what the price should be will settle down a little bit! As reported last week, domestic demand could weaken if the ethanol's blender's credit or “VEETC” isn't renewed or is implemented at a lower or flexible rate. Given the fact that this is a subsidy and energy prices are so high, my guess is that legislators will be under a lot of pressure to change or eliminate VEETC and the price of corn will adjust accordingly.

Besides the domestic demand, this market is very much affected by world demand, more specifically China. China is the second largest producer of corn behind the US, producing roughly half what the US does. However, despite having a good corn growing year, their domestic demand has outpaced this year's production. This begs the question; what would happen if there was a dip in corn production next year? Since most corn becomes animal feed, I think it's pretty clear that people would have to pay more to eat meat or eat less of it.

What this all boils down to in my opinion is that the corn price is going to go the way of the global economy. It's two biggest markets are for energy and animal feed, both of which will lose demand in a slowing economy and gain demand in a growing economy. It will be interesting to see in the coming months how much corn gets exported or turned into ethanol at the current price levels.