Even in a season when commodity prices have been low enough to satisfy the most ardent pessimist, there is an aura of hope in the air when the tractors start rolling and the planters begin to roam the fields. But no planters are moving on this morning. The air is damp. Occasionally a light drizzle falls or the sun attempts to peek through the clouds. Mud sucks at the feet today.
Mist settles in and makes a home of eyeglasses and windshields and camera lenses.
It is a day when the bed is more inviting than the alarm clock. Farmers are in their shops repairing machines or in barns and sheds tending to livestock. For most of them, it is not the desired chore for the day. Time and again, their eyes drift upward. But they know without looking that even if the sun were to peek through the clouds today, it would not be enough to dry the fields and allow the machines in.