2022, animals, Family, Farming Update, gardening, Nature, Weather

Summertime

48 Comments

The weekend farm report comes to us from Ben.

Summer on the farm (GDU’s are 80 above normal giving us 1282 currently) and we’re just watching everything grow. Had my young padawan out mowing the lawn and doing a few projects by himself.

Which is good for me; I’m 10 days post surgery, feeling better every day, and just not doing much but sitting and recovering. A friend of mine said “Healing is SUCH a process”. And I told somebody “recovering is hard work.”

The other day I walked out to the machine shed and then rode in the gator up for the mail. That night I really hurt. Holding myself upright so my back doesn’t rub on the seat might be part of the problem, but the walk was the most exercise I’ve had in a week too. 

The next day I took my car for a drive. With the lack of control of my legs, I haven’t driven my car since early May. Daughter asked me if I should be doing that, the driving. I told her that’s why I practice on the driveway. First, I went from the house to the machine shed, just to make sure I could stop. Then I went down to the barn, then I went up the driveway. That’s another bonus to having a mile long driveway, lots of room to practice your driving skills.

The oats is all headed out, it goes from such a nice green color to more of a pale green once headed out, and then as it dries up, it will turn yellow. Compare this photo to the header photo.

The corn was almost waist high by the Fourth of July, 

 and the beans are looking good. Everything has been sprayed for weeds, and using the 15 inch rows on soybeans, they’ve started to canopy enough that there really shouldn’t be any more weed pressure. We will continue to monitor for bugs, around here that is soybean aphids. But those can vary from year to year and then you still need enough bugs to cause enough damage to justify the cost of spraying: the ‘economic threshold’. We don’t spray for just a few bugs. Sometimes soybeans get weather related funguses that can cause issues. So we keep an eye on all the crops. 

We put out the hummingbird and oriole feeder last week, we’ve seen some hummingbirds around on flowers, and one morning I saw an oriole on the feeder and that made me happy.

The black raspberries are just getting ripe, picked a few of those. I enjoy them on ice cream very much. And they will be really good in yogurt.

Rooster number three had a wound on his leg last week, kind of upper thigh area. Enough that he was dripping blood. Don’t know what he was into or up against, but he’s recovered and still chasing off rooster number one. Of our three guineas, two must’ve been on nests as one was by itself for several days. Now there’s two again. It would be nice if they could hatch out a batch. They make their nests in tall weeds somewhere and I generally only find them by accident. And they’re terrible mothers as a rule. The one Guinea we have has done real well the last couple years. As with the ducks this spring, it will be Kelly chasing them down and trying to catch them if we get that far. But it would sure be nice to have a dozen guineas around. May have to order babies next year. 

48 thoughts on “Summertime”

  1. I was having trouble coming up with a question this week.
    ITS A FREE FOR ALL! MAKE UP YOUR OWN QUESTION?

    Or,

    WHAT MAKES THE LIVING EASY?

    Or

    EVER RECOVER FURNITURE?

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  2. Sorry, my bad. The question came in a separate email and I forgot to add it. But “what are you doing to make living easy”. was actually the question. Along with “is it even possible“?

    Liked by 5 people

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  3. I’m really having a hard time not fixating on how long before I’m retired. I actually have two countdown measures going on right now. One is an app on my phone that’s counting down the overall days/hours/minutes/seconds. It’s kind of fun. The second one is just a chart that I’ve made with how many actual working days are left and at the end of every day I’m putting an X over the day that I just finished. 14 working days left. These two things are actually making it easier for me to get along right now because I’m not having to spend any time remembering or counting.

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      1. You know me too well. I think I think my coworkers are planning some at the office but in thinking about it I realized the parties I like best are the ones that I do. (I know that sounds really conceited.) So anyway I have made the decision to have my own “outside of work” party – on the 13th – there will be invitations.

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  4. I’m allowing myself to by more prepared foods – deli potato salad and coleslaw, a roast chicken.

    Furniture – yes, in fact I’ve recovered a couch with a mix of fabrics, it turned out quite well, but took all winter. Uffda.

    And my $5 platform rocker – had it done professionally once, but when that didn’t last, I taught myself to sort of “gift-wrap” it, and it’s served the purpose well enough. Primary tool is a staple gun.

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  5. My life got to me yesterday. And I just lost it. The bully culture was my tipping point. When kids get home from Bismarck tonight will make my life easier. Finally getting to see neurologist in 11 days and not have to fight to keep the appointment they want to take away. If I could stay out of the public would be good. Or of course if I could change my attitude and not the world.

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  6. Rise and Shine Baboons,

    !!!!!!I will send an email following up on VS” email with my address and phone number for BBC tomorrow at 2pm. Last week I posted the recipe for Greek Orzo Salad which I am serving!!!!!

    Things that make my life easier:

    My bed—Tempurpedic. Good for my back

    The recliner we found a year ago during the furniture shortage, and bought right off the demo floor.

    My dog who is calming and loves petting and walks that get me out the door.

    My PT job in which I get my way.

    Education—I have a degree that ensured a job, but it is now making it difficult to retire. There are not enough MSWs in the world at this time.

    Modern medical science—without my hip and knee replacements I would be hobbled and immobile which is a very hard way to live. And then there is the cancer thing. My son would have grown up with out a mother if my cancer had not been caught and treated 32 years ago. I can hardly bear to consider what would have happened to him without that intervention. And now one of his niches is doing the digital engineering for medical technology which makes all our lives more livable.

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  7. We are traveling infrequently, which makes life easier. Daughter’s life was recently made easier by her social work supervisor, who spent the time when she was home with covid making study flash cards for daughter to use to prepare for her social work licensing exam.

    Having a puppy doesn’t make life easy, but is does make life fun.

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    2. Daughter is an MSW, and will have her LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Worker) designation once she passes her exam. Some jurisdictions title them LICSW. We are so proud of her.

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  8. Yes, I have recovered and refurbished furniture; been there, done that, as they say. It was satisfying work at the time, but I no longer have the ambition to take on that kind of project. It takes more energy and patience than I can muster nowadays. Besides, I don’t have a need, now that we’re no longer in acquisition mode. I do admire people who do a good job of it.

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    2. I’ve covered some furniture for stage use, but wouldn’t try it for my own home. It seems like you can never find a good staple gun when you need it. I’m extra fussy about keeping the proper staples on hand and NOT ALLOWING imposter staples into the premises.

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      1. I have said over last few days how they flew to Boise to visit our son. Then Monday evening Grandson came down with Covid. Then granddaughter did Tuesday. So they had to drive home Thursday Friday Saturday. Then son in law got it and then daughter. So three days covering how many miles. Two with diarrhea at times. All miserable. Taking turns driving.

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  17. I haven’t done much with furniture, except to recover chair seats, which is pretty simple, and couch cushions, which is a little more challenging.

    The thing that makes life easy is having time.. It’s usually in short supply.

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  18. Pingback: Summertime – MobsterTiger

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