Today’s farming update post is from Ben.
This week was all about theater. The College show, ‘Boy Gets Girl’ by Rebecca Gilman, opened Thursday night
‘Spring Awakening’ by Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik, opened at the Rep theater Friday
Boy, two shows at once. I’m not sure I’ve ever done that before, and I knew it wasn’t a good idea when I said I’d do it. But musicals are so much fun to light! And this show, ‘Spring Awakening’ is a rock musical, and with this director, it wasn’t something I wanted to pass up. Flashing lights spinning and changing color, plus haze in the air! We call it ‘Flash and Trash’.
Plus, it’s springtime and yeah, I had my hands full. One day at a time is how to manage that.
I was running on adrenaline a few days. I knew I could sleep in Wednesday morning and that was what kept me going Tuesday after programming lights until 1:30 AM Tuesday morning.
I sure am glad I got oats planted last Thursday and Friday. Saturday, I spent most of the day outside doing random stuff. Drove to Plainview and picked up the grapple I got from the auction.
Got the drag out and got the oat fields dragged. It’s a way to smooth them out, fill in the marks from the drill, and prevent erosion until the fields get established. (At least, barring heavy downpours).
The coop that does all my fertilizer and spraying, sent out a letter this spring that employees are hard to find, and in order to try attracting more, they’re going to be closed a few Sundays. Mother’s Day, Easter, and some other dates.
Times change. When I was growing up, we didn’t very often ‘farm’ on Sundays. We still had to milk and do chores, but nothing more than that. In fact, they used to say, ‘Farm on Sunday, fix on Monday’. I’ll bet Clyde has something to say on that.
Lots of guys farm every day they can because they have so many acres they have to get done, or as in my case, it’s one of the only free days I have, and we hope for good weather. I don’t often have to fix on Monday, it’s just not the rule it used to be. I guess that higher deity understands. I suppose those bigger guys are doing a lot themselves so the coop being closed a random Sunday might not be a problem. I’ll work around it. Don’t really have a choice. And I don’t really blame them; not many people willing to work seven days a week even if it’s only for a couple months. We keep getting farther and farther from agricultural roots and what that all means.
This weekend, Saturday, I hope to get the hydraulic tips on the blade changed and grade the road. Pull in all the gravel that got scraped into the grass over the winter. (The township has heard about that too. Several people complained about gravel in their grass. Well. It just was this year.) Maybe I can get the hydraulic hoses hooked up for the grapple too. Sunday I’ll visit mom. I haven’t been there in a couple weeks.
We had about 4” of snow earlier this week. And the wind, wow. We had some drifts on the road. Then we had Thunderstorms and 1.5” of rain. And there’s still some snow in corners and piles. The weather is never dull. Last week I really felt behind. This week, not so much anymore.
Next on my schedule is college commencement May 10th, so will be setting up for that May 8 and 9th.
Here’s some pictures of a valley I’ve been watching. It was the first place it started to green up and the progression has been fun to watch.
March 15th, March 30, April 7th starting to green up. April 20th looking like Spring.
WHAT WAS YOUR LAST ADRENILINE RUSH?
WHAT DID YOU LAST GRAPPLE WITH?
Trail Baboon 
Cool to see those four photos of the valley, Ben.
Glad you made it through the two shows at once.
And interesting to think of some of the ways we get “farther from agricultural roots and what that all means.”
I get – not really an adrenaline rush, but kind of butterflies each time the band performs at UU.. most of our music is just accompaniment to others singing, but during the meditation piece it’s just us…
Today we get to grapple with weather – light snow and rain on and off as we (Art Center partnered with Food Co-op) try to have an Earth Day festival (11 vendors) down at a shelter by the lake. Coldest day of the week, of course, expected high in low 40s – average high today is 62.
Grrrr….
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adrenaline rush is my favorite
my last was a while back coming out of a super intense medical sideways anestisia
i am tempted to try to reproduce it i liked it so much
grapple is my middle name at this point in my journey
doing a house search got put off a couple years until my situation is more clearly in place
getting to that clearly in place place is the grapple
i’m so busy doing what i’m doing i can’t get to what i need to get to
i’m grsppleing and i know it so it will get done as quickly as i can and i am so looking forward to it
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What do I have to say about farming on Sundays, or logging too: during school year weekends meant I was available to be in the woods with my father for logging in winter, bring in the vegetables and the harvest in fall, and help with sawing up the firewood and splitting it in the spring. Or my father was helping a friend and took me along too on the wekends. So Sunday like Saturday was a hard work day then. In summer my father loaded boats but there was always seasonal work seven days a week, especially in haying season or my mother had garden work. Plus the daily chores were seven days a week. There were some dowmntimes when there were only daily chores.
I am feeling sorry for myself these days, one reason being I have no wqeekends. I have some time for myself here and there, but I miss the sense of a weekend. Ben is reminding me how I did not have them from age 6 or 7 to 18.
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i love the grapple accessory
what a cool implement
spring is coming on strange this year but it’s coming
crank it up turn it down wait a while spring is coming it must be
i think sunday off is a thing from the days of working the fields when you needed to remind yourself to take some you time otherwise work is never done
today you do what you can when you if you must
new rules
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Is farming on Sunday a distancing from agricultural roots or from the imposition of religion?
I remember when businesses would proudly advertise, “Closed on Sundays. We’d rather see you in church.”
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In my childhood there were many men around who were not church goers, but maybe their families were, who took Sunday off for the sake of having a day off, men who had jobs that allowed it. My mother, an atheist, arranged it to make Sunday supper an easy meal for her, such as making enough mashed potatoes to have potato cakes for supper. She never canned on Sunday. Just the habit of a day off, not a bad idea. My father could have done that for much of the year, he just was so driven to work, always work. My ex-brother resents it all, one of the big reasons he is an ex. My sister and I are glad for our childhood. But she had more time off in part because of health issues.
Adrenaline rushes and nervous panics are they the same thing?
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They certainly generate the same feelings, don’t they…
In my rebellious teenage years, when the time came that I said I didn’t want to go to church, Dad would give me a list of chores to do instead. I think his hope was I’d rather go to church than do chores. Joke was on him.
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I’m really boring. I’m trying to remember when my last adrenaline rush was. It must have been last summer’s really fun and exciting kayaking trip at Pictured Rocks in the U.P. of Michigan. There I was, in a kayak on Lake Superior. That was a peak experience in my life. I don’t really need a whole lot of excitement anymore, I guess. That was enough for an entire year.
I just got done having most of the rooms in my condo painted by a young woman who is starting out in her own business and career. When I saw a business card or ad for her somewhere, I knew I would hire her and help her get her business off the ground. I tried to get my place ready for her to come in and just tape and paint. I had to grapple with the furniture on my own. It was a lot for me and I was exhausted. I used to be able to do that without any problems. It was good for me to do it in a lot of ways, but it was one big pile of work.
OT: tomorrow is the memorial celebration for an old friend who had covid really early on, in March of 2020. He spent a long time in the hospital and had to go to rehabilitation afterward. He was not a good patient and kept running away from the facility in his pajamas with a walker. This behavior resulted in his placement in two or three similar facilities. They let him go home after repeated elopements, but he really deteriorated and one of our friends stepped up to be his guardian. He had a two-year decline and passed away last September. Covid and long covid are serious. Doctors still don’t know everything about the neurological impacts of long covid or why it happens to some. Clearly the medical field had no tools to treat it in March 2020. John Prine died April 7, 2020, of covid. The people who got it early really got dealt a bad hand. I’m grateful for the progress that has been made, but sad that I have to attend the memorial celebration of my old friend’s life.
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Sorry for that loss of your friend, Krista.
And about your painting – did it turn out well, and do you love the new look?
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It was good to go to the memorial celebration. I’d known him since the mid-80s. We went to Grateful Dead concerts together with a group of friends. He loved music, photography, and collecting antiques, especially steampunk.
Yes, the painting turned out well but I’m still not impressed with my color choices. They’re very light. My original colors were much darker in a small space. I might have swung that pendulum just a little too far but I wanted lighter colors. Thanks for asking!
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Grappling.
I recently went on Spring Break to Florida. This required boarding of The Birds. I had two approved cages with two birds alloted for each. I knew The Birds would not go into those cages voluntarily. In the event, I had to use a fishing net to capture each one. I was bitten several times. Acceptable for the trauma I caused them. We’re home now and it appears I have been forgiven.
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The birds don’t like to be handled? Or they know the cage and don’t like that. Bummer about the bites. Can they hold a grudge?
Glad you’ve been forgiven.
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My Budgies will come and sit comfortably on me but moving them to unfamiliar territory does not work well. Yes, birds have excellent recall of traumatic experiences. That’s why I let others trim the claws.
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interesting.
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In case you’re wondering, that’s not me in the header photo… I spaced off providing a photo this week. But that sure looks like an adrenaline rush!
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I didn’t think the header photo was of you, Ben, but I’ll admit to wondering what it had to do with any of today’s questions. Adrenaline rush didn’t occur to me, at all, which is probably indicative of lack of imagination.
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I see from this morning’s New York Times that our world is a little less “bewigged, bejeweled and bejowled”; Barry Humphries, perhaps better known as Dame Edna, has died at the age of 89. Time to don your sequinned dress and fancy face furniture, Possums, and lift a glass in her honor.
R.I.P. Mr. Humphries, well done sir.
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Loved Dame Edna.
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Since the name Duncan Sheik is not a terribly common one, I would assume it’s the same Duncan Sheik I used to hear on World Cafe in the late 90’s. He may have also been on TLGMS…
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Yes it is. Kelly had her picture taken with him once upon a time. We couldn’t find it to post here. Sad.
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FYI Mr. Tuxedo wore a flashy tuxedo last night. He and his prom date and he with his long hair by accident looked like Disney Beauty and the Beast.
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Gosh, are we in prom season already? Crappy weather for it, but hope they had a grand time anyway. Hope you have to photos to share with Sandy.
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My daughter took 78 for me to show her. She is a photo buff, both my kids caught that from me. It is a small class, less than 40, and a very close group. So the seniors had a very good time.
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Great. Love it. Sure Sandy will love the seeing the photos. Probably a pretty nostalgic time for Mr. Tuxedo and his classmates – and then life marches on.
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Adrenaline rush.
A very long time ago.
I ran 10k weekly with the Fargo based Lake Agassiz Pacers. Once I experienced an out-of-body experience that I attribute to adrenaline.
It seemed as though I was ahead of myself in the run. A dreamy state. No pain. No loss of drive. A great experience and my best time.
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In the zone, as it were.
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Grappling again after just now watching We Were Soldiers.
The men involved were of my age who died in Vietnam.
I weep for all who died then and continue to die.
Someday there will be peace on earth.
Sorry, Baboons. I’m sad.
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I lost a friend over there in 1968; I’ll be sad with you, Wes.
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Heaven only knows, Wes, there’s plenty to feel sad about. I’m hopeful and trust that you’ll find your way through the sadness as I’m sure you’ve done many times before. Hang in there, friend.
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Long distance virtual hug…
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