2023, animals, Business, Family, Farming Update, Nature, pets, Seasons

Waiting

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The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

Well, still hot, still no rain. Still, we wait.

I saw one field of peas that had been harvested, and I saw two fields that were pretty yellow. They got harvested and then hog manure was applied to them. Most likely the farmer will plant soybeans on it. (That’s about the only crop that can mature quickly enough when planting in July). Will the manure provide enough moisture to get the plants going? We shall wait and see.

The peas were pretty short and the farmers get paid by the ton for the harvested peas. Won’t be much profit there this year.

Fourth of July coming up and the corn has made knee high.

The short corn is knee high; the taller corn is up to my waist. The taller was planted May 5, then it rained for 10 days. The shorter stuff I planted May 18th.

I’ve heard a lot of farmers say the genetics for the seed has improved so much that 20 or 30 years ago, the crop never would’ve survived a drought like this. I know drought tolerance is something the dealer’s market in the seed, I just hadn’t really seen it like this.

I did have the soybeans sprayed. The fields are still pretty bare, but the weeds would have taken over, so they needed to be stopped if I wanted any hope for a crop.

I’ve been surprised at the quantity of the second crop of alfalfa that I’ve seen. No rain, and yet the yield was almost as good as first. The roots of alfalfa can be pretty deep. They’re finding water.

 Weeds too; deep roots.
I took some  close-up photos of the corn leaves curling up compared with how it should look.

The agronomists say we’re having a lot of potassium deficiency, which makes the edges of the leaves turn yellow. The dry weather inhibits potassium uptake, and limits stalk strength, which could be an issue later this fall.

This week I hauled two loads of junk to the recycling center and two loads out to the scrap iron place.

I had two electric motors that are sold by the pound and the price was $.20 / lb for that, 5 pounds of copper at three dollars a pound, three old batteries totaling 58 pounds $0.10 / lb, and some bulk aluminum from a TV antenna, and some other odds and ends, That went for $0.15 / lb. I took out this old metal chopper box, which weighed 2120 lbs and they subtracted 250 pounds for the wood floor and beams under it which sounds reasonable. The price for scrap was down from the last time. It was $130 a ton which is better than the $90 something it was in December but not as good as the $200 something in March. 

The farm is really shaping up. I’ve cleaned out a lot of random corners and I have a wagon full of stuff to put back when I’m done. I’m almost done with the ‘demo’ part of my shop remodeling; 99% of stuff is moved out, and what’s left to do is removing and moving some electrical wires. I’ve had an electrician out and we’ll be running a new buried line from the pole 300’ over to the shop. Currently the power goes overhead to an old fuse box in the old corn crib, which is the chicken pen now. Then it’s buried 200’ from there to the old shed and another old fuse box. And from there, buried to the new shop and another old fuse box. Old fuse boxes with the 60 Amp cartridge fuses in the block to pull out. I remember dad digging in the line between the two sheds. And I remember him somehow finding a break in the old line between crib and shed and splicing a wire back together. It’s time to abandon that line and upgrade.

I’ve got steel and lumber ordered for the ceiling, I’ve got some of the windows framed in and I finally got the hydraulic hoses replaced on the loader and added the new plumbing that I needed for the grapple. (It took several trips back to the John Deere dealer, but we got it!)

We had trees trimmed, and I got branches laying all over. Three maple trees that had a lot of dead wood in them. One tree I was worried about falling on the wellhouse, one I was worried about falling on some electric lines to the barn, and one tree in the front yard more dead than alive. It’s the swing tree so had to save that part of it. There are pictures of that tree from 50 years ago and the tree seems like it was the same size then.

The baby chicks and guineas are doing well. Here’s a picture of the big chickens too.


We gave Bailey a haircut the other day. She looks like a totally different dog. And we think she really likes it. She doesn’t have nearly so much hair to get cockleburs or burdocks stuck in. I think she just liked the attention. I kept her distracted and amused, while Kelly used scissors and trimmed her up. At one point she lay down on her back and almost went to sleep, so I think she was enjoying the attention. 

Humphrey and Bailey sure do play well together; they have such a good time. Humphrey is twice as big as Bailey and he spins in circles and takes her whole head in his mouth, and she just lays there and waits for him to stop. Then she goes after him. It’s fun to watch them play. 

Humphrey has three pillows in the house, one in the living room, one in the office, and one in our bedroom. Although in the bedroom, he alternates between the pillow on my side of the bed, or the floor on Kelly’s side of the bed, or sometimes at the foot of the bed. Ever have one of those nights you just can’t get comfortable?

I find it fascinating how he knows the subtleties of our schedule. If I get up and go to the bathroom, he doesn’t move, but it seems like if I put deodorant on, then he knows I’m going out. And he will be up and moving before I get to the bedroom door.  Same thing if he’s lying in the living room. If I get up to go to the kitchen he doesn’t move, if I get up to go outside, he knows and he’s down the steps before me. What subtle clues is he picking up?

Remember back when you were dating? I was never very good at subtleties then. 

CAN YOU TAKE A HINT? HOW ARE YOU AT GETTING SUBTLETY?

40 thoughts on “Waiting”

  2. I’m kind of hyper-sensitive to everything, overly self-aware, so I probably sometimes take a hint that isn’t even there. (This is why I didn’t like weed – it made me more so.)

    I’ve noticed examples lately of how we (not just me) assume another person’s action is because of something we’ve done, when it’s usually a result of their experience. Will try to think of an example…

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  3. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    OT, this morning I had a sneezing fit of 6-7 sneezes. Puppy seemed to think I was barking at her because she barked back at me with every sneeze. So I was laughing, sneezing and trying to breathe, all at the same time.

    At work, with my therapist hat on I am pretty good at subtleties. However, in real life I can be clueless. To survive I have to turn off the sensors or go mad, so I ignore everything.

    We are headed to the Arboretum this morning with a delightful little girl who wants to experience the maze there. See you later.

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    1. Boots used to bark at me when I sneezed. If I fake sneezed, he would laugh at me.sorta. Bare his teeth and roll his eyes.
      Sandy is holding a little cross breed dog. In heaven
      Clyde

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  7. I did my best to send rain, Ben. We may get more next week.

    Since our furnace fan died, we have no air conditioning until the week after the 4th, when our new furnace will be installed. We are fortunate that the only hot days for the next week are today and tomorrow, with lows in the 50’s. Next week the highs will be in the 70’s.

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  9. Here is one of my “subtle” political comments at Mediaite com.
    The Trump/Biden document possession cases are identical just as the Sinaloa Cartel is identical in every way with the Taylor Swifties Gang.

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    1. Yes. My husband’s hearing aids are from there. Big savings. High quality. But keeping up with the batteries and ear wax is constant.

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        2. True. My Dad had a terrible time with batteries. Smallness needed but plus and minus still required. And things turned yellow within two days. I find myself now digging at my ears. Perhaps a setup for future hearing loss. WHAT DID YOU SAY?! TYPE LOUDER!

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        3. I’m having very good luck with my hearing aids. Batteries last about a week or so. I clean them off every night and we’re doing fine so far.

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    2. my sister works at Costco and says good things about the hearing aids. My mom bought a pair of Costco hearing aids and they had to send one back because it was not working correctly and left her with one which also is not working correctly but my guess is that it’s very possible that she’s just not doing it correctly as far as plugging it in for recharge, etc..
      I would tell him to research the ones that Al Franken advertises on his podcast they’re $500 a pair and my experience is that the Chinese technology is very cheap the other $5000. It’s just for American medical thought.

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    3. My husband got his hearing aid there, too. High quality at a reasonable price, and they stand behind their products with a warranty unmatched by anyone else. Hans recently lost his first hearing aid. It’s somewhere in the house, but it’s been three weeks, and despite searching everywhere he can think of, it hasn’t showed up. Costco replaced it after a five day wait, and he had to promise to return the old one if he ever finds it, at no extra cost.

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  12. I started a post, got interrupted and it’s gone.

    I’m pretty sensitive and I do imagine many slights, some of which are simply imaginary. There are times, however, that I just don’t catch on.

    Pippin loves playing a sneezing game. He will come up to me and stare at me, then try to sneeze. So I fake a sneeze and he gets really excited. He will sneeze repeatedly and thinks it’s really funny when I sneeze back at him. We might need more of a social life.

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      1. Once upon a time, Pippin sneezed a real sneeze and then sneezed repeatedly. He must have had some dust in his nose or something. I laughed at him and said, “ACHOO ! “ while tucking my head down to mimic his posture. He caught on immediately and started sneezing, then I’d “sneeze” then he’d sneeze. He’d look at me and he clearly thought it was huge fun! So now if I say “Achoo ! “ he will try really hard to sneeze and wait for me to mimic him.

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  13. Okay. Why do we need a “b” in the word subtle? Is the English language trying to tell us something? If so, I don’t get the hint.

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    2. I had a feeling that the “sub” was there to connote “beneath”.
      Here’s what Merriam-Webster says:

      Why is there a “b” in subtle?

      [some preamble removed]

      So what is that pesky “b” doing there anyway? Is that sub at the beginning of the word related to the sub in submarine and subterranean?

      Yes, it is. Subtle comes ultimately from a Latin pair: the prefix sub-, meaning “under,” and tela, meaning “web.” The two were joined in Latin subtilis, meaning “finely woven.” The word was literal; it was originally a weaving term. But over time subtilis developed figurative uses, and was applied in many cases in which the word fine would work as well: to describe details, distinctions, and tastes, among other things.

      When subtle came to first be used in Middle English its meaning was very much in this same lineage. It meant “perceptive, refined,” and was used to describe people known for their clear thinking—such as philosophers—and things, such as analysis or reasoning, that demonstrated such thinking.

      One more thing about the spelling of subtle: like many words that have been in the language for centuries, this one took numerous forms before settling into its current spelling. Many of the forms didn’t include the “b” at all—and it’s believed that the “b” was probably never pronounced in English. The “b” spellings that were used were a nod to the Latin subtilis. And much to the chagrin of those in favor of phonetic spellings today, one of them came out on top.

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  14. Oh, how weird. For some reason, our furnace fan no longer sounds like a B-52 coming in for a landing. It is just purring along like before. We will still have the furnace replaced the week of July 10th. It is 45 years old and could break down in January.

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