2023, Automotive, Family, Farming Update, Nature, Seasons, Uncategorized

Brevity? None Here!

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The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

I hope everyone was able to have the kind of Thanksgiving they wanted.

My friend Jia, teaching English over in South Korea, didn’t get a Thanksgiving this year and she missed it a lot.

Someday I need to learn brevity. But not today!

I figured out how to get 10 pounds in a 5 pound bag (from last week), you just get rid of 5 pounds. That happen when my truck had a dead battery. Or two. (because it’s a diesel, it uses two batteries to start) so the whole trip to Northfield and then John Deere got postponed and instead, I went out and finished chisel plowing.

This picture is the last bit of ground to be worked up. And that was a ‘mic drop’ moment. Whew. If you notice the line on the hood of the tractor, I scrubbed the left side to remove the grime, but not the right side. It DOES look nicer, and make a difference and I’d like to get the rest scrubbed off. Depends on the weather. I used the hose and washed off the chisel plow and some of the tractor, since the pressure washer is already tucked away for winter and too much trouble to get back out. (Boy, next year, with my new heated shop, it won’t be such an issue! Maybe!)

A highlight for this last day of fieldwork was adding a steering wheel spinner. Dad had them on all the tractors. Back in the 1990’s, my hand would cramp up (already had carpel tunnel, evidently) and I took them all off. Now, making all the turns on the ends of the fields, with my fingers tucked around a steering wheel spoke, makes my fingers sore. And since I had carpel tunnel surgery several years ago, I put spinners back on. It worked well.

When you look at this photo, you’ll see two fields planted to rye:

on the left and right of the tractor. It’s hard to tell how much of that is oats regrowing or the rye I planted late. The oats will not over-winter; it will die off. The rye will survive and grow again. Meaning come spring, and these fields will be planted to corn, I’ll need to have the rye “terminated”. Plowing it up won’t stop it. And if it’s a warm wet spring and it’s late spraying, it will be really tall, meaning there ends up being a lot of trash (plant material) to move through the equipment and it makes a tough seed bed. So, we’ll see. I look at this photo and I see a potentially difficult spring, and a leaking hydraulic hose on the chisel plow, and how I should replace all the hydraulic hoses on it, and the chisel shovels I need to replace. But the sky is pretty.

Doing the fieldwork really is meditative. I had my tractor buddy with me and I saw bald eagles. Boy, there was a lot of ears of corn on the ground this year, in some fields more than others. Damn deer, they tear off a lot of ears and nibble on it a bit. And it was a mixed bag this year because of the drought. The stalks were shorter than normal, and more brittle than normal, and then because the stalks and corn dried out sooner, it was easy for the deer to reach them, easier to pull off, easier for all the kernels to pop off the ear.

Driving around, I would see ‘combine loss’ in the fields, kernels that didn’t get into the combine. Kernels on the ground is not helpful and it means money lost. There are a lot of extra attachments to help corn or soybeans get into the combine. Air systems to blow kernels in, brushes to help feed the kernels in, extra brushes so they don’t pop out. But I don’t own the combine, so… not much I can do about that. Kernels might pop off because the soybean pods are so dry, they split open just from being ‘jostled’ before the combine header gets to them. Or the corn ear might break off the stalk, hit the header, and fall on the ground, or hit hard enough the kernels fly off. Harvesting is kind of a cataclysmic process, yet it needs to be somewhat gentle not to damage the kernel. There’s a lot happening in the moment in the combine, and it’s not surprising to see kernels on the ground. But there was a lot this year, and it means money lost and it’s kinda frustrating because there’s nothing I can do about it. I’ll try calling it the angels share.

We got some mail order pork delivered In a box with dry ice. I got some hot water and we had some fun.

You wouldn’t think the most dangerous part of farming would be trying to adjust the right-hand mirror on the tractor. It’s 8 feet up, out in the middle of nothing. When at home, I use a step ladder to adjust it. Then out in the field, I hit a tree branch and it gets knocked out of place. And there I am climbing up over the three-point hitch and onto the tire trying to get this back out in place and focused right. And trying to get back down, I think about all the hard, sharp edges, and pointy things I can snag myself on, or fall on to, and sometimes I leave the mirror where it is. Newer tractors have steps to reach allow cleaning the windows and reaching the mirror. And the ‘delux’ cab, has remote mirrors. Someday.

Next week, did we make any money?

ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT ANY OF THIS?  YOUR LAST ‘MIC DROP’ MOMENT?

70 thoughts on “Brevity? None Here!”

    1. It will have to be sprayed. But as it’s part of a county program to prevent erosion, it needs to reach 12” height for me to get the funding. If it’s so wet that it gets to be 18 or 24 inches tall, then that will be too much trash.

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  3. Ha! He’s using stage lingo; I had to look up mic drop – from Merriam-Webster:
    “A mic drop is an emphatic and declarative gesture signifying the conclusion of a performance of note, often literally (or as if) dropping a microphone.”
    or (powered by Oxford Languages)
    “an instance of deliberately dropping or tossing aside one’s microphone at the end of a performance or speech one considers to have been particularly impressive”

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    1. Isn’t that hard on the microphones? Who has to pick them up? What if you’re delusional about how impressive your performance was? Doesn’t that just make it worse?

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        1. Note, these are not the microphones he is speaking into, he picks it up from under the lectern, hopefully it’s an old spare no one cared about.

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  4. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    I am just not sure, even after Barb researched it for us again. It’s a great follow up to the “Pip” question from yesterday. So I will talk about something else on my mind. Last night I did not sleep very well. There was nothing wrong, just one of those nights. But I did start sleeping at 1:30or 2:00am through until about 6:15am when I awoke, dreaming about Baboons. Renee and Chris, Lou and I were at a rodeo and riding in a pickup. Renee then revealed she is pregnant! I was just bewildered, wondering how this could happen given all our ages. Then other Baboons were wandering in and out, and I awakened, puzzled.

    Interpret that Dr. Baboons.

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        1. Last night, YA stumbled upon Wizard of Oz on TV. She was surprised that this is considered a “Christmas movie” I told her that I can’t watch it at night – the flying monkeys give me bad dreams if I watch at night. Even though the flying monkeys don’t seem scary to me as an adult, when I was a child, they were terrifying. Somehow that childhood intensity likes to replay itself. If I see it early in a day, then it’s worn down by night.

          Self-fulfilling prophecy. Although I went upstairs before the monkeys came onto the scene, I still had a dream in which the sheets and blankets were trying to drag me off the bed… presumably some monster lurking beneath. But no baboons.

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      2. “Come to the edge,” he said.
        “We can’t, we’re afraid!” they responded.
        “Come to the edge,” he said.
        “We can’t, We will fall!” they responded.
        “Come to the edge,” he said.
        And so they came.
        And he pushed them.
        And they flew.

        -Guillaume Apollinaire

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  6. My mic drop moment today is finishing the last four of twelve stollens. Tomorrow I start on the cookies with Russian Tea Cakes. They are the messiest, what with all the powdered sugar flying around. I like to get them out of the way first.

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        2. Red Betty is Betty Crocker’s Picture Cookbook. Betty says the Russian Tea Cake recipe came from a radio executive named Carl Burkland from New York City

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    2. I’m impressed. Twelve stollen! I can barely muster enough energy to get my butt out of bed, and you’re mass producing Christmas goodies. You must have invested a small fortune in all the wonderful ingredients you put in them. I bet your house smells great.

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  7. I am far from a mic drop moment right now. I have leaves that still need a bit of tidying before the last yard waste pick up this week (mostly I rake them into the garden beds and leave some on the lawn – but the boulevard ones get bagged because they are messy and cause trouble when the snow flies). I have piles of laundry in various states in baskets to be dealt with now that I have ignored them for a few days. I just ordered some photo storage boxes to deal with the piles of photos scattered around the living room and dining room, unearthed when I was looking for photos of a high school friend (they were all in a cardboard box in the basement and even if they are just going back in a box, something better than cardboard seems in order). I have turkey broth that needs to be nurtured along to turn into actual soup (still have some of the “get all the bones out, but save the meat” to deal with)… I really want to just sit on the couch and read, but sitting on the couch yesterday and earlier in the week is what got me into this state (I could justify it with some of the now clean laundry that needs to be put away… but that laundry is not going to fold itself). College Kid has been home this week and in and out visiting friends – I don’t have the excuse of sitting and watching bad TV with her as she is off for the day at the Gopher football game and then staying with friends on campus overnight. So this is me, at almost noon, working up the gumption to do more than sip my coffee…

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    2. Reporting back: I got clean sheets and towels dealt with – clothes will wait until tomorrow. Broth is de-boned and simmering now with veggies and potatoes to become actual soup. Leaves dealt with at least enough to keep me from swearing at myself later. Photos are still a mess… but that will wait until the photo boxes I ordered arrive later this week. Rewarded myself with a little extra leftover pie.

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      1. Agreed. Yesterday I watched 2 movies, a rare occurrence but doggone it, it was great. I thought I had seen Love Actually–but I discovered I had never seen it. Now I have.

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  8. I’ll have a mic drop moment Monday night when Mr. Jensen finishes my new counters. He’s starting at 8 tomorrow morning. He will start by tearing apart my kitchen. All the old counters will come out first, as well as the old sink, faucet and garbage disposal. Then he’ll start installing the new counters and sink. He asked me if I could have everything out of the kitchen – nothing on the countertops, the top drawers removed and everything taken out of the top shelf of the storage under the counter. I’ve been working on that all morning. Fortunately I don’t have a lot of stuff. I’m taking the opportunity to donate some kitchen items. I don’t need all this stuff. Anybody want a salad spinner? Brand new and never used!

    Another mic drop moment will be on Friday the 1st. The small group I have been playing music with is doing about an hour of holiday music at the senior center. I just don’t have time to practice some of these songs right now. I have a recorder solo that needs to be practiced on “Bring a Torch Jeanette Isabella”. I’ll be glad when it’s over. I never really enjoyed performing for an audience. Others like it and I like to play music with them, so I have to agree to it. It’s not really my favorite thing to do anymore though.

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  9. daughters in town from chicago so all 5 kids were around for a rare moment
    i blocked out wed thurs fri and sat am to enjoy
    lots of couch time with games food movies game shows and laughs

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  11. Normally I don’t do Christmas decorating or other holiday prep stuff until after Thanksgiving. This year I finished it last Monday – good thing I didn’t wait or it wouldn’t get done at all. After a lovely Thanksgiving dinner at my sister’s house, I was helping with clean up. I had my arms full with a load of stuff for the basement when I missed the last step (old house, narrow steps), fell awkwardly to the floor, and ended up with a fractured right ankle. No ortho urgent care places were open so I ended up in the ER at Fairview Southdale. I left there with a very heavy knee high plaster splint held in place with ace bandages. It feels like dragging a cement block around – the kind we used to make bookcases with back in the day. I can’t do any weight bearing on the right leg yet so am reduced to either crawling, crutches (which are hard because my balance is thrown off by the splint), or using my walker – glad I kept it from my fractured femur seven years ago. I hope to see an ortho surgeon early this week to find out if I need surgery or can just be casted – preferably with a sturdy fiberglass cast. Of course, this is the busiest time of year for accompanying. I have 6 rehearsals and 3 performances coming up between tomorrow and the 14th. At this point I can’t drive but I do have friends and family who have stepped up to help cart me around. I’m pretty sure I will be exhausted by then and will be more than ready to drop the mic!

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      1. VS – thanks much for your generous offer. I am in Vadnais Heights (35E and Highway 96). So far I have several friends who have volunteered to help but I’ll keep you in mind.

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    5. Sorry to hear about the fracture! I remember crawling around my house when I broke my foot. It’s not fun at all. I hope you get the fiberglass cast of your dreams!

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  12. No mic drop but a reminder of Fil Wings Of Pegasus channel.
    This is mind blowing for me as a guy who cannot read a note and cannot play any instrument. Some teacher in 6th grade liked my voice and signed me up to chorus in the 7th grade second soprano. I think there is blame to go all around. Parents/teachers/weak Me.
    There have been occasions when what they saw in me as a vocalist came through. The bar down my street had karaoke night and I was under the influence enough to do El Paso by Marty Robbins. I hit the high notes and said the ending of the song, “Good bye.” Handed the mic back and got a standing ovation. No mics were damaged.

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  14. I readily admit that I could never work a farm. That being said, I am THANKFUL for farmers, especially those work the fields for the local communities, not directly for the chains.

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