2024, animals, Family, Farming Update, Theatre, Uncategorized

What A Ride

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Today’s Farming Update comes from Ben.

What a week it’s been. So much going on and I pretty much hit the wall on Wednesday, but I powered through until Thursday when, after Wednesday night’s rain (2.06 then another .2″) I could stay home and have a lazy day. I may have drifted off a couple times. 

We are REALLY excited about the hot and cold water faucets installed in our garage.

No more cold water dog baths! It’s kinda dumb how excited we are about this! 

Plus got ‘SpongeBob, the Musical’ ready to open and that became a really fun, silly show with more witty one liners and dialogue than I realized. (When lighting a show, I’m not fully listening for the first few rehearsals; my mind is in other places. Yeah, I’m supposed to read the script first, but you, it’s only ‘Spongebob’…) The show opened last night. 

Last week, I did finally finish cutting oats. I started Thursday, the swather ran for an hour and a half and died. An hour later it ran for half an hour and died. The next morning it ran for 45 minutes and died. (The generator isn’t working either, so I’d drive the gator up there and take the battery jump pack along and jump start it every time). I made some phone calls and googled symptoms for a while. This thing has a Chyrsler Slant 6 engine in it. If you know anything about cars, you know about the Slant 6. It was ubiquitous in Chrysler cars for quite a few years in the 1960’s and ’70’s. It might be the fuel pump, might be the ignition coil, hard to say. John Deere doesn’t stock any of those parts anymore, but I called a local auto parts place. The young man there– key words being ‘young man’, I knew he was too young. And when he said to me, “Is the coil that round cylinder thing?” I knew I had the wrong guy. 

I called NAPA and I asked first, “Do you know what a Slant 6 is?” The guy scoffed. “Do I know what a slant 6 is!” OK, good. I can talk to this guy. He told me when he first started working for NAPA he was in a small farming town, and being a city boy, he didn’t know what a ‘swather’ was. He learned fast. THIS was the right guy to talk with. I replaced the ignition coil and a resistor, and it ran for 45 minutes and quit. But an hour later, it ran for 3 hours. And I was THIS CLOSE to finishing all the oats. It was 9:15 at night and dark and while there are two headlights on the swather, they don’t really light enough to see anything. And then, feeling optimistic and picturing being done, like the MN Vikings, it let me down. (Sorry for the dig. Courtesy of my brother in law, on Friday Kelly got to spend some time at the Vikings Training Camp with our daughter in law, Michelle.) The next morning, I finished cutting the last of the oats in about 15 minutes and drove it home. I guess I’ll replace the points, condenser, and fuel pump, and get the generator repaired, and maybe next year it will run better.  

In places, it looks like the deer wrapped their tongues around the plant and stripped the grain right off; it was just stalks. In places it was broken off or down. And in some places it looked OK. 

I’ll talk more about the harvest next week. But it wasn’t good. 

I couldn’t find the ducks one morning. They have found the pond. They will do a good job cleaning up the algae. And we lost one. There was a carcass down there one morning. Shucks. 

We’ve decided to have the barn painted. And I don’t want to do it, nor do I want to be climbing the ladder to the peak, nor should I be climbing up there. Twenty some years ago when I painted it last, I put the extension ladder in the loader bucket and put that up on the roof of this lean-to. And I still couldn’t reach the peak. I’ve done some dumb stuff, but not usually the same thing twice. 

I happen to see a guy painting the building where daughter attends, and we’ve hired them to paint the barn. They’re out power washing the old paint off this week. 

I had some good volunteers helping with theater stuff again.

One teenage padawan, Max, is back, so he and a volunteer met me at Menards and they loaded up 35 sheets of 1/4″ plywood (we call it ‘lauan’ which is kind of a general term) while I paid for it, and then I met them outside to load it. 

The three of us carried it into the theater. Then two more helpers arrived and the lumber yard truck showed up with two guys and the 7 of us hauled 25 sheets of 3/4″ plywood inside. It was too dang hot to work much harder than that. Plus the sprinkler repair guys were there and they moved a sprinkler pipe that was in a sightline from the booth. 

And that’s why I drifted off on Thursday. 

DESCRIBE A GOOD NAP. 

44 thoughts on “What A Ride”

  1. My understanding is that lauan is a kind of mahogany used as the outer veneer in plywood, especially the quarter inch stuff that will be used as underlayment. It’s not really generic, it’s a specific product. Now it may be that other woods are also used for the smooth outer veneer of underlayment, making them other than lauan veneer, but I don’t know about that.

    I don’t nap.

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    1. Lauan was what I used back when I was building sets if I wanted a nicer wood finish on something – or for building hard flats (as opposed to canvas ones). Splinters like everything… ouch.

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  2. i got fired from amazon flex delivery a while back and i was really pissed but i het to sleep now from midnight to six and i now understand why everytime i sat down for a year or more i was dozing.
    what i need from a nap is for my body to go limp. as soon as i feel it let go i know i reached that refresh button.an hour is better than 20 minutes but 20 minutes will do most of the time. an hour feels like luxury.
    nice to find a painter. if you have to go looking it can be a problem. i have ladder stories from my 3 story walkout with a peak. i bought a 28’ ladder and it was scary reaching as far to the roght and lft as you could making sure you got enough paint to cover but yeah 20 years makes you feel old. i probably wont do it in another 20
    great swather story. those 60/70 chryslers were tanks. i thought about points and condensers last week in one of my mind wanderings today its wires and spark plugs every 100000 miles. my little toyota rollerskate just had the odometer get stuck at 299999. i looked it up and found out its a problem they discovered with that car. what a great problem . i dont think ill have it for another 100000 but how would i know? i figure 300 miles a day average so i could declare it 100000 in another year and a bit i dont work tuesday nite or wednesday generally so its only 5 1/2 x 300 miles is 1650 a week so its 60.06 weeks makes it sept&ember 2025 if this remains my daily driver that ill proclaim it 400000

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  3. I have told of my direction from Physical Therapist to lie on my back with legs up at 90 degrees and over a box or something… or at the edge of the couch. To be done for at least 10 minutes, at least once a day.

    Well, there is something amazing about having all that pressure off the back, when the legs are up and supported like that. So when the schedule allows, I easily fall asleep for 10-20 minutes, and I am always surprised to wake up and realize that.

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  4. When I was remodeling and helping friends remodel 55-60 years ago, luan was used to describe thin plywoods, usually 1/8 inch thick and A grade on one side, used as something like a veneer. Perhaps we were using it incorrectly, but it was the term used in the three lumberyards where we purchased it. I doubt anyone uses it anymore what with all the superior options today and changing fashions.
    I have no choice but to nap every afternoon for 30 minutes, or to try to.
    Clyde

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      1. Bed. I live in constant high levels of pain. Couch would not work.
        OT: one of those lumberyards was a mile from my house, now gone, near Superior Shores. The long-time owner had the nickname of Ya-Ya because he started everything he said with Ya-Ya. If you asked him if he had something, he could answer, “Ya-ya. No.” He used to confuse people who were not used to him. We locals would have to translate.

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  6. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    Wow, Ben. That was a lot of activity and problem-solving. Impressive.

    I have always needed a siesta–the nap after lunch so common in the Mediterranean countries. I really had to work at staying awake during my working years during the after lunch time. When I worked for myself I could eliminate the 1pm appointment and have a nap on my couch. It was great.

    Following my mother’s passing last June, I was exhausted physically and emotionally. I just let myself nap and sleep as needed for nearly 6 months–always after lunch. The best naps are in my own bed and usually last for 20-30 minutes.

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  8. I’m not good at napping… if it’s a longer-than-60-second-on-the-sofa snooze, it makes me a little crabby. Don’t know why but I think I inherited the trait from my mom so I never purposely lay down to nap.

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  9. I usually need a nap in the afternoon too. If I don’t get one around 3 – 4PM, I will fall asleep watching the news.

    I meant to go swimming at FiftyNorth yesterday. I came home and sat down in the recliner with Pippin and woke up at 4PM. I still could have gone, but I didn’t feel motivated anymore. While napping, I dreamed I was swimming and had the whole pool to myself!

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  11. I didn’t take naps until I turned 80. Now I require two naps to make it through most days, depending on how early I got up. One in the early afternoon, and one after dinner. I’m not good at dozing off in a chair, not even a recliner; I need a bed.

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    1. Theyre probably using it for feed then. It mighr have alfalfa
      Planted with it, so once the oats is taken off, the alfalfa can flourish. Oats, when cut green, is a low quality feed, with a little protein, but not a lot.
      We did it a few times back when milking. Its better when mixed with another forage

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  13. As a teenager I could never understand how my dad could sit in his favorite chair and just fall asleep for about 15 to 30 minutes. He always said he was “just resting his eyes”. On many a Sunday afternoon my parents and sisters would lie down in their beds and sleep for about an hour. I never did. But now napping comes pretty easily. When at home, I’m good from early morning until mid to late afternoon. If I sit down to read a book or watch something on TV, it doesn’t take long before my eyes are closed. I rarely nap longer than 45 – 60 minutes.

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  14. When I was younger I avoided napping, because I wasn’t able to nap lightly like some people do. I’d really fall asleep and then wake up groggy and out of sorts. I can’t eat right away after waking up, so it would throw my meal schedule off.

    As I get older, I don’t sleep as deeply anymore. I still don’t want to nap much. I think I could do it now without going into that groggy state, but it seems like I should be doing something more productive.

    In another decade or so I’ll probably change my tune.

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  15. They finished combining the oats Saturday afternoon and I got one load of straw baled. Got a little rain overnight. Looking forward to cooler temps next week.

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  20. Ben, your barn-painting issues reminded me of when I painted houses the summer after high school graduation. I worked for College Craft Painters in the Twin Cities, which some of you may remember from the 70s-80s (not sure they’re still around).

    One house was three stories with a walkout basement in back. our tallest project by far. We set up a rig consisting of fully extended ladders, plank scaffolding, fully extended ladders on that scaffolding, another plank scaffold, and one more ladder in the middle to reach the peak, which we could only get with a paintbrush tied onto a long stick!

    Talk about risky and stupid! But we were kids who didn’t know any better. One slip could have crashed the whole thing down. I think two crew members steadied the lower part, and one guy steadied the top ladder so the guy who painted the peak (it might’ve been me! I can’t remember) felt at least a little steady.

    We might have been smarter to have someone climb onto the roof from the front of the house, go up to the peak, and lean over and paint that last few feet of the apex. Ah, yes, hindsight. 🙂

    If I recall, we painted all summer and didn’t suffer any major injuries from falling off ladders or slipping from scaffolding.

    Now days, I climb ladders only when necessary, and then only onto the low section of my roof to clear debris away from the gutters. Despite the Leaf Guard gutter covers which “promise” you’ll never have to clean gutters again. True, I don’t have to scoop gunk out of the troughs, but debris gets caught in the mesh and accumulates at the inside corners where the roof drains.

    Chris in Owatonna

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  23. I perfected the 20 minute nap when I was in college – I could grab a quick snooze after classes or after dinner and head back across campus to the theater and work until the building closed (sometimes later, if the security guard who liked me was on duty). Came in handy when I was out of school and working – work a full day, catch a 20 minute nap, head off to the theater… stay out too late… get up the next morning for the day job. I still grab a nap if I can during the day – working from home makes that easier. Heck, these days, even 10 minutes lying down with my eyes closed helps reset the brain when it’s been a meeting heavy day (I set a timer because I have been known to wake myself up with a snort and realize I have 2 minutes to get myself back online for the next meeting…)

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    2. I can’t nap for a sort period of time like that….and also have a lot of trouble trying to meditate. Maybe there’s a connection there. I need an off switch on my brain activity.

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