2024, animals, Automotive, Business, Farming Update, Nature, Seasons, Uncategorized

A Little Bit of a Lot

27 Comments

The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

We talked about the first false fall the other day. And now the box elder bugs have arrived. 

Egg production is down.

Last year’s chicks are finally aging out. The header photo is monthly dozens. This year’s chicks have started laying practice eggs. Takes three small ones to equal two regular eggs.

IT’S FAT BEAR WEEK! 

https://explore.org/fat-bear-week

https://explore.org/fat-bear-week

I heard about this on MPR. Made me think about Bart from the Morning Show. We know his cell phone is dead by now. Heck, it probably wouldn’t even work on the networks anymore. Trust us Bart, we’re not fat-shaming. We know you’re stocking up for winter. 

I’ve seen a lot of farmers out combining soybeans. The big farmers are worried about that forecast of an early snow, so everyone will be pushing hard. Me? I just wait for the neighbors who harvest mine to get too it. But I’ll be hoping they’re pushing hard to get theirs done so they can get to mine. It will be what it will be. 

Last week I pulled out a fence post in preparation for some stump grinding and I cleared some brush. In the process of clearing said brush, I somehow knocked a front tire off the rim. I think I hit a log or stick and broke off the valve stem. Had Appel Service out on Monday to repair that. Just needed a new valve stem. 

Even though it’s tech week at the Rep, I’ve gotten a little work done at home. To prepare for the shop heater I am having installed, I met the LP gas dealer, and we discussed where to put the LP tank. (I just had to google ‘LP vs Propane’ because this is all new to me and I learned they’re the same thing with different names. Since we live out in the country and don’t have natural gas piping in the area, and we have all electric heat in the house, I’ve never dealt with an LP tank. I guess in our old house we used fuel oil.) Depending on size, an LP tank has to be 10 feet from structures. It can be right next to the gas or diesel barrels, but 10’ from a building. We decided to put it behind the shed. Out of sight that way. I scraped off some dirt and made a level spot. They will bury the line from the tank to the building, then it can run along the edge of the steel siding. Easier than trenching across the driveway. And as long as I remember to fill it before there’s two feet of snow back there, it will be fine. 

Then I used the tractor loader and finally got the brush mower on a trailer and hauled it to a welding shop so they can fix it. Hard to explain, but the four large bolts holding one of the gear boxes came loose. It vibrated and rattled so bad it enlarged the bolt holes, and the vibrations led to multiple cracks. Repairing it was more than I could handle. Last weekend I used the forks on the loader and pulled it out of the weeds and tipped it up so I could take off the blades and related parts in preparation of the repair.

Using my extensive knowledge of picking things up, I managed to lift it up, work on it and then, again with my extensive knowledge, inadvertently tip it over backwards – on to the trailer wheel well. Huh. Oops.

From there I was able to tip it back up and get it back on its bottom. The only real damage was to the hydraulic hose which I’ll have to replace. And then from there, yet again using my extensive knowledge of redneck farming practices, I picked it up and got it on the trailer.

Luna got a ride in the truck ALL BY HERSELF that day being as the other two dogs still have a faint skunk aroma too them.

I was able to get a little work done in my shed. Started framing in the double door.

Friday, Olson’s Tree Service was out to grind out those stumps that was clearing last weekend. Glad to have that done. I can check it off the list now. 

We could use a little rain. The winter rye is off to a good start but doesn’t seem to be growing too fast. Rain would really help.

There’s a new bakery that opened on my route between dropping off daughter and me going to work. They have a Mexican version of rosetta’s called ‘Bunuelos De Viento’. Oh my are they good. 

So, a little bit of a lot going on this past week. 

Anyone grow up with frost on their bedroom ceiling nails?  What are you stocking up for winter? 

27 thoughts on “A Little Bit of a Lot”

  1. I just saw at Costco yesterday that they have the fleece lined pants out for the first time. I’ll be getting a couple pairs of those and I will be thankful that I’m not doing those early morning Amazon deliveries anymore. I will be stocking up on long underwear and gloves and mittens and I hope to get the blade and hydraulic assembly welded on the front of my pick up truck to be used as my driveway clearing helper from now on I bought the blade probably 15 years ago, not knowing what I would do with it but knowing that it was some thing that I would love to have now, my life has settled down to the point where I put the blade on the truck and face it downhill. I should be able to clear out the driveway with the first swath and come back and finish it behind the garage doors where the cars are parked.
    I remember the nails frosting when it got down to 20 or 30 below when I was a kid in my bedroom the house is built in 1957 and I think the insulation in the ceiling was about a quarter inch of fiberglass batting and there was no insulation in the walls electricity is penny cheap but we had gas

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

    1. That’s ok, I figured people may not know. Maybe I should have called them shingle nails? Sometimes if you had to sleep in the upstairs, the attic, it could be so cold the nails would frost over.
      (The pointy end would stick through the roof)

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

      1. Oh. Well no attic sleeping for me. And where I grew up it never got cold enough for those to have frost on them anyway — even if I had slept in there.

        Liked by 2 people

        Reply

    2. The only place I ever slept that might have had visible ceiling nails was my grandparents’ place in South Dakota, but we only visited there during the summer months. None of the houses we lived in ever had accessible attic spaces.

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

  3. I don’t usually stock up for winter. The only thing I think about is if I have enough of my hot cereal that I like. Because that requires that I buy two items to mix together to make sure I have it on hand.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  4. Today Husband is making serrano pepper jelly from our Serranos that have turned red. Bringing in the chard today and freezing most of it for winter soups and savory pies. Monday we head to Bismarck for my meeting with the State retirement folks, and will head to Target and Costco to stock up on socks and t-shirts for Husband at Target and whatever looks good at Costco in terms of wine and food.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

  6. I’m gonna be freezing sweetcorn with my sister next week. That’ll stock me up for a year or two, not just for the winter.

    I am starting to think about things I’ll have to do before we get freezing temperatures, hoses to drain or unhook, things that have to be put away so they don’t freeze. Of course this will be a lot easier if I have my shop wall built. Here is 1:30 in the afternoon and I’m gonna get going on it. But I’ve burned a brush pile and took the seat off a tractor to get recovered and straightened out a step and then picked up a bunch more trees while I was watching the pile burn. I remember saying once before, “it’s not that I can’t get anything done, it’s that I can’t get everything done…”

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  8. I’ve seen the frosty nails – not necessarily ceiling nails though. I’ve lived in a few old houses with wood burning stoves. It’s not always warm in every part of the house when there is a wood stove for heat.

    I’m in a purging mode. I haven’t stocked up on anything except buttercup squash and honey crisp apples. I roasted a buttercup squash in my Ninja Foodie grill. It was okay, but I’m still learning about using it. I think it works better to do the squash in the oven. I usually roast several squash and fresh them in pint size freezer bags.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

  9. All I can say, Ben, is it’s a good think you have some Extensive Knowledge.

    What forecast of an early snow?? How early?? It’s 80 degrees out, right, for the next 3 days?!

    Stocking up? Ice cream when it’s on sale.

    And at some point we’ll harvest the carrots and the beets and the potatoes… We’re still using the red onions, the regular tomatoes and the sungold (cherry).

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  11. We had a funeral today–one of Lou’s Pickleball friends. The entire day has been wonky and off schedule. Then later in the afternoon, Phoebe was restless and wanting to go to the Dog Park. We took her, but it was really too hot, however that did not slow down her desire to play fetch and to chase the ball. She kept bringing it back to a green shady spot, instead of to me though. What was that about?

    The old style farmhouses like my grandparents owned did not have heated upper levels. Only a grate that allowed heat to rise. But it was not much heat. Therefore, there were frosty nails upstairs. My mother would tell of her mother heating bricks in the coal stove, then wrapping the hot bricks in towels to warm the beds upstairs in the winter. They also had heavy, heavy woolen quilts on those beds. Glasses of water would freeze up there. Because there was no indoor potty in that house, they had chamber pots. At least the cool temperatures kept those from smelling in the winter.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

  13. O.T. – Kris Kristofferson has passed away peacefully at home in Hawaii at the age of 88. Another bright light has gone out, but what a great run he had.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  14. My stock-up-for-winter insticts don’t kick in until Thanksgiving or so. Rice, breans, split peas, lentils, canned tomatoes, pumpkin, potatoes and carrots. Soups are my winter go-to recipes.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

Leave a reply to xdfben Cancel reply