2025, animals, Business, Family, Farming Update, Seasons, Uncategorized, Weather

Free Hat!

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The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

I took a couple days off work at the end of the week with the warmer temperatures to finish a couple of outside things in the machine shed. Replaced a tire on one of the trailers and finished the last corner of the shop wall, with the exception of the last piece of steel that the electrician told me to hold off installing until they run conduit.

On Wednesday I went to Meyer’s Seed in Potsdam and ordered seed for this year.Trying a different variety of oats called Rushmore. Oat seed is $16 a bushel, and I got a bit of a discount for ordering early. I ordered 80 bags. Retail price on a bag of corn seed is $360. Again there was several discounts so I am not paying nearly that much, and thankfully I only needed 20 bags. Soybean seed, depending on whether it’s treated or not, is somewhere between $50 and $60 per bag. 

I don’t need to get into all the different weights of the seed bags, and seeding rates, I’ve talked about that every year. When I left Meyers, I turned left on 70th Ave. and took that gravel road for 10 miles straight south until I came to County Road nine, took a right there which brought me right to the college. We had a commencement planning meeting. Couple of months the school year will be over and we’ll be dealing with commencement. Five miles down that 10 mile road, I parked in the middle of an intersection to take these photos. Probably could’ve parked there for an hour and not bothered anybody.

I got a free hat when I ordered seed! 

Although with these cold temperatures I think he’s gonna want the stocking cap back.

About 10 years ago we bought a new washer and dryer. It has an automatic soap dispenser, so every couple of months we fill the reservoir with soap and don’t have to think about it. A few years ago when my mom was still in independent living, we were doing laundry for her and at one point in time one of my siblings made some comment about the detergent and if the rest of us were using the liquid or the powder. Gee, I kind of forgot about detergent, I hadn’t been adding any. I remembered that story this week as I did two loads of laundry at our neighbors house while they’re on vacation and our laundry room is still torn up. Kelly came with me as I swapped the second load from the washer to the dryer and I showed her the detergent I was using. She pointed out it was fabric softener. Well, now that you mention it, it was blue. It sure did smell nice. What I noticed was a big jug on top of the washing machine with a little cup and spout just like the red detergent container has. Once again, the best of intentions tripped up by my lack of attention to details.
Remodeling update: On Friday, the guys started installing sheetrock. The electricians spent three days here, we got three new fans, code requires hardwired smoke detectors in all the bedrooms now, (not just in the hallway outside) so got four new ones to replace two battery ones we had. We also had them run two Cat 6 ethernet lines from the utility room to the TV and office. And a coax (antenna cable), to the TV. That way I can replace the line that’s been running over the roof, down the front of the house, and in our front window for 40 years. Kelly is almost as excited about getting rid of that wire as she is about the new bathtub. 
I’ve been watching some guys working on a cell phone tower along our driveway the last few days. 

I sure hope they finish before it gets any colder.  

IF YOU WERE GOING TO WORK OUTSIDE, IN THE WINTER, AT THIS HEIGHT, WHAT WOULD YOU NEED TO GET FOR FREE? 

38 thoughts on “Free Hat!”

  3. Morning all. I can’t think of a big enough pot of money handed to me that would be enough to get me to go work up on a cell tower no matter the weather.

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  4. Friday afternoon about 5:00, the wind had really picked up and I took all the dogs in the gator and went up and talked to the guys at the Tower site. The company is from the Chicago area, and of the four guys, only one spoke broken English with an Eastern European accent, and the other three smoked their cigarettes and nodded. They said they have a couple days of work left. I asked if there is a temperature at which they don’t work. He said no, temperatures don’t matter, but they had come down because it had gotten so windy. If you recall, we live in a valley. If it’s windy down here, it’s really windy up on the hill, not to mention being 150 feet in the air. Boy, I’m gonna want a lot more free stuff.

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  5. Went downstairs to do my Saturday laundry and as I was pouring the blue, good smelling liquid into the washing machine, I realized maybe I should double check and make sure that we’re using detergent and not fabric softener. We don’t actually have any fabric softener and it is indeed detergent. Phew!!

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  6. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    I sitting here weighing options. What would be worse? Working up on that tower or going to the inauguration Monday? Both options cause me to go weak and fall on the floor like a 2 year old being disciplined. I can’t think of an appropriate freebie that would motivate me to get up on that pole on a sunny 70° day, much less a cold day like today or the coming days.

    Re: laundry. After all the laundry drama we had with installation one month ago, the new laundry works beautifully. I need to paint a small area to complete the job of installation, but that will take 5 minutes. I am allergic to some perfumes, so I use the “free” liquid without color or scent. Fabric softener is forbidden at my house because it has both substances. They can trigger headaches and I do not need more of those. I shed the migraine from yesterday, so today I have a list of things to do. I have mostly recovered from surgery but still must be wary of doing too much.

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  7. Nope. I’m with VS – can’t think of anything that would entice me to go up there, unless maybe a free condo where I could live with my favorite people all in the complex.

    Instead of liquid OR powdered laundry soap, I now buy (at the co-op) laundry soap sheets (these are Tru-Earth Eco-Strips) – concentrated laundry soap in little rectangles. You tear them into smaller pieces and toss them on top once your laundry is in the machine. They work just fine, unless you forget to put them in because you’re used to adding the soap first. No more huge plastic containers to haul or throw in the ocean.

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  9. The wind chill here will be -40 Sunday night. No one will be up on towers here. I have become increasingly scared of heights. I get altitude sickness just driving through the mountains.

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  10. Like Anonymous said above, “A winning lottery ticket,” so I wouldn’t have to work like that anymore! A life insurance policy wouldn’t do it for me. I’d need a lot of money, lots of safety gear, warm clothes, and a helmet with a face/safety shield before I’d go up there.

    Fabric softener has a lot of bad habits. Before I finally bought a new washing machine, I had a repair guy over for the old one. He tore apart my washer and handed some parts to me. They were thoroughly disgusting with slimy black stuff all over them. I took them in the bathroom and washed and scrubbed and cleaned them up. He told me it was fabric softener. I don’t use it due to similar issues that Jacque listed. It’s not a healthy product, and when I saw what it did to the inside of the washing machine, I got really disgusted. It’s also unnecessary if you have soft water. I buy Arm & Hammer powdered detergent in a large box. I might try those laundry sheets that Barbara mentioned.

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  12. It’s 6PM Saturday night, it’s 6°F, it’s dark, AND THEYRE STILL UP ON THE TOWER WORKING! I can see their head lamps moving around.
    Now I know they’re crazy.

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  13. Hope they aren’t working on a Sunday — weather channel says -13 right now with windchill of -25. Looks like it’s similar where you are. Hot cocoa for breakfast here!!

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  18. my first thought was similar to chris . heated garments like those used in skindiving or mororcycke riding . somone told me once theres no such thing as bad weather just the wrong clothes.

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  21. I remember seeing two in particular on the old predecessor of reels one of them was going on a mountain path around the corners and down the stairs and the other was climbing up up up a tower. I believe to the very top and looking back down with the camera, kind of jiggling in the wind and you could see that you were 1,000,000 feet in the air with nothing below you but the stairs you came up on that are about 12 inches wide and supported by whatever it is that they’re supported by those two videos used to get me going pretty good

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  22. There was that fellow years ago who stretched a tightrope between the World Trade Center towers and walked it. Just thinking about someone doing that gives me a bit of a sick feeling.

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