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This Is A Life?

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Today’s farming update comes from Ben.

It’s been a good busy week, got a lot done this week. Finished planting those two food plots, got the four wheeler running again, set a tractor on fire, fixed several little odds and ends, and I felt pretty brilliant. And then I forgot to check the fuel in the big tractor and ran it out of diesel fuel. Diesel engines you have to prime them to get running again. Dad always warned me about not running a diesel out of fuel. I’ve done it twice now. It’s not as big a deal as he was afraid.
The typical highs and lows that we should expect from a life, right?

A few weeks ago I talked about getting a ton of chicken layer ration and it was meal, not pellets. The co-op did agree to take it back and get me pellets.
I loaded the pallet of meal in the truck and hauled it to Plainview. They took that out and when he picked up the new pallet I thought the pile was leaning precariously as he put it in the truck, I strapped it down and I made it 19 of the 20 miles home. When I slowed down to talk with a sheriff deputy at least it fell into the truck. I was pretty sure I was gonna lose it at some point; the question was where.

It’s been a while since I had to unload a ton of feed by hand, but this way I could re-stack it properly. Evidently there is some skill to stacking bags on a pallet because it was hard to get them level and flat. Five bags per row, 40 bags total, and it depends on how full the bags are and the density of the material inside and how that all works. But it is stacked in the feed room and it’s not going back in the truck. It will be fine.

Bought some 12 foot tall, 12 foot wide pallet racks at an auction. My summer padawans are back so we assembled one of them in the shop in place of the loft. The whole loft idea, while good in concept, wasn’t really gonna work too well in my application, so this was a better idea.

Hauled some machinery I’m not using anymore up to the next Plainview auction: a 6 row cultivator that’s been parked in the weeds for many years, I probably only used it a handful of times after I bought it. I washed off all the lichen and it looks pretty good now.

And the old running gear from this spring when I put the seed wagon on the new running gear.

Got the grain drill and the corn planter cleaned up and put away.

Had the boys haul the empty seed bags out, and we picked up a bunch more sticks from the new waterway.

I put the seed wagon away and I even sat in the office and did some bookwork one day! We’re six months into 2025, it’s about time I started doing bookwork.

I went to a seminar on oats that was very interesting. Learning the lifecycle of fungal diseases was interesting, like how the spores can travel and how it might take two or three disease cycles for certain fungus’ to reach what we call ‘economic threshold’. Perhaps my biggest take away was that oats and straw are really two different crops. I’m gonna sacrifice one to get the other. Typically the stalk (straw) isn’t quite dry and ready to be cut, when the grain is at its optimum point. But cut too green and it won’t go through the combine.


Oh yeah, that tractor I set on fire. It was just a little fire. The old 630. There’s a 4 inch piece of rubber fuel line that I knew was old and cracked, and in fact I bought some new hose just last week.
I used the tractor and left it sitting outside running for about 15 minutes while I moved some stuff inside. When I walked back out to the tractor, the fuel line was on fire, and it had dripped down onto the block, which is covered with some grease and oil, and that was on fire, too.

I may have panicked just a little bit. The first thought in my head was to push the clutch lever ahead, (because the clutch / belt pulley was rattling and I was going to put it in neutral and engage the clutch to stop the rattle) And I had walked out there to do that, so the hand clutch was the first thing I grabbed. Butu then the whole fire thing… and it was still in gear and I was standing in front. It just nudged me a little bit and then I turned off the key and then my mind was racing and I thought about dirt and I thought about gas and I thought I should really just go get the fire extinguisher and I sort of chuckled as I walked into the shed thinking ‘well good for you having a fire extinguisher out here’, and at the same time thinking ‘if I use this I have to get it recharged’ and when I came back the fire was mostly out. The little bit on the hose I was able to blow out, but some of the grease underneath was still burning and I thought oh heck, just do it, and I pulled the pin and squirted a little powder on it and then figured, well it was already open, may as well hose the whole thing down just to be safe. I should replace the hose now.

HIGHS AND LOWS THIS WEEK?

42 thoughts on “This Is A Life?”

  2. I feel like I have been on a roller coaster all week. The low was hearing we should paint the basement and the realization that the hundreds of books there need to be moved again to allow the painter access to the walls. I suppose one good thing about that is that it is forcing us to discard more stuff.

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  3. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    It has been a rough week here. All the rain and gloom do not help anything. In fact, it seems to reinforce the low mood. One of Lou’s younger brothers has discovered that he is gravely ill. The bad news about that has been slowly dribbling in. We are awaiting confirmation next week that it is stage 4 liver cancer. This is difficult for Lou at the same time his LBD symptoms are intensifying due to the natural progression of his disease. This brother is someone I am not at all fond of. He is the guy that ruined a number of family gatherings over time, by talking religion (conservative) and politics (a la Fox News) at family gatherings. We asked him to stop, which slowed him down, but by then our kids, then teen agers, thought he spouted hate speech and refused to attend family functions where he was present. I was on their side. So I need to support Lou who remembers some good times with the brother and who feels sad. I will take him to some family gatherings this summer to see his brother, then find ways to distract myself.

    The agency we work with that provides Personal Care Attendants (PCA) has staffed us with some very good care givers. One of the favorite people moved away. Yesterday was her last shift. Lou will miss her very much. Some of the proposed PCAs are also excellent, and one I am not crazy about (a Jehovah’s Witness who gives a lot of nutritional advice. Sigh).

    High Point: our cherry tree is again full of cherries that will probably ripen at the end of next week while my step-daughter is here visiting. Next week it is to be warm and dry, so I will get to pick as many as I want, then offer the rest to our neighbors. Last year the disappointment was that we got to the perfectly ripe stage, then it rained hard for the entire week and the cherries split on the tree, causing them to mold and rot. I hope for enough warm, dry weather to harvest beautiful sour cherries this year. 🤞🤞

    The baby rabbits grew up and hopped away from the nest Tuesday and Wednesday. Phoebe can now go in the back yard where she avidly sniffs and looks for them. They are so cute and devastatingly destructive.

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  5. This is a very low point. I’m so devastated over the news this morning.

    I’ve had a busy, but good week until this morning. I’m currently sitting in the ER waiting room while my friend is getting checked out. She was dizzy this morning and her blood pressure was high so I encouraged her to let me take her to the ER. I was going to the demo in Northfield, then to the Chapel Brewery in Dundas for knitting in public day, but now I’m just sitting in the ER waiting room hoping that my friend is okay.

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  6. Just back from the Chaska Demonstration where there was a large turnout. The Rally was very peaceful and very enthusiastic with people of all ages participating–children, old people, teens, adults. The past demonstrations had hit a peak of 350-400 demonstrators. This one had between 1600-2000. We were in a long line of cars two miles long to get to the site.

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    1. 2160 was the final count, according to a post on FB that also featured lots of wonderful photos from the Chaska demonstration. Thanks to everyone who showed up, in one way or another; I think these are important events.

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      1. Hey PJ. THANKS. It was a fun protest. It was healing to be there after this devastating day of such terrible events.

        Good news–I just heard a loon here in the suburbs!

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        1. PS. I just read from the coalition of groups that the national count was 11,000,000 protestors which approaches the 3.5% of the population they need to achieve political change. Amazing.

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  7. week in chicago with daughters was wonderful. my wife had a plan to pick up birthday daughter and bring her home with a one day turn around and i got pissed and said chicago in june should be enjoyed not turned into a mission. she rearranged things to go over saturday and return friday. we went to a prebroadway run of a great new musical called 42 balloons in a wonderful new to me theater (shakespear theater) on navy pier on opening night and it was fantastic. went to a cubs game. visited her mom and dad, watched idiot tv shows, quit cigars, was forced to chill which is not a common thing, stayed in non birthday daughters quest room and enjoyed her and her wonderful significant other

    lows… maga murders. i am so sad and so angry at maga facism. no other lows compare. thanks to the heads up cop who thought to go from brooklyn park to champlin where other political attack took place.
    ben , enjoy farm chores for your 8 week stint as a farmer before its time to go back to school. no summer shows? shed looks like wonderful addition. pallet racking is perfect. header fields look great. enjoy ticking off your to do list. even bookwork.

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  9. Before I actually heard yesterday‘s news, I was struggling a little bit about my low for the week. I celebrate by writing one good thing down each day in a journal that I keep on my bed stand. Of course, after the horrible events in Brooklyn Park and Champlin, I do now have a new low. For the entire week I think my high would have to be on Thursday when YA came home from her work trip. I do so love having the house to myself every now and then when she travels for work, but the flipside is that I really enjoy it when she comes home as well.

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  10. Ben – I forget, do you have to pay the padawans for their help? It’s so good that you have them. Too bad about the tractor fire!

    The low is, as y’all have said, the assassinations, which I haven’t really had time to process yet, or watch any really news except the basics.

    The high was undoubtedly the memorial yesterday for our friend Walken (who died Feb. 15). There were more people than we thought possible, and the stories were a great reflection of the totally unique person he was. The potluck meal was wonderful, the picture boards were appreciated, and the tables of his glass work were almost empty at the end (our goal). Whew!

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    1. I do pay the padawans. In fact, for one boy, he’s very focused on how much they’re gonna get paid. It’s interesting…it may become part of a future blog.

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      1. Do you run “proper payroll” with deductions for taxes, FICA and all the other fol-de-rol? I recall my first job: a 2-day thing that involved weed pulling. I was 15 or 16 and was told to pick up my check at a particular office a week later. Waiting was hard enough, but I was very clear on how many hours I had worked, and the hourly rate. The check was somewhat less because it was “proper” for the bookkeepers. I learned a lot that day.

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  11. Low becomes lower.
    I try to keep up to date with things Minnesota. The flood of misinformation and lies about the murders is overwhelming at the popular political sites I frequent.
    I thought Trump 1.0 was bad. This is…not enough × bad.

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  12. Last week I was dealing with a herniated disc and the difficulties of getting through the medical maze to get a prescription for some steroids to put me right again. I suppose that was my personal low, which then merged into the community low of the news yesterday morning.

    I had been on the fence about going to one of the rallies, because I was having nagging pain when trying to remain upright for any length of time. I did walk around briefly at the gathering at the Highland Park library, and then headed home.

    I did get the prescription and feel better now.

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  13. tough weekend but they caught the maga murderer. what police work. i get pissed when i get seat belt violations and phone tslking violations but this is the other side of their work
    now if only the conservative federal judge who says lying and law breaking will not be tolerated could become lead story and maga feud with sister golden hair and the musk ox would play out to show how screwed every one of the 99% has been flim flammed we could get on with the dismissal of all things maga

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