2025, Automotive, Family, Fantasy, Farming Update

Into The Concrete Weeds

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Todays Farming Update comes from Ben.

Well I didn’t start anything on fire this week so that’s a win.

The co-op was out on Wednesday to spray the oats for broad leaves and apply a fungicide. They used a drone! I wasn’t there to see it but they took some video and had it in their newsletter:


https://youtube.com/shorts/wgsNnr2c6fo?si=tQ4SKhqTutv07eX-

According to the newsletter, the drone carries a 10 gallon tank, meaning it can cover about 5 acres, and the spray pattern covers about 25 feet at a pass, so they did my 25 acres of oats in a couple hours.
I think that’s pretty cool! I don’t know if they were flying it manually, or were able to upload GPS field maps from their other machine passes earlier in the year, allowing it to fly, mostly, itself. I think this is such cool technology. It didn’t make tire tracks through the oats, and it didn’t leave ruts in the soft ground with the recent rains. Some of the big farmers are starting to buy their own spray drones. It’s another tool in the toolbox.

Me and one of my summer padawans cleaned out two corners of the machine shed, rearranged machinery and got the corn planter and the grain drill put away, and moved the haybine to a different spot. Just about every day I spend an hour or two in the shop, “organizing”. I’m still rearranging and sorting out things. I sure am glad I put that used AC unit in there. I just run the dehumidifier and it’s staying about 64 degrees. I love it. I’m happy to putz out there as much as I can.

I’m trying to do some of my home ‘honey-do’ projects, as well. A couple years ago, Kelly took all the landscape rock out of an area and we added compost large rocks for a walking path, and planted some grasses. That only survived one year, and the biggest problem was keeping the dogs and the chickens out of it. Daughter and I went to the local compost site and got half a pick up load of compost on Wednesday. Thursday afternoon was pretty warm, but I waited until this area was in the shade and then I dug out the old stuff. Padawan and I will unload the truck on Friday.

I ventured off into the weeds one day. I knew there was an old cement mixer out there, and there was supposed to be a second one that I couldn’t see at first. A tree had fallen in front of it. And I mean I hadn’t used either one in 25 years or more. For all I could remember, I let someone borrow it. But I found both of them.

I don’t remember using the sliver one, but it was fun to spin the handle and make the barrel turn. I remember playing with it often. The header photo is a plate on the side of it.

And the red one Dad got from a neighbor. I know we used that one. Whichever one I pick to use now, it will need a little grease… but the innertube on one tire is still holding air!

Might need a new tire, but the tube is good!

Heck, it doesn’t even need tires, I’ll be using it right by the shed.

One of the projects on the list is a concrete pad outside the shop walk in door, and a concrete pad for a garbage dumpster. Figured the summer padawans could learn about pouring concrete. I’ve done just enough to be dangerous. I found a concrete calculator online, which gave me a total of about 3 yards or about 170 bags at 60lb each. Wow, that’s a lot of bags to mix up even with an electric mixer. Checking some big box stores, a bag is $4 – $6 each. I sent an online message to a local concrete place just to see what the deal is with small batches. I’m in no hurry for this. Could be a month or two.

Also back in the tree’s was the old combine that Dad bought in the 1950’s and I parked in the tree’s in 1990 something. Time to haul that to scrap iron.

My brother and I both learned to drive a standard clutch in the 1967 Chevy pick-up truck following dad and this combine around the fields. Times were different back then. I’m guessing I was maybe 10 yrs old. I can picture it like yesterday though. He would have been pulling this with the 630 tractor (that I still have) and combining oats and would dump it into the truck. Today’s huge combines are bigger, fancier, self-propelled versions of this.

MONTGOMERY WARD IS SELLING FLYING CARS. WHAT COLOR IS YOURS AND WHAT OPTIONS DOES IT HAVE? GOT ANYTHING TO SAY ABOUT WARDS?

41 thoughts on “Into The Concrete Weeds”

  1. I consider a car as just another appliance. Utility and reliability are what matters. Color is irrelevant. I suppose if I were buying one new, I would choose a color I liked but I’ve never purchased a car new. I’m not sure the ability to fly would be an asset. It’s hard to envision, especially in the city, finding a place to land safely when other flying cars are trying to do the same. It sounds like chaos.
    My thoughts about Monkey Wards are scattered. When I was very young, the arrival of the Christmas catalogs from Sears and Wards was a big event.
    There was a Wards store that went up near our house in Robbinsdale. It was convenient but never inspiring. The clothing selection was even more dismal than those offered by Sears, and that’s saying something. I took the car to the Wards auto center for an oil change and they tried to convince me I needed new brakes, which I knew wasn’t true. I never went back.
    For some reason, my brain went to the house brands of musical instruments Sears and Wards used to sell. I knew Sears was Silvertone but couldn’t remember Wards. Google research reveals it was Airline.

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  2. Montgomery Wards is still around??

    Are you sure they’re selling FLYING CARS? Ditto all Bill’s thoughts about that, except I would like a color I’ve seen on an old Prius near here – kind of a light blue-gray-green, or that deep royal blue…

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    1. I loved the Wards store in Marshalltown when we moved there (I was about 12) – had a big wide stairway to the lower level, and just had SO much stuff. We were coming from a much smaller town. I actually found some pretty nice clothes there (and Sears)…

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  3. I loved the big Wards (and Sears) catalogs. It was fun to make wish lists from them. My paternal Grandma always called it Monkey Wards. I have to say that a lot of paper has been saved since those monsters stopped being printed. I visualize poplar trees everywhere breathing a sigh of relief.

    My flying car would have to be purple. Maybe purple with lime green spots! It would need bright yellow and blue striped wings too. Ooo, that would be fun!

    It’s fun to find old stuff that’s been lurking in the weeds. So cool to find those old cement mixers.

    I’m up in Two Harbors. It’s Grandma’s Marathon this weekend and it’s crazy busy up here. My plan is to stay out of the way until all the people and traffic are gone. I do want to go in to the Farmer’s Market this morning though. Then I can come ‘home’ and read and work on some knitting and enjoy the roar of the big lake. It’s 56 degrees here right next to the lake. Just about half mile to Hwy 61, and it’s 62 there. I’m glad to be right here – very grateful.

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  4. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    I can’t say I have given much thought to flying cars, beyond the Jetsons cartoon years ago. Maybe later an image will pop into my mind.

    Montgomery Wards, though, got a lot of attention from me over the years due to the catalogue, aka Wish Book. My sibs and I did not have many toys as children, but the Wards catalogue was full of everything I was not allowed to have! I remember it featuring a set of walkie-talkies that I yearned for. As a really small child it also had COWBOY BOOTS that would have matched my red cowboy hat, holster set, and stick horse. I spent a lot of time fantasizing about those boots.

    I looked up Wards just now. It is now an online and catalogue business only. In the world of “what goes around, come around” catalogues and ebusiness now rule commerce, just like Sears and Wards did in the past.

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  5. When I moved into my current home in 91 I went to Montgomery Ward and bought a dishwasher. It wasn’t the top of the line, but it wasn’t the cheapest piece on the floor, but the sales person really pushed for me to buy an extended warranty. I’ve never been good at extended warranty and I certainly wasn’t back then either. Finally in desperation he said you know if you get this home and in a week it stops working we won’t be able to help you. That just toasted my britches. I told him and no uncertain terms that if I got this home and it stopped working in a week certainly they would hear from me on all levels of management and I was pretty sure I would get help at that point. He shut up after that and I did not buy the extended warranty. That was the last time I ever went to Montgomery Ward

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        2. im surprised there arent dead bodies everywhere with auto drivers. i trust fling cars would be about the same. except at dairy queen this week

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  6. I’m trying hard to answer this fantasy question in fantasy mode but my practical head is just screwed on too tight today. So I feel the same way about flying cars as I do about all electric cars. It’s the infrastructure. I have two friends with all electric cars, one Tesla and one not and they both talk about the same kind of issues — about not being able to take long trips without serious planning and side trips for charging and it’s kind of like having a toddler who has just potty trained. You feel like you need to know where every bathroom near you is located except now they’re charging stations. But if I were to get a flying car and if it were safe, and there were enough rules that I didn’t feel like other flying car drivers would put me at risk then it would absolutely have to be red and not a stick shift. My stick shift days are done.

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  7. The apocalypse has started at our house. I’ve actually convinced YA to go out in 15 minutes and cut the grass with me. But I’m absolutely sure after that I’m not going to see her for the rest of the weekend. The dog is having trouble with the fact that she’s got her door closed all the time … the dog wants out, the dog wants in, the dog wants out, etc It’s gonna be an interesting weekend.

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  8. There were many tornados reported in Central and Eastern ND last night, and three people were killed by a tornado near Fargo. We only had some wind and .40 inches of rain. There was a Wards store in Sioux Falls. We went to Seats more often than Wards.

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  9. Flying cars? The Jetsons? I spend 5 hours a day in Sandra’s fantasy world. I am staying out of Ben’s. Some colors of cars on the road these days I don’t think I would buy? But otherwise, like Bill, it would be other factors. I assume I am driving my last car.
    Wards and Sears. Same memories as others had. My mother bought remnant bundles of cloth from both. Some pieces she could use to make her and Cleo clothes or to make dish cloths and towels. The rest went into quilts. There were stores in Duluth and then in the mall when it arrived. A Sears outlet lasted for several years in Two Harbors which we used often. Their tools were once exceptional. The Sears store in Mankato was the best of 3 options for department stores in the mall. Only target is left, but they aren’t much of a department store. I don’t go in there since joined 47’s hate parade. Oh, not in the mall, big Wally is of course left but I don’t go there.
    I remember the excitement of going to the very old fashioned post office to get the packages.

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  11. im a periwinkle with burgundy and violet trim sort of guy. i think id insist in self driving with gps link
    . light speed button would be be fun for weekend picnics on mars or beetlegeusse. hot water for tea, solar panels and changing quarters with opeque glass option for privacy
    i had extended ideas typed in earlier but they vaporized. i hate it when that happens

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  12. I, like a few Baboons, looked up Monkey Wards. It’s impressive the products they offered. YouTube has quite a few videos of old Monkey Wards labeled equipment that will be restored.

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  13. I honestly didn’t think Montgomery Wards was even around anymore.
    I’m pretty sure Mom bought me a suit from there at some point. They had an escalator in the store here and that was a pretty big deal.

    I’ve got a tool set, a socket and ratchet set, that dad got from Monkey wards and that’s one of my daily used tools.

    I remember the Christmas catalogs from Sears and JCPenny’s, I don’t remember one from wards.

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  14. wards is gone, sears chose retail and should have chosen on line but sears was king if a different era. as a kid i couldnt understand the duplication of sears and wards, woolworths and walgreens. daytons and donaldsons and jc penny
    then came target and walmart as and old school business disappeared as we got walmartized. amazon is taking care of most remaining frings folks. wards like shopko or snyders just wasnt very good at what they did.
    others are going to be leaving us soon. walgreens is trying to become 7-11 with perscriptions before they disappear.
    my partner the analytics guru gave up on trying to figure out how to business with amazon. they are bloodsuckers who throw all comers under the bus after the little guys do the leg work.
    you used to get a feel for corporate culture and be able to choose the one you liked. corporate culture today is a new dynamic. target, tesla, costco are all feeling effects of culture driven actions.
    menards is a company without a soul. amazon too. target blew it with lbgt and dei shifts to satisfy nazi noismakers. costco told them to take a hike and made me a customer forever. walmart recently told current nazis to take a hike and got even lefty hardcores to applaud. the world is easier to see in black and white. wards and sears were everyman stores. those dont exist anymore

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  15. I became acquainted with the thick Sears and JCPenney catalogs in Moscow, long before I ever set foot in an American department store. Mrs. Bridges told me that she thought JCPenney sold slightly better quality goods than Sears, she didn’t mention Wards at all.

    As luck would have it, the only department store in Cheyenne was Montgomery Wards. Since we didn’t have any money, I applied for a store credit card, and was granted one with a $500 limit. With that wasband and I purchased a a stereo with with a built-in turntable and speakers, and a large braided oval rug for a living room. We dutifully paid that off in small monthly installments, and by the time we left Cheyenne in February of 1968, we had paid it all off.

    Four years later when we arrived in the Twin Cities – he with an MA and I with a BA in English – and the princely sum of $600 to our name, we rented an apartment in New Brighton. The local Apache Plaza mall had a Montgomery Ward store, but when I attempted to purchase a toaster and some fabric to make curtains for our apartment with our credit card from Cheyenne, they rejected it. They also refused to accept an application for a new card, despite the fact that we had never missed a payment on the old one. I swore there and then to never set foot in a Montgomery Ward store again, and I haven’t.

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  16. Montgomery Wards sold portable bomb shelters during the Cold War.
    Now that war is hot, I suspect bomb shelters are selling well online. Might as well bring back “duck and cover.”

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    1. read a post about bomb shelters for super rich. company specializing is making a killing with paranoid jillionaires where money is no object when it comes to protecting their assets. thurston howel III anyone ?

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  17. I have been thinking about “Retail” lately. I had occasion to go to Walmart (I use them only as a last resort). I am amazed that what we as a species came up with to get the things we want, is to have a gigantic warehouse piled high and wide with rows and racks of things, most of which will never be sold. I can understand it better in a grocery store, and smaller scale stores, even Target-sized. (Haven’t been to a mega-Target, but I know they exist.) Even a gift shop – to go into business you have to stock hundreds of item, and you know they will never all sell.

    So the mail order thing with the old catalogs makes some sense, and then you have all that overstock just in the warehouses. Yet I rail against Amazon too, and encourage people to go to the bookshops for books… Sigh.

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      2. Iowa has the county of registration on license plates. I was visiting someone in Sioux County about 30 years ago, as the “neighborhood stores” in little towns were closing down. There was a lot of woe (I was told) in the general conversation about that. The guy who told me about it mentioned visiting Sioux Falls (where the malls and big stores were) and driving through the parking lot and noticing so many Iowa cars registered in Sioux County.
        Yes, we liked the little neighborhood stores, but I, personally, shop at ALDI.

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  18. I bought my first dishwasher at Wards when I was remodeling the kitchen in my house about 37 years ago. It was a catalog return in their clearance room. With the sales tax, it was slightly over $100. It lasted quite a long time – about two decades, I think.

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