2025, animals, crops, Farming Update, pets, Theatre

IT’S THE LITTLE THINGS

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This weeks farming update from Ben

The squirrels are tormenting the dogs. They start with Bailey, since she’s outside. Then Bailey gets Luna and Humphrey going in the house and they’re at the door whining and barking until we let them out. You’d think they’d have learned it’s just a squirrel. Bailey has this shrill, piercing bark, it makes your ears bleed. We think sometimes the squirrels choose to off themselves because they can’t take her barking anymore. I watched a squirrel about 10’ up the electric pole, head down, dancing around the pole, just tormenting the dogs. (If Luna’s toenails were a little longer she’d be up that pole.) Then the squirrel leapt from the pole, cleared the dogs by a good 15 feet and made it to another tree before the dogs could turn around.

I got out last Sunday and cut some weeds in the oat fields. And I did more Thursday evening. One field left will take an hour.  I’m using the haybine instead of the brush mower. Six of one, half dozen of another. The brush mower is 10’ wide, the haybine is 9’. But I can go faster with the haybine. That machine cuts, crimps, and puts the material in a narrow row for baling. I used it for cutting alfalfa when I was milking cows, and I still use it to mow the roadsides. The brush mower is more like a big lawn mower, and it just cuts and shreds the material all up. I’m not saving the weeds or oats to bale, and by opening the rear guides, and putting a baffle inside, it lays the weeds out in a path about 6’ wide. I also don’t want to smother anything growing underneath, and I want it disintegrated enough by spring that it’s not a problem then. I’m hoping we get enough rain or snow or warm or cold temperatures to do whatever it needs to do to break down by April. I’ll bet you didn’t know I could make a whole paragraph on cutting weeds, did you?

Another online auction finished in Plainview on Tuesday. I won some good stuff cheap! Two grinding wheels for concrete sold for $12. They’re about $60 each online. And I bought 5 sheets of 5/8” plywood for $78. They’re $35 each at big box stores. Finally, I bought three doors, brand new, for $36. I needed one of them for a new dressing room we built at the Rochester Rep Theater. It was the right size, the right style, and had hinges on the proper side. I picked it all up Wednesday and installed the door. I told the men using that dressing room, if they had a good rehearsal Wednesday night, I’d get them a doorknob on Thursday. They did and I did.

I’ve been busy with theater most of the past week.

One night during rehearsal I noticed the cue labels on the lightboard made a nice, slanted pattern. It wasn’t intentional, but I appreciated it.

I like the symmetry in things. Also, my OCD kicks in a little bit and that nice slant appeals to me. Like when shopping at the big stores and taking the cart to the stall and they’re all mess up; that bothers me when they’re all cockeyed. I spend more time than a person probably should lining them up and making the stacked line of carts. I would hate having that job of returning carts to the store. You can never finish! I’d hate it. How frustrating.

The neighbors are planning on taking their cattle out this weekend. The cows ran over to see me as I drove past them.

Most of the soybeans have lost their leaves. Lots of guys cutting beans around here. The guys I hire will get to mine when they get to them…

MOST MEANINGLESS JOB YOU’VE HAD?

HAVE YOU KNOWN ANYONE WITH AN UNUSUAL VOICE?

52 thoughts on “IT’S THE LITTLE THINGS”

  1. Huh, for some reason the last photo or two don’t show up here.
    When I had to leash the cats in the back yard (neighbor troubles) in Robbinsdale, the squirrels learned to the inch show far the cats could roam, and then sit half a foot farther than that and taunt them.

    The factory job I had summer before college – drilling threads into little pieces of metal, thousands of them, never seeing the finished product. Yikes – made me realize one reason I was going to college…

    Hope to remember the unusual voice people by end of day.

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  2. I stop at Little Free libraies often and straighten them. Tall books to the left and shorter as you go, maybe face one out if there’s room. If someone has left an oversize kids’ book in a small library, I might move it to where I know there’s a bigger one. The books should have room to stand up, not lie flat with other books on top of them.

    I used to work in a bookstore, where straightening shelves is like the shopping cart work at a big grocery store. It nevr ends.

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    1. That’s hysterical, Linda. How big is the territory you service? Are they all most children’s books, or do you do adult books too? You are amazing.

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      1. I straighten all kinds of books, regardless of the age of their target audience. If anyone has left pamphlets that are of questionable value, like religious tracts and such, I remove those and put them in the recycling. I wouldn’t say I have a territory, or a regular route, but I am most familiar with the West Side, of course.

        Really large children’s books can also go to the laundromat on Stryker – they have a big rack where books can be faced out, and it is short enough for the littles to be able to reach the books. Wellstone Center also has an indoor LFL for kids.

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        2. I have a friend who lives just a couple of blocks from me who has not just a Little Library but also a Little Library of sticks for dogs who walk by. She lives on the parkway. She curates her little library seriously. If it’s March, there are usually several St. Patrick’s Day books to be found. Fourth of July there are Independence Day books. of course Thanksgiving solstice Christmas Kwanzaa there’s always books there. I asked her once where she kept all of these books during the year and she told me that she has a Little Library library in her basement

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  4. That header photo is spectacular, Ben; great sky, too. Do you stop and visit with the cows when they come to see you?

    The following is completely OT, but I want to share it anyway.

    On Wednesday evening, Hans saw an opossum on the sidewalk in front of our house. Just lumbering along at a slow pace, it seemed unconcerned about him. Hans managed to take a picture of him before he crawled under my car. We’ve lived in this house since 1979, and this is the first opossum we’ve ever seen.

    On Thursday evening I heard Hans exclaim “Oh NO!” as he was heading out the back door. “What happened?” I asked, but couldn’t hear his reply. About fifteen minutes later Hans came back in the house carrying a spade. He explained to me that he had found the opossum dead in the middle of the street, and made some comment about the asshole driver who had hit him. I protested that perhaps it had been an accident, but no, it was a deliberate hit and run he was convinced. At any rate, Hans had given it a decent burial in the boulevard in front of our house.

    Last night Hans showed me a photo he had taken of the dead opossum before he had buried it. When I looked at the photo I saw no evidence that the opossum had been hit. Not mangled or bloody in any way, and I began to wonder whether the opossum had actually been dead. We did a little research, and at this point we’re concerned that he may buried an opossum that was just playing dead. I just can’t get this out of my mind, and feel terrible about it. Poor little thing.

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    1. Well, the only way to know for sure was if it was warm to the touch or not showing rigormortis.
      Sometimes it hard to tell if something has been run over. Some ruffled fur or maybe blood around the nose her mouth might be the only clue.

      Don’t they live in a hole? I wonder if it could dig its way back out if it was really alive?

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      1. He commented that it must have just died as it was warm to the touch, and not stiff at all. He said it was a shallow grave, so was hoping that it could dig itself out, but I don’t see any evidence that that has happened. Poor thing probably suffocated. I feel awful about it.

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        1. I haven’t researched it, but I’d guess that opossums don’t “play possum” just for the heck of it and don’t maintain that pose when no threat is present. Before Hans found him, it’s likely he would have gotten up and gone on his way. I don’t know that “playing possum extends to passively letting someone bury you.

          I think you can rest assured that he was really expired.

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        3. I appreciate your comments, Bill and Renee, and I wish you were right. However, I did research it a little, and apparently the “playing dead” thing is pretty complex. Here’s what I found:

          “When an opossum plays dead, it doesn’t just fall over onto the ground. This mammal really looks like it’s dead! Its feet curl up in tiny balls, and its body goes rigid. It opens its mouth like it has just taken its last breath. It may even start to drool. Its eyes may appear glassy or closed. A predator can sniff it, flip its body over, or push it across the ground. An opossum that is playing dead will not move or get up and try to run.

          Besides looking dead, an opossum also smells like it’s dead. When they play dead, opossums release a liquid from glands near their tail, which mimics the odor of rotting flesh. The appearance of being dead, combined with the awful odor, has helped countless opossums escape capture. The ability to feign death when threatened is called defensive thanatosis. Playing possum is an idiomatic phrase that means to pretend to be dead. It comes from a characteristic of the Virginia possum, which is famous for playing dead when threatened. Possums can play dead from 40 minutes to four hours. It’s easy to imagine that an opossum jumps up and runs down the trail the moment a predator or threat is out of sight. However, they are in a state of shock, so their body must have a chance to recover.”

          The above quote are from an article for AZ Animals written by Rebecca Bales.

          The stock photos I’ve been able to find of an opossum playing dead, all look exactly like the one Hans took of our now truly dead opossum. I’m afraid this poor beast was buried alive. Lesson learned, though, never bury a opossum until it is cold and stiff. RIP little buddy.

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        4. That’s welcome education for me, and a useful new term for describing Republicans’ relation to Trump. Defensive thanatosis.

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        5. I had possum in the yard once that the dog was way too interested in. And of course, the playing dead was a problem because I would hold the dog back, but I wanted the possum to go and it wouldn’t. But I can tell you from being upfront and personal to the possum that you can tell they’re alive. I’m positive that if the possum had been alive and Hans moved it and buried it, it would have shown some signs.

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        6. I also just googled “if you bury a possum playing dead can it dig its way out and the Internet seems to think that yes unless you’ve buried it at least 4 feet deep (which I assume Hans didn’t do) the possum can dig its way out if it’s still alive.

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        7. Thanks VS, appreciate your input. I, too have spent additional time today learning more about opossums. Turns out there’s a lot of reliable information about them on the internet, but there’s a fair amount of disinformation as well.

          I’m still not convinced that this opossum was dead when Hans buried it, but I know it is now. It’s unfortunate if that’s true, but since we both know his intentions were good, the best we can do is learn from that mistake.

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  5. My most meaningless job was working in a department store in high school and college. During sales, there would be big tables set up stacked with clothing (I worked in the men’s department), and it was our job to keep it tidy. We’d fold and fold and fold the stacks, only to have customers come and rummage around and mess everything up again.

    I can’t think of many unusual voices, but I have a female coworker who has a very distinctive voice: deep, throaty, and fairly loud. You can never be in doubt when she’s in the office. It’s an amusing contrast to her physical appearance, because she’s quite petite. She doesn’t like her voice, but I think it’s delightful.

    When I was I kid, my friends and I liked to imitate the voice of Lily Tomlin’s character, Ernestine. “One ringy dingy, two ringy dingy, oh good gracious, hello! Is this the party to whom I am speaking?”

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    1. The Herberger stores that used to be here in the Twin Cities did community service by donating money to groups who would then come and work in the store for several hours. YAs gymnastics club did this a couple of times and I have to tell you that the folding of clothing over and over and over again made for the longest Saturday afternoon of my life. YA was in fifth or sixth grade and I said to her during this time this is why you go to college so you hopefully don’t have to do a job like this for your whole life.

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  6. Not a job but a worthless task.
    Things were slow, so as a “make work” task my boss put two of us on putting a roll of carpet on a display rack. The rack could hold 4 rolls. Carpet rolls come from the manufacturer face in. Putting them face up for display is really hard especially with heavy pile. The roll must stay exactly square to the carrying core with uniform tension. Stopping the mechanical rolling apparatus for an instant means starting completely over. The pile pulls one direction so it’s a battle to keep things from telescoping.
    TMI
    I swear, from 8 AM to 2 PM my workmate and I worked, with the boss micromanaging, to get that roll up. He finally gave up. “I can’t afford this anymore.”

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  7. OT-Get out your sweaters, Baboons. Colder air is coming your way. Our High today was 64°, and it will rain tonight. Low tomorrow night of 30°.

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  10. So many unique voices! I’ve known quite a few people who could be described that way, maybe too many to name. Everyone’s voice is unique. We all have different pitches, tone, pronunciation, and inflection.

    I would like to say that my DNR job was the most meaningless job I ever had, but it wasn’t. It was just the worst one. There were meaningless aspects about every job I ever had, but I don’t think I ever had one that was entirely meaningless. I was a waitress at two places while still in high school. I thought that job was meaningless, and I was lousy at it.

    I re-arranged a Little Free Library once and found that the books were all crawling with bugs! It freaked me out sufficiently that I really look carefully before reaching in. I was going to leave a book, but I took it to a different one.

    We have a great cart wrangler at the Target store here. He’s in a wheelchair, and he’s amazing to watch. He’s also friendly, cheerful, and positive all the time. Sometimes I get the urge to help him, especially if the weather is bad, but that’s not a good idea. He’s got it.

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      1. Yes, the names of the cues on the right. It was an odd picture but it looked worse if I cut it to just the words. 🙂

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  12. my most meaningless job is the one im doing now. shopping driving delivering is mindless and other than human interaction at the stores and at drop off its mindless. i get to listen to books on tape and podcasts of interest but as far as fulfillment satisfaction pride i need to go elsewhere.
    voices. i remember a woman in a bar who had a taluuleh bankhead raspy smokey sexy voice. asked her just to talk to me some more. every now and again ill hear a guy speak with that full baritone and ill ask him if he sings and get him to do a few bars of ol man river

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      1. I read a very funny book last year called Lula Dean‘s Little Library of Banned Books. The woman who owned the little library, in response to a lot of books being banned locally, put dust covers for what most of us will probably think of us fairly heinous books on more liberal titles in her little library and the result was that a lot of people read some banned books got a change of perspective. I’m not sure it was realistic, but it was a fun weekend read.

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    2. I don’t censor, but pamphlets in little free libraries don’t stand up, they flop over and become ragged and torn. Materials really need to have a reasonably rigid form to not become something only fit for recycling or trash.

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  14. I never paid any attention to the voices of my childhood cartoons.
    It just wasn’t important. Now being older, much older, I watch the credits and look for the faces to match the animation.
    My favorite is Edward Everett Horton, whose name credit was typically smashed in a book of Fractured Fairy Tales on Rocky & Bullwinkle.
    Putting the face and the voice together while watching Arsenic and Old Lace was delightful!

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  16. Sarah Vowell has a very very distinctive voice. The first time I actually heard it was when she was narrating one of her books. I had to stop the car so that I could pick up the CD case and look at it to see what the deal was because I couldn’t understand why the publishing company had gotten this small child to narrate a book. Of course I got used to her voice fast and got all of her other books on CD so that I could hear her narrate them. The above link I just always thought was very funny.

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  17. I’ll never forget the first time I heard David Sedaris reading an excerpt from one of his books. It was a Saturday morning and I was in my car on the way to somewhere south of Hastings to volunteer at a folk festival.

    At first I couldn’t determine whether it was a male or a female voice, but the story was hilarious and I was captivated. The story hadn’t ended when I arrived at my destination, so I just sat there in the car and listened until it was over. That’s how I was introduced via MPR to David Sedaris.

    That’s also how I was introduced to Truman Capote who had a similarly distinctive voice. Capote’s reading of “A Christmas Memory” to a live audience at some university is a gem. I have a tape of it around here somewhere, but even if I were to find it, we no longer have a tape player.

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      1. Yes, you can find recordings of Capote reading the story, but I have not been able to find the one where he’s reading live to an audience of college students.

        I own a copy of the book that I have “edited” to conform with the above recording. Crossed out words that he omitted in the live reading, and other spontaneous changes, deliberate or accidental, that he made at the reading. I know that story almost by heart and can quote major portions of it from memory. I just love that story.

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    2. I remember working an a promo reel when I was working in public radio. There was a promo for This American Life, with Sedaris talking about his time living in Paris, not being fluent in French…

      David Sedaris:
      OK, my lighter has run out of fluid, which would mean that I would have to ask somebody for a match. And so what I would say is, hello, do you have some fire? And I so hate saying that, that I usually carry four lighters on me so I always have a backup.

      Ira Glass:
      So you’re just digging into your bag here.

      David Sedaris:
      Extra cigarettes. I know I must have a lighter in here. I will not spend the afternoon asking people if they have fire.

      I loved that so much. When Sedaris says “hello, do you have some fire?” it’s one of those things that does not convey quite enough in print; you have to hear him say it.

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  18. I Am Still Here,Baboons,

    What a weekend. I helped set up for the House Plant Sale Friday, then worked the sale on Saturday. And wouldn’t you know, that is the time our good friends come through town on their way West for the winter. And the puppy is here. Phew.

    Meaningless job: The car parts inventory clerk job I had at age 18 when I messed up the inventory, but the mechanics liked to ogle my legs. Ugh.

    Voice: My step daughter-in-law has a high, screechy voice in which she rarely says anything nice. It sounds like the voice of a little girl. She could do narrations for children’s books as a child if she was the least bit tolerable, but she is such a difficult person. And of course she is a MAGA “Christian”. Whadya do?

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