2026, Business, crops, Farming Update, Uncategorized, Words

IT’S A WHAT?

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This weeks Farming Update from Ben.

If I was smart, I would’ve ordered 500 gallons of diesel fuel a few weeks ago.

I called the supplier on Tuesday and he said diesel was six dollars a gallon. I didn’t even blink. Then he laughed and said he was just kidding. Well, let’s hope so. The price is up and was up more that day. Sometimes I fill the tank in the fall, sometimes in the spring, it just sort of depends. I won’t really need it for another month, but honestly, it’s anybody’s guess if it’s gonna keep going up or come back down at some point soon enough… my gut says I should just fill it now. Thankfully 500 gallons will last me the year. One farmer I watch on YouTube uses 7000 gallons / week. Ouch!

I got to the big parts sale at John Deere. I may not have mentioned a couple of weeks ago when I was picking up trees how I got the tractor over a stump and bent the driveshaft to the front wheels.  At first, I was hoping it was just a shield but no, it was the whole shaft that was bent.

That’ll buff right out!

That made it hit the bottom of the tractor with every revolution, and it was kind of sickening.

(I had to go back and look; I did very briefly mention it two weeks ago, cause I am embarrassed to talk about it.)

I knew the stump was there…but it was muddy, and dark, and frozen underneath, and one thing led to another and…. so it goes. But still.

Sigh. 

If only I had cut the stump 3” shorter.

Good thing there was a sale, saved a little money anyway. Which I spent on lawn mower belts and blades, digger shovels, chisel plow points, filters, rubber boots for the tractor steering knuckles. All that was about $1700.

Stopped and picked up the new bathroom door for the basement bathroom remodeling. It’s a few weeks out yet, but getting stuff around. Paid for that.

And then on another website I ordered some new LED lights for the tractors; just about have them all replaced now I think.

Got home and installed the new driveshaft. It’s really pretty.

Ooooo. Shiny!

Installation is easy; slip it over the splines in the back, four bolts in the front.

Forgot to get new bolts for the shields. They’re metric. I found a few at home, and then stopped and bought an assortment of metric bolts… knew the day was coming I’d need a collection of both standard and metric.

Try not to break this one, Ben.

I need to plan a road trip to Millerville MN. About five hours from Rochester, past Alexandria. I’ve purchased a ‘Track Wacker’. Everybody outta have a TRACK WACKER! (I can think of a few people I’d like to use a track wacker on.) I will mount it on the back of the 6410 tractor, and it covers up the tire tracks before drill comes behind planting oats. It was fairly cheap at $450.

There’s an online auction up in Plainview. The auction goes until Tuesday evening. I’ve marked several things to watch including a 32-foot wide, Brillion brand, Pulverizer / packer. One would use it to help break up clumps of soil, and firm the soil for planting. I knew it would be out of my price range, and as of Friday afternoon it’s at $13,000. That’s $12,000 more than I wanted to spend. 

I’m watching a 30′ drag / harrow. I use one after oats, and soybeans, again, just to help smooth the field. It’s over $1100 now…I’m still bidding on it, but by Tuesday I bet it will be $2800 and I can’t convince myself it’s worth that. My old drag is going to disintegrate someday…I bought it from a neighbor 40 years ago. Every year, I add another piece of chain to it, trying to hold it all together. 

Man… I am spending money like a drunken…. something. 

Included in the auction is one lot containing both a “Wood Duck Call and Vintage Anal Weather Station”. Yep, you read that right. And I checked, and that’s what it’s called. I think we all know what they really mean with the weather station and the three gauges, but it does give you pause, doesn’t it. I mean, it sort of boggles the mind! I really want to know what one would do with an anal weather station.

And there is always ALWAYS a dozen guns and boxes of ammunition. I asked up there one day and they said most of the guns come from estate sales. I bought a shotgun off this auction once, and a box of shells, if they sell cheaper than buying at a local store. All that stuff is officially transferred at a gun shop; you don’t just carry it off from the auction site. And the gun shop calls the state and I filled out forms, so it’s as safe as it can be, for what it is.

Among the shells this time, is an ice cream bucket, of 300- .223 caliber bullets. Called a FREEDOM BUCKET! Picture of a Revolutionary Minute-man and a US flag on it.

Give me a second while I put my head in my hands.

————-

A former student came to visit. She met a guy online, moved to Ireland, and has two of the cutest little girls.

Help me come up with an adjective for a bucket of bullets referred to as a FREEDOM BUCKET.

ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO SAY ABOUT WEATHER STATIONS?

32 thoughts on “IT’S A WHAT?”

  1. A book I was reading recently referred to a mustache as a “hirsute verandah” (the “h” at the end of verandah because it was a mid-nineteenth century book written for an English audience).

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  2. For his 8th birthday, we bought my grandson a weather station. It has a sensor array out in the yard and a tablet display of multiple weather parameters inside. It registers wind speed, for example, to two decimal points.
    He’s been fascinated by weather, especially extreme weather, for a couple of years now and can tell you all the statistics of the most powerful and destructive storms, especially tornadoes, in the last 100 years.

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  3. Congrats on that new driveshaft! So new, so shiny!

    I started playing equipment chicken years
    ago with knitting machines. Even ordered new needles the end of 2024.

    Stopped to pick up a few groceries yesterday and felt pretty good about my western Iowa pantry habits, yikes!

    My bucket full of dried beans is my “freedom bucket”

    Nice ‘stache!

    I wish I had a track wacker, whatever that may be.

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  4. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    I rarely think about or get curious about weather stations, especially anal ones, but that name does make me laugh. What a visual image. I am sure if I was a farmer, though, dependent on weather, I would love having one or anything else that gave me some control over growing stuff.

    The only name that came to mind about the ammo was “Bucket O’ Bullets” in that overused Irish style. I don’t like it, but it is what popped into my brain. And it is better than freedom bullets. Eyeroll.

    RE: Yesterday’s post. This morning I listened to the video of singers Barb posted last night. I loved it.

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  5. Maybe Bullet McBucket Face.
    It struck me that the Anal in Anal Weather Station is an unfortunate abbreviation of Analog, as opposed to digital. Is that the actual product name or just what the auction catalog says?

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  6. Husband says he has never lived in a place like Luverne where the weather changes so quickly. It snowed here last night. Tomorrow will be in the 60’s. We take Mitzi the puppy out every 3 hours or so, and boy was it cold at 4:00 am.

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    1. And windy! They have properly placed the wind farms on Buffalo Ridge. Every picture of my mother’s family on the farm there has their hair and clothing blowing.

      PS Renee: We are now completing housetraining with McGee. (He has been fully paper trained for months now). The first big snow that happened here in early December was taller than the puppy and his equipment! This stubby Corgi was too short at that time to be able to even pee. He sunk into the snow to the point it became unmanagable. And then it got so cold — too cold for him or me. His tender puppy paws that are now rough and ready, could not tolerate the cold ground and snow. I have never experienced this delayed process before.

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      1. We are having successful potty experiences thus far. She can do her business on the deck for now. We watch her for any possible pre-potty behaviors and get her outside when we see them. This takes up most of our time right now, though.

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  7. The only thing that has come to mind about the Freedom Bucket is not fit to print, and rhymes with bucket.

    And I can’t think of anything for weather station, yet.

    SUCH a pretty new driveshaft.

    And I’ll have to agree with Bill (and mig) about the ‘stache – the baby is cute, but really needs one!

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      1. I sprang foward pretty early last night but forgot about the stove and microwave clocks this morning. Got me pretty confused at one point when I went upstairs and suddenly it was an hour later than it had been downstairs!

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  9. all weather folk are anal. my mother in law first wife made sure the first thing she did whereever shecwent what was the local weather phone number. pre smart phone. minnesota is so anal about weather it leads the news most days and takes 33% of the evening news. 300 bullets in a bucket is a shitpot full of bullets or a shitload of bullets
    in the midst of a cold spell or a hot spell i remind people we only get 10 of each every year. same is true of perfect days.
    i count perfect days . 10 or so is correct but 10 years ago we had an april- october with 100+.
    i try to set aside a reasonable chunk of time to savor a perfect day. i used to feel guilty. today i feel like prioritizing lifes good stuff is a good thing not a guilty thing
    april and may are where you watch for not too hot not to cold not to humid no bugs days
    outdoor guitar days for sure
    vonneguts uncles habbit of noticing always comes to mind
    “ if this isnt nice i just dont know what is”proclamation to note the moment is appropriate.
    anal but appropriate.

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  10. Sorry to be the Debbie Downer.
    Weather forecasts are soon to be totally commercialized. Nothing will be researched as part of climate change. Project 2025 is continuing apace. Sad.

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    1. Possibly other countries could step up and replace some functions. “Nothing will be researched” is a worst-case scenario. The U.S. government will no longer be a leader in climate change research.

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      1. It doesn’t have a function, except to dazzle the observer. I was just reminded of it when I saw the John Deere green of the driveshaft in the photos. And Ben mentioned tractor steering knuckles. Maybe this is made out of a steering knuckle? The main piece this little sculpture is made out of kinda looks like knuckles.

        If I could use it for anything, it might be a pencil holder, because it has a hole on its posterior that could hold a pencil. Only one pencil, though.

        The artist that made it called it Just a Little Bull.

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        1. Love it. Yeah, I was trying to decide what that is. Looks like part of a universal joint. (A steering knuckle). That’s pretty good.

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    1. I’m clueless. What’s the dad joke? Too many jokes these days go right over my head. This one certainly did. Listening to it three times didn’t help. Am I the only one who doesn’t get it?

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