All posts by reneeinnd

2022, animals, home, Nature, Travel, Weather

Missing Out

38 Comments

I am currently in Fargo, ND at a nice hotel. My home is 300 miles to the west. Since Tuesday, the residents of my town have been having a rip roaring blizzard, and I am missing it! For the first time since we moved to our town in 1988, my office has been closed for three days in a row due to the weather.

I love snow storms. I should preface that with the disclaimer that I love being in a snow storm while in my warm home with a full refrigerator. Friends are sending videos of their yards, their stock pens, their barns full of goats and leghorn chickens, and I am so jealous. We have been in a drought, and this moisture is welcome, but it is hard on the cows and their new calves. The header photo is of a friend’s cow on Wednesday during the storm. As she says, “the price we pay for moisture”. I should add my friend and her husband provide good protection for all their cows in various ways. I don’t know why this one was out in the open and looking so pathetic. Another friend just reported that her snow day was ruined by the discovery of a mouse in her house

My next task is to drive home on not such good roads. If I were at home, I would spend time staring out at the snow blowing by, gauge the depth of snow in the driveway, perhaps bake, and maybe take a nap. As it is, I will just bless the snowplow operators and keep both hands on the wheel.

What don’t you want to miss? What do you like to do during a snow storm? Any good storm stories?

2022, Business, Food, Uncategorized

In Your Honor

70 Comments

My best friend really loves coffee. She usually drinks it cold, but she has to have several cups a day. When I was visiting, I made a pot in the morning, had one cup, and poured the remainder in a quart jar for my friend to drink cold with cream for the rest of the day.

Friend used to live in south Minneapolis years ago, and frequented a coffee shop run by three, identical triplet sisters. They have expanded their menu and offerings, and seem to be quite successful. She still gets there on occasion on her days off. Friend told me that they named a coffee drink, The Gloria, after her. I forget exactly how this came about, but it seems my friend had an idea for a variation on a coffee drink, and it was popular.

I don’t know what I would want named after me . A therapeutic technique, a tomato variety, maybe a dessert or a soup? I would want it to be simple yet elegant, easy to accomplish, effective, sort of like Alfredo of fettuccini fame. Certainly not a hurricane or a typhoon.

What would you want named after you? How do you like your coffee or tea?

2022, Family, Travel, Uncategorized

Uncharted Territory

35 Comments

Monday was a busy day for me and my friend. She had a PT appointment in Waconia, and then we had to drive to Hutchinson to do some shopping.

I grew up in the far southwest corner of the state, and I have to admit I have never been in or even heard of most of the towns I have driven through on this trip. My parents never took trips to the Twin Cities unless it was a dire emergency. They weren’t lake or resort people, unless you count my dad’s fishing trips to Lake of the Woods. Sunday drives with my parents involved looking at the crops in the counties around Luverne. I am not used to driving on curvy roads, in heavy traffic, or around large stands of trees. I have lived in the west of North Dakota so long that I get a little nervous not being able to see 20 miles ahead of me to see where I am going.

My friend decided that we would take a different route to Hutchinson, one that was not the direct route from Waconia, and I tried my best to follow her directions. My friend is absolutely terrible at giving directions. She says in 500 words what could be said in 50. She was equally as frustrated with me for not understanding immediately what she meant. I am happy to say we made it without too much rancor, but I think in the future I shall insist on the voice of reason and calm from Google maps. We may end up in a lake but at least “the voice” speaks concisely.

How are you at giving and taking directions? What did “Sunday” drives entail when you were a child? What is you favorite part of Minnesota to explore?

education, Uncategorized, work

Strike!

29 Comments

The recent teachers’ strike in Minneapolis reminded me of another teachers’ strike in Luverne in 1975. I think Luverne teachers’ strike was the first one to happen after the law was changed to permit public employees to strike. I was a senior in High School, and my mother taught Grade 3. She was only a couple of years from having the serious flare-up of her Multiple Sclerosis that caused her to retire early.

I was a senior in High School, and I and my classmates were worried that the strike would prolong the school year. My mother bravely manned the picket line with her fellow teachers in some really cold December weather. It lasted a week until the school board came up with an offer that the teachers could accept. There were some hard feelings between the striking teachers and the very few who crossed the picket lines to sit in empty classrooms. Everyone seemed to get over it pretty quickly, though, and all the staff just went back to getting along with each other once school was back in session after Christmas vacation.

I was really proud of my mom on the picket line. She was a pretty rule abiding person, and it was fun to see a more militant side emerge. She was proud of herself for taking a stand.

Of which of your relatives are you the proudest? Have you ever gone on strike? How do you protest?

2022, animals, Farming Update, home, Uncategorized, Weather

April Farming?

78 Comments

Today’s post comes from Ben

Man, this weather. It’s probably normal for early April to be undecided about what it wants to do… it just doesn’t feel like it after last year’s early spring. And I think I say that every year.

But the turkey vultures have returned! And the Killdeer! And I’ve put the pot of chives out on the step. And just this morning, we heard Sandhill Cranes! (Aw, Steve…sure miss you. )

The other day, the day before it started raining, I got out in the fields with the tractor and loader and started pushing trees off the edges. Most of these down trees were from the December storms and since that was a South wind, these were on the North side of the fences. Meaning It was muddy there and the frost maybe wasn’t out, and it was kind of a mess. Only once did I scare myself thinking I probably shouldn’t have really gotten down in this muddy corner hillside, but I got out and it was all fine. Had three of the tractors running, which always feels good, pulled the seed wagon out, and hooked onto the soil finisher with the big tractor. Made me feel better that I was at least getting a start on things. Doesn’t take too long to get things greased up before getting into the fields.

Also, finally found the lid from the big garbage can that we keep salt and sand mix in. It blew off during that December storm and I figured it was gone for good. Nope, found it thirty feet away in some trees.  

When I left for work one day this week there was a car parked on the township road, just off the highway. I took a photo of it and told Kelly about it. Figured maybe it was someone walking, maybe it broke down, maybe it was a couple high school kids hooking up and left one car here. Didn’t think much of it. But 6 hours later when I came home, and it was STILL there I called the deputies. Turns out it had been stolen. No other details.

Not the first stolen car we’ve found. Thirty years ago there was the car on a field road, but the tires were gone and ignition was ripped out and the dealers lockbox was in the back seat.  We found it before the dealership reported it stolen.   

On the duck and chicken front, all is holding steady. One Phoenix chicken is broody so she’s in a nest box all day. Since I collect the eggs every day, she’s moving daily to sit on someone else’s eggs. And I haven’t had to give them any water the last few weeks (because there’s water everywhere!) But otherwise all is well for the moment. I’ll need to start cleaning up the pen I use for the baby chicks. They’ll be here before I know it.   

What was your biggest accomplishment or disappointment last week?

2022, holidays, home, Media, Theatre, Uncategorized

Waiting For Einaudi

37 Comments

Latest November I decided to treat myself to a CD of the string group La Pieta playing the music of Ludovico Einaudi. He is a modern Italian composer, still living, and I love his compositions.

I ordered the disc through Amazon from a place in Oxfordshire, England. I was told the order would arrive in time for Christmas. By the middle of December there was no indication that it had shipped. Husband was anxious for it to come because he knew I was really looking forward to getting it. Our conversations were reminiscent of dialog by Samuel Beckett.

“Has it arrived?”

“No, but they said it was coming.”

“When will it come?”

“They said it would be here by now.”

I got a message in mid January that the package was lost in transit. I reordered from another US company, and finally, in mid March, the disc arrived. Of course, although it was brand new, it required substantial cleaning before it would play without skips and pops.

Who is your favorite or least favorite modern composer? Any interesting delivery stories? Have you ever seen Waiting For Godot?

2022, Automotive, Medicine, Travel, Uncategorized

Losing Your Courage

41 Comments

I read in a family history book recently that my paternal great grandmother was described by her sisters late in her life as having “lost her courage”. The book doesn’t go into detail of what her sisters meant, or what losing her courage looked like. This, after raising twelve children to adulthood and operating a large, successful farm after losing her husband years before. She died in the 1930’s after a long life.

I wrote this Tuesday sitting in the waiting area of the hospital where my best friend was having surgery. We drove here early in the morning from a smaller town about 30 miles away. On the drive to the hospital all the warning and hazard lights on my van dashboard came on, the low battery charge came on, the van lights automatically turned off, and the radio wouldn’t work. We barely had enough power to get to the hospital. I got my friend checked in, and the van and I limped to a nearby car dealership. My courage level was about as low as my battery charge. I got a call about an hour later saying it was the alternator, and they would replace it by the end of the day.

I am strangely anxious about any sort of travel these days. COVID and its isolation, the political climate, war, all seem to have sucked all the courage out of me. I am brave at home, but not so much in unfamiliar territory. I realize I have little to really complain about, and I know I will find the courage to solve what are quite minor problems in the grand scheme of things. Why can’t things just go smoothly?!!

Is courage just a decision we make? How is your courage level these days? Any automotive repair stories to share?

animals, education, Family, Kids, pets, Uncategorized

Alpha and Omega

25 Comments

Our daughter has two cats, and is entirely besotted by the younger one who she named Percy. He is a handsome tuxedo boy, He is very naughty, knocked over her television and busted it, and likes to make huge leaps into her garbage can because he likes the way the lid swings back and forth. He gets a lot of baths as a result, since he gets so dirty. He hides his toys in her bed.

The other day, daughter was expressing how much she loved this cat, and described him as her “Alpha and Omega”. I was surprised and gratified to hear her say that, only because it confirmed for me that dragging our children to church all those years was worth it. I guess she was listening and I didn’t even know it. I suppose I would rather she describe the Lord, and not her cat, in such terms, but it is a positive start.

What naughty animals have you loved in spite of themselves? Who has surprised you in a good way lately? What or who is your Alpha and Omega?

Business, Uncategorized, work

Goodbye, SBM

16 Comments

We heard the sad news early in March that our one, true office supply store closed. Southwest Business Machines was a fixture in town, and it was a good place to find just the right office supplies that Walmart didn’t have, or either had cheap and unsatisfactory versions of what we wanted. Husband is very fussy about his pens, and they have to have just the right ink flow and roller size. He also liked their brown, expandable folders with elastic closures. I liked the pink pencil top erasers that work much better than the cheaper red ones. I use a lot of pencils in my psychological testing. I like the blue .07 mechanical Pentel pencils they had. It was also a good place to buy computers and printers, and they installed our new printer in January. Husband could buy #3 pencils by the box.

Last summer the road in front of the store had major work with lane closures and detours, and I think that business suffered. I image that office supply stores like SBM have a hard time competing with the larger stores like Office Max. The nearest big box office supply store, aside from Walmart, is 100 miles away. I have a hard time justifying driving 100 miles for pencil top erasers. There are office supplies at our work, but the State purchases what is the cheapest and not necessarily the best. I guess we will have to stock up and be opportunistic shoppers of office supplies, just like we are with groceries.

What are you particular about? What are your favorite office supplies? What stores are you mourning?

Uncategorized

A GLOBAL MARKET

61 Comments

Today’s post comes from Ben.

April showers bring May flowers. Let’s hope so. How many times have the robins been snowed on now?

Maybe you’ve heard on the radio or TV how crop prices are up. I’ve talked about how all the input prices are up, and all of that means food prices at the grocery store may be going up.

There’s a lot involved in all this and I’m reducing it to a few sentences so, I may be making some sweeping generalizations here. The prices listed here, and the ones you generally hear on the news, are from CBOT – Chicago Board of Trade. Local prices will be less, as the local elevator gets their share. The difference is called the ‘basis’.

Yes, crop prices are up. Some of that has to do with the lack of imports from Ukraine and Russia, it has to do with stockpiles in the US, and it has to do with market predictions on how many acres are going to be planted this year.

Wheat prices had been running about $8/ bushel but jumped to over $12 in March and are now about $10.

Corn was $3 / bushel in August of 2020 and currently is almost $7.50.

Soybeans had been running about $10 / bushel and spiked over $16 in 2021, dropped at harvest to $12 and spiked again over $16 before dropping off a bit.

Why? It’s all supply and demand and the predictions and estimates of that.

India is the world’s second largest producer of wheat and they’re having a good year. And Kansas winter wheat predictions improved so supply may be higher.

Predictions show more soybeans than corn being planted in the US this year, which surprised the experts, but not really due to the extremely high fertilizer prices. (Corn takes more fertilizer than soybeans).

Brazil, which is a leading soybean producing country, may not be having the best crop this year. And as they guess what the weather might be in the US, that also influences pricing here.

It’s a little bit crazy and I don’t know how anybody should think they know what’s really going on. I guess if you’re lucky this week and your prediction is right, then you’re the ‘expert’.

I rotate crops annually; therefore in 2022 I will have more corn than soybeans, just because that’s how it worked out this year. Add in my shoulder issues and I’m planting less acres of oats this year, so I’ve got a few more acres of corn and soybeans both.

I saw a YouTube farmer talking about the high corn prices in 2012 so they built a huge shop. But by 2014 corn prices were down by 50%. And see, that’s always the problem; just because the price is good now doesn’t mean it will be good tomorrow, and I shouldn’t go nuts buying machinery and taking out loans. I bought Kelly a pearl necklace back in 2012; when the lady at the jewelry store asked what the occasion was, I told her corn was $5 / bushel. Bet she didn’t expect that answer.

I have 1000 bushels in storage at the local elevator. Local price there is $6.75. CBOT is $7.37. The basis is $0.62. The elevator charges $0.16 / bushel to store it for the first 3 months, then $0.04 / bushel after that.

Typically, prices are peaking about now so I’ll probably sell it shortly. There’s a tractor payment due in July that will take all of that and more. (But it’s the last payment! Yay!)

Duck count: Lost a black one and a cream colored. Still have two poufs, two cream, three black, and 17 mallards (that includes the Rouens that look like mallards except they’re fatter and they don’t fly). I did see a Rouen “hooking up” with a black one, so maybe they’re shacked up somewhere. But I kinda doubt it. The flamingos have returned, too.

I started keeping track of how many eggs I move out of the house. January was 20 dozen. February was only 10. March was 35 dozen! One day I collected 18 eggs. The previous day was 14.

No doubt you’ve heard of the avian flu going around again. I didn’t have any trouble with it last time. I’m hoping that holds true this time, too.

Working on my chick order for spring. Female chicks are somewhere between $4 and $5.30 each. The fancier, the more expensive. I’m looking at about $200 for 40 chicks. Availability varies, but I’ll shoot for mid-April. Weather should be warmer and stabilized some by then, right?

Predict Something. Remember Johnny Carson’s Carnac?