All posts by verily sherrilee

Directionally challenged, crafty, reading mother of young adult
2024, Business, Farming Update, Food, Mysteries, Nature

Spring Approacheth

48 Comments

The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

Evidently at some point last summer, I took the corn planter seed units, the thing in the planter that picks up an individual seed, and drops it in the ground, I took the seed units up to my dealer to be inspected and upgraded as necessary. I say ‘evidently’ because I forgot about that until he called asking what I wanted done with them. Gosh, I’d have been ready to run out and plant some day and sure been surprised by the hole in the bottom of the tank where these go. And I’d have spent a long time digging around in the shop trying to find them!

They are getting new backing plates and brushes. $600 roughly.

I was watching an online auction last week and I had bid on a couple used corn planters newer than mine. I have a John Deere 7000 planter. Had been completely rebuilt when I bought it 20-some years ago. I think I paid $6000 for it. The 7000 planter was made from 1974 to 1986. At the auction were two John Deere 1750, 6 row planters. The same size as mine, but much newer than mine. One was in pretty good shape, and one was pretty beat up. But I figured if I could get it cheap, I could fix it up on my own time. They sold for $16,185 and $14,259 respectively. Plus, commission. Wowzer! A couple nice tractors: a 2020 front wheel assist with 4000 hours, sold for $181,500. A 2012 4-wheel drive with a blade sold for $178,000. I didn’t even bid on those. I should have, early, just to say I did. Golly.

So anyway, $600 for planter unit overhauls is a good deal. The important thing about planting, is having each seed dropped in the right place, 6” apart. That’s called “singulation”. And looking at the fields last year, my singulation wasn’t very good. Lots of misses, or doubles. The repair should help with that.

If you think about an ear of corn, next time you’re having corn on the cob, pay attention to the kernels. Notice the kernels at the bottom are sort of large and round? While the middle ones are flat? Seed is sorted like that, and some guys ask for ‘flats’ or ‘rounds’ in particular. Clyde, did you sort out seed like that?

I did get the starter put back in the  630 tractor. Bailey helped.

A hot air balloon landed at our place on Sunday. The dogs alerted me to it first and I saw it was way off to the south. A little later I noticed it really high off to the south. A little while later, it was very low and close to us, then it went up a bit again, then back down and landed at our place. He took off from the college, which is only a couple miles as the balloon flies, but there was no wind and it took him 90 minutes to get to our place and he didn’t have enough gas to go too much further. It was a real fun crew of people and for the first time in the multiple balloon landings at our place, they actually had champagne and did a toast.

That night I picked up pizza from a new place in Rochester, Red Savoy pizza. I picked it up wearing a John Deere cap, and the owner told me he worked at John Deere in Waterloo for a lot of years and he and I talked about tractors for 20 minutes. It was fun to meet these two diverse groups of such nice people. It felt good to reaffirm there are just fun, nice people out there.

WHAT HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN? HAVE YOU MET FUN PEOPLE LATELY?

2024, books, Fantasy, Mysteries, Nature, Weather

Bowled Over

29 Comments

Around Christmas I decided that I wanted to re-read the Inspector Gamache series of books by Louise Penny.  They were favorites of mine when I first re-read them and I enjoyed the tv shows although I wasn’t happy they cancelled after the first season.  Short sighted.

I’m on the third book right now, listening to it on CD in the car.  Last week there was a huge thunderstorm in the book and Louise wrote one of the characters as saying that their mother had explained thunder as “angels bowling”.  This caught my attention because this is exactly what my mother told me about thunder when I was a kid.

As an adult I know in my brain that thunder is caused by the shockwave of air that expands rapidly around a lightning bolt.  But it’s way too easy to remember bowling angels or the Zeus in Fantasia orchestrating a huge storm. 

What kinds of stories were you told as a child to explain natural phenomenon?

2024, education, Health, Medicine, Mysteries

At Least I’m Upright….

20 Comments

I think I know why it takes so long to become a doctor. You have to learn a completely different language:

This accessory muscle is located posteromedially, originating from the fascia of the deep posterior compartment at a level posterior to the tibiotalar joint and talus and then extends inferiorly, deep to the flexor retinaculum, posterior and superficial to the traversing tibial nerve and posterior tibial artery within the tarsal tunnel, inserting distally upon the quadratus plantae muscle (axial series 2, Images 6-22, sagittal series 4, images 15-11 and coronal series 7, images 7-10.)

Even after Dr. Moser showed me the MRI images and “explained” it to me, I’m still not sure exactly what the issue is except that it seems to be related to my initial ankle sprain (20 years ago – a bad sprain that took several months to feel better). No pinched anything, no compressed anything, no torn anything and in what was clearly a surprise to the doctor, no arthritis. He did point out what he called some edema – that’s about it. Two co-pays and an MRI to get told my ankle hurts.

Sent home with a brace and a couple of physical therapy appointments. In the meantime, I suppose the fact that there isn’t any arthritis is the good news I’ll try to keep in mind.

Do you have a favorite tongue-twister from childhood?

2024, Food, Gatherings, Mysteries

Easy as Pie

36 Comments

“In my element.”  That’s the thought that was going through my mind as I headed out of the house yesterday morning to do some grocery shopping.  With Pi Day coming up, I’ve been busy with the prep work.  Organizing things is just about my favorite activity and Pi Day needs all the organization it can get.

Before hitting the grocery stores, I have to pick the pies.  I go through all my appropriate cookbooks and pick out recipes that sound good to me, mark them w/ post-it notes and write them down.  When I’m done with that, I cull the recipes down to 12 (always making sure I have our four regulars listed.  Then I make a list of ingredients, cross check it against what I already have on hand and then head out.  Had to hit three stores to get everything (including finding golden syrup without having to make a separate trip to World Market!) and it took four trips from the car to the house because I packed all the bags at Aldis pretty heavily.

I have two to-do lists for Pi Day… the lead up to Pi Day list and the Pi Day list.  The lead up is all the stuff I can do a day ahead (crumble topping, pre-baking shells, putting out plates/napkins).  Then the Pi Day list is sorted in the order that the pies need to be done The secondary sort is by oven temperature.  The baking times are also on this list so the minute a pie goes in the oven, I can put the cookbook away.

Add making placecards, nametags with this year’s pie clipart and setting up a station for some temporary tattoos that I found and, voila… party time! 

I’m not sure what it is in my personality that all this makes me quite happy, but it does!

How to bakers dress up?

2024, animals, Fantasy, gardening, home, Nature, pets

The Terrarium

24 Comments

I love house plants.  Unfortunately so does Nimue.  In the first few years after she joined the household, she has decimated ALL the plants.  Nothing was safe from her.  I can’t even start seedings.

As I realized she was laying waste to my house plants, I was able to train her to stay off the bookcase in my bedroom.  YA’s fish, Sheldon has come to live in my room and I hoped that maybe a couple of plants could survive there.  I pulled out all the books and them stacked them sideways at all different angles.  When Nimue tried to climb up (as she had done many times before), her weight would shift the books and down they came, cat and all.  it took about a month before she gave up; Sheldon and my two plants had found a safe haven.

Then about six years ago, I found an inexpensive coat rack at a garage sale.  Just plain black metal but the arms stick out from the rack about 10 inches so it’s made a fabulous plant rack.  I found some inexpensive macrame pot holders so they hang very prettily.  Sheldon has since gone to that great fishbowl in the sky and a couple of succulents have taken his place on the bookshelf.  In all these years since her catastrophic attempts to scale the books, Nimue has left the bookcase completely alone.

So when I saw class at Gertens for making a terrarium I thought that might make a nice addition to my small greenery collection.  It was a Saturday morning – one of the only really cold mornings this year – and about 40 hardy souls had ventured out.  They supplied everything: a little fish bowl, rocks, charcoal, soil, piece of screen and itty bitty plants.  The two folks running the class walked us through the various layers and then let us loose to chose which plants we wanted, which rock, etc.  I actually took notes – in case I wanted to make any more on my own.  This turned out to be very helpful and most of the folks at stations around me took a peek at my notes while we were making our layers.  The class was only about an hour but I really enjoyed it.

The gal doing most of the teaching also mentioned that if we wanted any little critters or fairies or gnomes, we should check out the fairy garden section of Gertens.  I hope she got a commission as I think ALL of us stopped by there.  I got little bunnies and a crystal sphere on a tree stump (it just spoke to me). 

I don’t know if I’ll make more… I’ll have to research how to get the very small amounts of some of the layers (rocks, charcoal) without buying whole bags of the stuff.  And, of course, I’ll have to find a spot where it will be safe from the Plant Ravager!

Tell me about your houseplants (if you have any)!

2024, animals, Farming Update, Mysteries, Nature, Theatre

Change Is Hard

57 Comments

The weekend Farm Report is from Ben.

Hasn’t been much happening on the farm lately. The header photo shows the rye planted last fall JUST BARELY turning green and showing rows.

I’ve been busy doing theater. And ‘work’ work at the college. About all I get done are the regular chores. Doing chicken chores, the other day and Luna was trying to find that rooster to play with.

She didn’t. I think the rooster has learned.

When designing a set, I read the script and talk with the director about concepts, then it’s rough sketches. Then sometimes I design it on the computer drafting program. This time I used my foamboard model. I don’t paint it or anything, I just want basic layout.

The director and I discuss it again and then I get to the actual building.

Spring break at the college this week and I got going placing platforms that I have in stock.  

I was wearing my toolbelt, which I haven’t needed for a few months. For several years, I had the same toolbelt at home as I have at work. But the work one was wearing out and I tried something different. And it just isn’t working. At home, my regular farming tools are pliers on my left hip, and the Swiss Army knife WITH the wood saw, in sheath on my right.  But then with the tool belt, all the tools are on right. But that’s where my cell phone pouch clips on my pocket, so I have to swap that to the left pocket and then it’s all backward.

It shouldn’t be this hard.

There are so many different kinds of tool belts, pouches, and assemblies; wide belts, suspenders, multiple different designs and layouts of bags and pouches, and they can be hundreds of dollars. Hammer loop or diagonal hammer slip, I’ve tried them all. I am alternating between having the hammer at my back or to my left. It should be on my right, since I’m right-handed, in order not to have to switch hands, but that’s where the tools are. Sigh.

There are drill pouches too, but the drill belt-hook works for me, and once something works, adjusting to anything different is hard, because it has to be so much better to justify the change, right?

And then organizing the tool kit! I have pencils, three different screwdrivers, a square, knife, pliers, wire cutters, wire strippers, chalk line, scissors, a level, and a tape measure. (Don’t even get me started on the different tape measures!) It’s fascinating! How many tools do I think I have to carry with me all the time?? They have to be handy and easy to get too and not be cumbersome.

Squares: how many do I need with me?? The carpenters square, the big “L” thing I don’t carry. The combination square, that’s the 12″ ruler with the sliding part that also does 45 degrees, and I don’t carry that either. I use a 7″ rafter square. Looks like a triangle, gives me a straight edge, 45 degree, plus any angle I need. Love it. Except it’s harder to fit in the tool bag. They make a 12″ one that I have on the tool rack. I also carry a plain 90-degree square, good for marking and straight edges, but the rafter square is just as good, so maybe I’ll unpack the plain one. And I carry a screw pouch on my left side, but I’m not always using that many screws at once, I have the storage tubs of screws and I just carry that to the job. I have different bits in the pouch most of the time. A puddy knife was the latest addition to the tool kit and that one is still tenuous. Sometimes it’s needed, sometimes not.

Pencils or marking devices: Black sharpie, silver sharpie, red fine tip sharpie, and I recently traded the carpenter’s pencil for a thick mechanical pencil. Also comes in yellow and red lead. I think I like that, and it may be a keeper.

An hour later, I had my tools back in the old toolbelt.

Change is hard.

HAVE YOU FOUND SOMETHING BETTER LATELY?  

2024, Family, Fantasy, Food

Never Underestimate the Power…..

29 Comments

I don’t remember when I found my donut at Sunstreet Breads… it was before pandemic, I do know that.  All these years it’s my Wednesday default… donut and raspberry cream scone.  Throughout all that time YA has only been moderately interested.  Some weeks she’ll ask for a savory treat (spinach swirl, sweet potato chevre bundle…) and occasionally a fruit turnover of some kind.  Some weeks nothing.

Then last week she asked for a donut.  Doubletake on my part but I got her a donut.  The gal at the bakery was surprised as well when I said two donuts.  When I asked YA how she liked it, her lukewarm response was “it’s OK”. 

So imagine my surprise when yesterday morning she asked “Can you get me two things?”  The blueberry turnover and… wait for it… a donut.  “They’re good” she commented when I looked at her as if hot frogs were on the loose.

Have you ever turned someone to the Dark Side?

2024, animals, books, Mysteries, Words

Chewing on Words

43 Comments

I’m still working at my Italian every day… some days more than others. Having done some Spanish and French in my youth, I love seeing some of the resemblances. Every now and then though, I get thrown for a loop. Yesterday Duolingo served up “in bocca al lupo” for “good luck”. In bocca al lupo means literally “in the mouth of the wolf”. I have actually heard the phrase “buona fortuna” in the past so finding a reference to a wolf sent me straight to the internet. Apparently In the mouth of the wolf is when something needs to be warded off… like when they say “break a leg” in the theatre. “Buona fortuna” is your basic good luck.

Thinking about this reminded me that a few months ago Duolingo let me know that “bookworm” is “topo di biblioteca” which translates to “mouse of the library”. Fascinating. In looking into that one (yes, I do check up on Duolingo occasionally), here are some others I found:

• English/Serbian/Russian/Thai – bookworm
• Italian/Romanian – library mouse
• Arabic – book moth
• Chinese – book fool
• Greek – book eater
• Danish – reading horse
• French – ink drinker

Of course the reading horse is the most intriguing (PJ, is this correct?) but I think it’s interesting that there are so many varieties. Just a side benefit to learning a new language!

If you were asked to come up with a better phrase for “bookwork”, what would you choose?

2024, animals, Farming Update, Nature, pets

Supplemental Farm Report

26 Comments

I went down to the farm two weeks ago; Ben needed some baboons to take some excess eggs off his hands.  This is always fine for me as not only do I get some quality time with my books on CD during the drive, I get to see the farm and I come home with fresh farm eggs.  This is a win/win/win in my book.

Ben gave me a tour of the shed – he’s made a lot of progress since I was there last summer.  I love the windows that look like eyes on the side of the building.  I asked if he has a timeline in mind for when he’d like to have it finished and he said we’ve already blown past that date.  Seems like the normal human condition.

It was a beautiful day and the chickens and roosters and guineas were all out.  Sadly none of the ducks survived last summer.  We did a little chicken math while we were enjoying the sunshine.  Based on how many chicks he orders every year, how long the average chicken lives and how many he guesstimates that he loses every year, I’m thinking he should have about 3,000 chickens.  Somebody’s math is off.

Luna is fabulous.  She wasn’t as big as I was expecting – she’s right between Humphrey and Bailey in size, so they have a great look when they are standing together.  We took a ride up the road on the gator.  The dogs all rode in back until we got up to the fork; they all got out and walked a bit.  Then Humphrey and Bailey got back in and Ben gave Luna the signal to go.  And go she did.  The photo above doesn’t really do justice to her run but at one point we were going 27 miles per hour on the gator and she was keeping just ahead of us.  If you look closely you can see that none of her feet are actually touching the ground. Amazing!

Since there wasn’t any snow cover, there was mud.  It wasn’t as bad as I was expecting (I had brought extra shoes and clothes just in case) but you know me.  I encouraged the dogs at every turn so I managed to get pretty muddy.  I did change my shoes but figured since I was going straight home, I didn’t need to change anything else.

Shower or tub when you get really dirty? Or the hose in the backyard?

2024, Food, home, Mysteries

To Meat or Not to Meat

32 Comments

I’ve been a vegetarian for 51 years.  At that time there was a company in California called Loma Linda who made a handful of meat analogs; here in the Midwest you could find them in the occasional health food store.  I only tried one of their products once.  Too much money and the taste didn’t appeal too much.  It looks like they are still in business but I haven’t seen their products around here for a few decades. 

Meat alternatives have never been a big draw for me.  We do some vegetarian sausages regularly and occasionally a veggie hot dog or veggie bacon, but that’s about it.  I’m not interested in fake tuna or fake corn dogs or fake chicken filets. There are TONS more vegetarian/fake meats out there these days but I don’t pay too much attention. 

Last week Trader Joe’s featured “Vegan Pepperoni” in their monthly flyer and it caught my eye so I stopped by when I was out and about and picked up a package.  Also got some herbed pizza dough while I was there (pizza dough is in the refrigerated section right beneath the pepperoni – coincidence?

I made the pizza the next day – tomato sauce, pepperonis, green olives, black olives, provolone, shaved parmesan/romano, mozzarella.  It was quite yummy.

There is a half package of the vegan pepperonis left – I will probably make another pizza in the next couple of days.  I’m pretty sure that the pepperonis won’t ben a regular purchase for us.  While they were OK, they certainly didn’t make the pizza stand out.  There are so many good things that can go on a pizza; pepperonis just aren’t necessary in my book.  I’m not sorry I got them, just not looking forward to getting them again.

Have you tried anything new recently?