Ok. I am sick of it. The constant assault of fraudulent emails, computer alerts, and text messages purporting to want to help me, but only wanting my money!
I have countless trainings at work regarding all sorts of cyber crime, yet two weeks. ago I was nearly snared at home by a scammers saying they were from Microsoft and our bank. If they can nearly con me, with all this training, how many vulnerable people are being hurt?
A friend of mine lost $15,000 recently from a scammer that had her husband convert the money into bitcoin. Husband had what is probably a fraudulent email from our bank regarding a fraud alert on his business credit card last night. Our bank warned us about these scamming emails. He will phone the bank directly today to check things out.
Sunday we saw ‘Aladdin’ at the Orpheum. It was big and fun. Everything you would expect of a Disney musical. Bright costumes, lots and lots of colorful lights, and a lot of magic. I still haven’t figured out how the carpet flew. It must have been magic.
I had feed delivered to the farm Monday. I had cracked corn put in the bulk bin by the barn and I feed it to the chickens. It wasn’t empty yet, but I didn’t want the truck coming down when the road gets icy or snow covered. I was planning ahead. The bin holds maybe 6000 lbs. I usually order 100 bushels (remember, 56 lbs / bushel, so 5600 lbs) about every 8 months. Because the bin wasn’t empty, I was gonna order 50 bushels. But the elevator / coop, wanted at least 4000 lbs to deliver. As long as the weather forecast was decent, we postponed for two weeks, and the corn fit with a little room to spare. The corn is from the ‘grain bank’; Corn I have the elevator store specifically for use as feed. (It’s not MY specific corn, it’s just an amount of bushels, so when I need corn, I don’t have to purchase that. I pay for the hauling and the cracking. $30 to crack it, $100 to deliver it.
I wish I had taken a picture of the truck unloading. Nothing has gotten smaller in the last 30 years…The driver said they have 5 bin trucks, and 7 bin trucks. This was a 7.
The chickens are doing well. So well they’re doubling up on box space.
Maybe this is where the double yolkers come from!
One of our summer chickens turned into a rooster. So far, he hangs out with the hens and keeps to himself and hasn’t caused any trouble.
I’m not sure the other roosters even pay him any attention yet. Funny to think ‘They don’t know he’s around’, but maybe.
I stepped out one morning and everyone came to see what I had for them. The usual table scraps.
Crop insurance payment came in. It was enough I bought myself a new ladder. And I went for the heavy-duty fiberglass. I often see aluminum extension ladders on auctions, but not fiberglass.
I got a call from Samantha, my agronomist talking about 2024 crops. Input costs are down a bit from 2023, thank goodness. I expect Nate, my seed dealer to call soon. Early orders get discounts. Can I please just not have debt for a few weeks before taking out next year’s loan?
College semester is over. I finished the class with 94%. Whew. Creative Writing begins January 8th, and that will be an in-person class with a teacher I know well. Need about 22 credits yet and I’ll have a degree!
I baked the first batch of Amish Friendship Bread on Wednesday night. I had a bottle of Grape pop, I had my headphones on and I was listening to the first album of Chicago, when they were “Chicago Transit Authority”. It turned out OK.
One of the places that Henrietta and I visited in Nashville was the original Goo Goo Cluster store – it’s downtown just a block off of Broadway. For those of you not from the south, a Goo Goo Cluster is a candy bar, similar to a Nut Goodie. Instead of the maple center of a Nut Goodie, Goo Goo Clusters have a nougat/caramel center. Goo Goo Clusters are VERY Nashville and you can find them everywhere, even at the register of a pizza place where we ate one night. I knew about Goo Goos from programs that I’ve run in Nashville – it’s a fun welcome gift and I’ve purchased them for groups several times but had never actually tried one.
The storefront isn’t a large space – most Goo Goo Clusters are made in a huge factory these days – but they make premium Clusters at the storefront and have some historical photos and old equipment on display. And merchandise, of course. Like usual, I sent several photos of t-shirts to YA to see if she liked any of them. She thought about the long-sleeve cream version but eventually decided against it. Just as well, because I got one of that design and she probably wouldn’t have been excited about us wearing matching shirts!
I also purchased a couple of boxes of Clusters to take home. It wasn’t until I was home that I noticed that the Peanut box was mis-printed. That’s a pretty big fail in my book. Hopefully no one lost their job over it. I thought about saving it – maybe someday it will be valuable – but decided against it. I’ll have photos and a nice t-shirt to remember my visit. (They tasted just fine despite the misspelling.)
I learned a couple of things during the course of our bathroom project.
First… do everything in your power to get a good contractor. Hugo was highly recommended (by my next-door neighbor, who is the head of construction, maintenance project and capital planning for the Minneapolis schools. Hugo communicated well through-out, was easy going, delivered bad news gently and, of course, did a nice job at a good price.
Second… also do everything in your power to have a handy person living in your house with you – especially someone who is invested in the outcome of your project. I have YA for this. She is MUCH handier than I am, as she is more patient as she goes about whatever she is working on. She installed the toilet paper holder and the towel racks. She un-installed the new light sconces because she thought there was a “ridge” along the edge, spackled and sanded and then re-painted. She also installed two slider baskets on the bottom shelves of the vanity so it would be easy to get at our stuff. And she also took a teeny paintbrush from my studio to “straighten” a couple of the paint seams.
And she gets credit for most of the decisions in the bathroom. She picked the tile, the flooring, the wainscotting design, the medicine cabinet and the light sconces. I had final approval but most of the time, her choice was OK with me.
So between Hugo and YA, I don’t really get any credit for the bathroom, unless you count having to arrange all the financing!
In the last seven weeks I haven’t gone more than a day or so without having to stop by either Home Depot or my local hardware store. There are only a couple of bits left until the bathroom is completely finished, but we are now slowly putting it back together. This has driven me to the hardware store several times in the last week. Screws, anchors, springs, plugs, paintbrushes…. I feel like I’m practically living there.
Last Saturday morning, they were slammed; I wasn’t the only one with a home project. Rather than wait around for help, I ventured to the back where the entire wall is filled with drawers and boxes of nails, screws, bolts and the like. I needed some kind of rubber plug for the end of a spring I had bought the day before to hopefully allow us to keep using our current shower caddy. (Anything to staunch the flow of cash into this bathroom!) I did actually find something that would work perfectly.
None of the store employees was at the back of the store and I didn’t trust myself to remember the part number or even the price until I got to the register, as I had a few other things to pick up. Although I had a pen, I didn’t have anything to write on. I was just about to write on my hand when I suddenly realized I could use my phone to take a photo of the price and sku. Not an earth-shattering thought but I’d never thought of it before. Snapped the above picture and headed back to pick up my other items. The young cashier did actually thank me profusely. Apparently most people expect the employees to know all the prices which means a quick trip to the back of the store to check; I got good-customer brownie points!
When was the last time technology pleasantly surprised you?
Really, the last few weeks have been a little nuts. I’m burning the candle at both ends, and I need more hours in a day.
CROPS ARE OUT!
And I had a few hours alone in a tractor, with hopefully more to come.
Big Sigh.
Nice.
Kelly and I spent some time on the roof of the machine shed caulking trim pieces and looking for loose nails and trying to figure out why I have water dripping in my new insulated shop area when it rains. Remember, earlier this summer, when I couldn’t get up on the roof? I bought these new ladder extensions, which give me a hand hold 3 feet above the ladder, and they were worth the money. But it also led to a discussion about ladders. I have an old 24-foot aluminum extension ladder that I’m pretty sure dad got used, and it is better than the old wooden ladder we had been using. I bought a really nice 24-foot fiberglass ladder, but of course, that’s at a theater and used for lighting. It has my name painted on the side, meaning I’ll get it back at some point, but it’s more important to have it at the theater now.
I feel like I should replace this aluminum ladder. It’s got a slight twist on one leg. And it doesn’t have a top step where most ladders have a step now days. As good as fiberglass ladders are, they’re really heavy. And because I don’t expect to get any stronger as I get older, I will probably buy a new aluminum ladder.
It seems fitting that by the time you shouldn’t be climbing on the roof, you’ve also reached the point where you can’t pick up the ladder to get on the roof anymore.
The corn went surprisingly well, averaging 120 bushels per acre, 16 or 17% moisture and 57 or 58 pound test weight.
Remember, corn has to be at least 56 pound testweight to not get docked by the elevator. And it needs to be dried down to 15% moisture to store long term, anything above that incurs a drying cost. I know a couple of my fields were only doing about 55 bushels per acre, and some fields were doing amazingly well to get 120 bushels average. That is pretty good this year. Last year I had about 150 bushels per acre.
Soybeans were terrible, but I knew that. 55 pound testweight, soybeans need to be 60 pounds. And typically, moisture is not a problem, they need to be not over 13% and mine were 11%. They averaged about 20 bushels per acre. Again, considering some years I get 50 bushels/acre, and some places can get close to 100b/A, this growing year is good to have over. We will see what Crop Insurance does with all this.
Pictures tell a thousand words, so here’s a bunch of pictures. (Click on each photo to see the best view.)
RooftopLadderTractor TimeHarvestingHarvestingHarvestingMachineryLosing the LightTractor at NightNight EquipmentCornSoybeans
ANY CORRELATING CIRCUMSTANCES IN YOUR LIFE LATELY?
I know that I’ve probably mentioned how much I distrust ads. But every now and then I am surprised — in a nice way.
Reading glasses. I’ve struggled for a couple of years with nighttime reading. As soon as it gets a little dark, it was hard to read – print just a little too small for comfort. In July, after finally figuring out all the ins and outs of Medicare (OK, SOME of the ins and outs of Medicare… I’m pretty sure that Medicare is set up so that nobody truly ever figures it out…and if they do, then it changes), I decided to get my eyes checked and to get glasses. My old glasses were granny glasses and bifocals and completely useless. Even with bigger lenses, I didn’t want bifocals again. My eye doctor seemed to think it was a fine idea to get two pairs of glasses – one for reading and one for driving at night.
I’ve seen too many Warby Parker ads on tv and wasn’t interested until a friend of mine highly recommended them. I did like the price point but didn’t want to do the “five pairs in the mail” thing so I actually went to a Warby Parker store. It was amazing. Staff greeted me, I had someone assisting me within a minute. They didn’t push me toward the expensive stuff (even on Medicare, I was on a budget), and weren’t trying to rush me out the door. They measured using a phone app, did up the paperwork and I was walking out the door literally twenty minutes later. The reading glasses showed up at my house five days later and the driving glasses a few days after that. I had to take the driving glasses in for an adjustment; this was also handled very quickly and very pleasantly. Honestly it took me longer to find a parking spot at the Galleria than it did to get this done.
The reading glasses are amazing to me. I suppose I could have just gotten cheap readers from the drugstore but I’m happy with my Warby Parker experience and love the new glasses!
Recommendations, ads, influencers? How do you choose new products?
I’m finally warmed up. This time yesterday morning I was sitting in my stadium chair outside the Aldis in River Falls. That’s right, the annual advent calendar day at Aldis.
Even arriving at 6 a.m. (store opens at 9), there were already two gals there – they have been the first in line for three years straight now. So I set up my chair in the #3 spot and since it was 22°, I retreated to my car and the heater. I was in good company – for awhile it was only carts holding spaces.
I got stiff and tired of sitting in the car so I settled into my chair with my blanket and big mittens at 7:45 a.m. At that point, the other four women and the man in the #6 position came out as well. I brought cookies this year and shared them around.
Aldis corporate made changes this year (because of course since it wasn’t broke, they tried to fix it). No tickets to guarantee an alcohol advent calendar and no limit on quantities per customer. The manager did come out at 8:30 and explain the changes and he repeatedly suggested that everybody have a little consideration for those further back in the line. You know that didn’t happen; the picture above was taken at 9:03. The two women in front of me were particularly piggy.
But I got the one I wanted as well as the cheese advent calendar so I’m happy. Can’t wait to get started on December 1!
I’m not a huge fan of the self-checkout. Mostly because I’m not good or fast at it – nor are a lot of folks that I see – meaning an employee still has to come deal with me. In trying to be kind to corporate America (yeah, I know, I know), I like to pretend that the employee hours saved at the check-out areas get shifted around to other parts of the store.
Friday morning, with YA working from home, I was freed up from staying home with the contractor so ran a whole bunch of errands; one of these errands was at Michaels. They installed a couple of self-checkout units in my local Michaels – about 8 months ago. Usually if there is a cashier, I let them do the work. On Friday when I came around the corner, there weren’t any cashiers to be seen and I only had about six items so I went with self-checkout. Of course, since I’ve only done this a couple of times at Michaels, I was VERY slow, checking the sale price on every item and then logging in so I could see if I had any coupons.
While I was poking along, a family of three followed into the check-out area, an older woman and what was probably her daughter and son-in-law. She did not know how to use the self-checkout and she was NOT in the mood to let the younger generation to show her up. So now both of the self units were occupied and the line behind us was piling up. The daughter was getting impatient and called in a very loud voice for casher assistance. As I was finally finishing my session, the daughter called again, even more loudly. As I exited the store, I counted the line waiting to checkout – nine folks – and still not a cashier in sight.
I know that many retail establishments would prefer that all of us just get with the twentieth century and embrace self-checkout but based on what I experienced and witnessed at Michaels, it won’t be happening any time soon!
What are some of the oldest chain stores in America?
YA and I had some Subway last week and we each got a bag of chips to accompany our feast. We’ve had chips plenty of times but last week was the first time I noticed that there is are lines of colored dots along the bottom of the bags. I checked other bags in my house and about half had dots similar to these, although they weren’t exactly the same colors.
Didn’t take me to long to research this. These dots (apparently sometimes squares) are called “Printer’s Color Blocks” and they are used as quality control markers for the ink used to print on the bag. If there is too little or too much of a particular color, it affects the colors on the dots and the printer (human or machine) and adjust as needed.
The reason that I didn’t see these color blocks on all my chips bags is that it’s completely voluntary. Some manufacturers don’t use them and some manufacturers trim off the numbers after printing.
According to online articles, the most common colors are the four major colors used in printing: black, magenta, yellow and cyan, although depending on the manufacturer (like my bag above) can use more if they want/need.
This was a much more pedestrian explanation than I was hoping for and has absolutely nothing to do with the food inside the bag. I was really looking forward to some secret code that I could learn and apply when shopping. Oh well; if it had, I’d be spending way too much time standing in the chip aisle at my local Cub!
Trail Baboon 