When I was growing up, ironing was as art form. In my family, EVERYTHING got ironed, from my dad’s work shirts, to shirts and dresses, towels and sheets. I don’t remember underwear getting the once over, but I could just be suppressing that memory. My mother had me ironing pretty early – starting when I was in first grade – and she instructed me in the correct way to do every kind of garment/fabric. When my dad’s ship came in, Nonny’s first luxury was to send out the laundry to be ironed. She still washed and dried everything but then it went into a bag to get picked up by the ironing person twice a week. I can still see the ironed items (in garment bags) hanging in the front closet after they were returned in pristine shape.
I do have an iron, but it gets lonely in the closet. The only thing I’ve ironed in the last year was the quilt that I inherited from Nonny (well, inherited is probably the wrong word. “helped myself to” is more like it). And the only reason I ironed it was that I was adding sticky fabric tape to several places where the fabric had basically disintegrated over the years. YA probably uses the iron and ironing board maybe once a quarter.
When I went off to college, Nonny did send a little travel iron with me. Snort. The very first things that I quit ironing were my sheets. They stretch out on your bed and you sleep on them, for goodness sakes. Sheets were quickly followed by just about everything else. I never looked back.
With this in mind, I’m not sure what the heck I was looking at on YouTube a few days ago, but for some reason, a few posts came up about how to fold a fitted sheet. Then I made the fatal error of clicking on one. Now my feed is full of folks seriously showing me how to fold a fitted sheet — all of them basically the same method – sticking the two lower corners into the top upper corners, then folding into thirds or fourths and then folding again. It LOOKS easy, but I remember trying this years ago and it’s not that simple. And if you’re dealing with slippery sheets, of which I have several sets for the summer, the method doesn’t really work at all. I did find a YouTube of how I do it…
I don’t actually chuck it into the closet. After I’ve wadded it up, I then put the folded top sheet and the pillow cases on top and then gently slide the whole pile onto the shelf. I’m not a savage.
Toward the end of her life, I know for a fact that Nonny was still ironing some of her clothing, but she had abandoned ironing the sheets, thank goodness. Whenever I would visit and help her with laundry, she would have us do the two-person fold. I’m now sure what she was doing on her own. I hope she was wadding the fitted sheet into a ball, but somehow I doubt it!
Do you fold fitted sheets? What method do you use? Do you use a top sheet? Linen closet or drawers?
A couple of weeks back, a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to go see the world-premiere of Rebel with a Clause at the Main Cinema downtown. I’d never heard of this but my friend is a writer, super funny and super curious and super intelligent so without so much as even “bing-ing” it, I bought ticket online and that Sunday, off we went.
Explaining it doesn’t even begin to do it justice, so here is the trailer:
It was SO funny, mostly because the idea of her quest is funny and a lot of the folks in the clips were hilarious but also because the audience was also hysterical. The movie is split up into chapters. For example, The Comma was a bunch of clips about comma questions. In fact, when “Commas” came up on the screen, there was a huge reaction/laugh/groan from the audience. Clearly grammar and usage hit a spot for many people and the audience obviously knew what those hot spots are! This happened several times.
I have never been what you would call a stickler for grammar but for most of my adult life I’ve lamented about the sad state of English. Even having studied Shakespeare and Chaucer and knowing that English has evolved, I stood my ground. And then I had one of those life-changing reads. The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way by Bill Bryson (what a great title too). He was so effective in mapping out the path of our language that by the final page, I was completely converted. The grammar that we were taught in school really is just arbitrary made-up rules and communicating is what’s important, not whether we’re splitting infinitives or not. (And I’m really hawking his book – interesting and funny.)
This doesn’t mean that I have thrown grammar to the wind. I still like to speak well and I certainly appreciate it when someone uses the subjunctive correctly. I also still cringe when people mis-use reflexive pronouns, which seems to be more often than not these days. But overall, I’m trying to let all that go.
Ellen Jovin clearly comes down on the side of not holding people’s feet to the fire over their use of grammar even though she really knows her topic. (This is not a spoiler alert by the way.) Turns out that in addition to setting up her Grammar Table, eventually, in all 50 states, she also wrote a book about the experience. I have it on hold at the library.
So…. (VS acknowledges she is using the ellipses incorrectly) I’m highly recommending both Mother Tongue and Rebel with a Clause. And, if you’re here in the Twin Cities, the movie will be showing again at The Main Cinema on September 21 and September 24. Highly recommended!!
Do you remember learning grammar in school? Any grammar rule/s that you feel warmly about?
I mean who doesn’t love popcorn, right? (I know there’s a few of you).
Daughter went to a movie the other day. It was Tuesday so we did the Large Value popcorn (we usually have the refillable bucket, but this came up spur of the moment). Shortly after she got home it was already soggy. Dang, we love leftover popcorn. I threw it out to the chickens the next morning. You know, back in the ‘70s, when I was in the hospital for three weeks with my leg injury, my mom would make popcorn, put it in a leftover bread bag, and freeze it. Then she would bring it to me in the hospital. You don’t often hear about people using bread sacks anymore, do you? They worked for boot liners and they worked for leftovers.
See this video of me calling the chickens; they love leftovers, and popcorn all the more.
Finally got the last of the straw baled on Sunday. Saturday, I baled and stacked 110 bales in a wagon for the strawberry farm in the neighborhood. He’ll take them in November just before it gets really cold or snows. He’s got a shredder / blower type machine that he can stack about a dozen bales on, then wife or child feeds them into the chute to chop it up and spray it over the berries while he drives down the rows. Looks pretty slick for that job. On Sunday, Neighbor Craig was over and round baled the rest. Got 18 large round bales, called 5×5’s. Five feet wide and about five feet diameter. At some point I’ll get out with the tractor and loader and bale fork on the front and bale lift on the back and pick them up and put them in a row until neighbor Dave picks them up for use as bedding this winter. As I’ve said before since there’s no under seeding planted with the oats, they can sit there for a bit. If there was something planted underneath, and they were left sitting, the bales would smother whatever was growing. I do want to get these fields dug up and planted to rye, so I need them moved sooner than later.
I called John Deere to come out and check why the big tractor is overheating. I pulled the side panels off.
Hmmm. Maybe this pipe?
And I decided, yeah, let’s call a guy. I don’t have that much time right now anyway being back at college and all. I bought this tractor used. It has 11,000 hours on it, which is equivalent to 50,000 miles on a car. And I put about 100 hours on it per year. It came from a local farm, so my local dealer might have some history on it. I don’t. I can tell the radiator hoses are soft, meaning they should be replaced, and it probably needs a water pump and new thermostat. I’m guessing $3500 parts and labor. Will let you know in a month.
Got new lights installed on a trailer, then went to pick up rebar and a 6″x6″x16′ green treated post for a fence down in the cow yard.
Fancy new lights
We’re also prepping for more concrete in the shed. Padawan and I excavated dirt this week. Got two loads of gravel delivered for the base. Rented a plate compactor for the weekend. Padawan was out for a couple hours, and he and I worked on digging out the dirt and gravel next to the existing concrete. Man, I am so looking forward to having concrete in here! Another one of those things I wish I’d have done 20 / 30 / 40 years ago! But, you know, money. And life. And I’ll appreciate it more now. (Padawan 2 is back at college).
Another project
This looks like work.
I changed the spark plugs in the swather, and then I was tired of looking at it. Remember I said I’d drive it around for an hour so it felt needed? I drove it for 20 minutes and called it good. It worked, it made all the scary noises I’ve come to expect, and I parked it back in the shed for next summer. I’ll try to start it once a month and move it back and forth until winter. I say until winter because usually I have something parked in front of it, so I can still start it, but not be able to move it after that.
At the college I am taking two classes: Music Fundamentals, and Introduction to Humanities. I don’t usually do two classes. But music only has 11 students and I was afraid it would be cancelled so I registered for Humanities and now they’re both going. I signed up for music because I wanted to learn more about WHY I like the music I like. How is a song created? What makes rock sound like rock and country sound like country? And what do they mean when they say, ‘This is in the key of A’?
And the teacher for Humanities is a great teacher. I’ve taken 3 of her classes before. Both these are online and so far, so good. From what I’m learning so far in chapter 1, I’m pretty good at the Humanities already. I am mostly open minded, and I use a Socratic method of teaching. (Trying to get others to think and answer questions themselves and not simply lecturing).
Anyone familiar with Rhaphidophoridae? Otherwise known as Camel Crickets?
Eww!
We have had them in our house the last few years. They’re creepy. We have an exterminator / bug guy that does bait stations outside to control mice and rats, so we had him spray the basement too.
The ag co-op had me apply for my crop loan for next year. Got that approved. Saved a $250 application fee. Looks like I can farm again next year.
I’m seeing a few soybeans starting to turn yellow. Haven’t seen anyone chopping corn silage yet, but that will be happening soon. I picked a few ears of corn the other day. It is well dented. Counted 14 kernels around, and 38 long. Usually they’re 16 around, a really impressive ear will be 18. They were both filled all the way to the end, meaning the plant had everything it needed and didn’t need to abort any kernels to survive. Now that was just this one place in this one field. I could go to another field with more rocks and it would look worse.
Acorns are falling too. They are good sized this year. Must have been a good year for acorns. And it seems like some of the barn swallows have started to leave. The world just keeps going around.
THINGS YOU USED TO USE FOR LEFTOVERS YOU DONT USE ANYMORE?
About 90 miles outside of Columbus is The Wilds, a wildlife conservation center developed on reclaimed land that had been mined for coal for four decades. Starting in the late 70s, the Ohio Zoological Commission began developing a plan for using that land for a special wildlife conservation area. They began in 1984 with 9,154 acres and the first animals, the Przewalski Horse, an endangered wild species, were introduced. Two years later, The Wilds opened to the public. Today there are close to 500 animals, representing 19 species, that roam the acres of The Wilds.
YA and I learned about The Wilds through the same tv show that introduced us to the Columbus Zoo (Secrets of the Zoo) and we knew that if we visited Columbus, we had to include it in our plans.
The only way to see the animals is on a safari tour; we took the medium-tour so there were 14 of us in the back of a Ford pick-up (there were seats). The tour was a bit over 3 hours and it was amazing. We were fairly up close and personal with Persian Onagers, Pere David Deer, Grevy’s Zebras, the famous Przewalski Horses (called P Horses) and two kinds of Oryx – Fringe Eared and Scimitar-Horned.
One of the youngest Bactrian Camels had been hand-raised after his mother rejected him. Named Latte, he was more than willing to come right up to the truck to get scritches under his chin. The Sichuan Takin was not as big or golden as the takin we have at the MN Zoo but The Wilds does have the largest breeding takin herd in North America.
Latte
We fed giraffes from the truck – two of the herd really like this and one in particular, Tuffy, lets folks give him little pets on his necks. (I bought a tee-shirt w/ Tuffy on it.) At that same stop, the two female ostriches approached and one of them clearly didn’t like the look of me. Before I realized how far into the truck she could reach, she gave me a nip on the hand. For the rest of the stop, she repeatedly tried to get me. Nobody else on the truck, just me.
Sadie
In a shaded copse we found five banteng, a species of wild cow. They have 1 male and 4 females. Apparently they are working on a program to determine if they can breed the current herd – the male banteng is quite elderly and if the females are still fertile, they will bring in a new male to help with reproduction. When I asked what would happen to Elvis, the male, our tour guide said that he would relocate to a pasture where a few other elderly animals reside – a cushy banteng retirement home, as it were. For some reason I thought this was really funny.
Elvis
The highlight of the tour was when we were taken down to the winter barn area – some of the animals over-winter there since the Ohio climate isn’t that great for African animals. There, in one of the rhino barns was Bernard. He is living a cushy rhino retirement and one of the things he enjoys is getting pets and scritches. Our group was happy to oblige. Bernard is a Southern White Rhino so he is sporting some serious horn. We didn’t pet that part! This was a thrilling experience. I know I’ve said in the past that I’ve never had a Bucket List, but I’m thinking about doing one now so that I can write “petting a rhino” on it and then checking it off.
Bernard
What a fabulous day – after the safari ride, we had veggie burgers at the little café and then did some damage at the gift shop. I am seriously recommending this to anybody who gets anywhere near Columbus. Just an amazing way to spend a day. The Wilds has a few ways that you can stay on the property overnight (yurts, little lodge and a new set of rooms attached to the giraffe barn. YA and I talked about maybe going back one day and doing that.
Ever had the chance to pet a wild animal? Would you stay overnight in a giraffe barn?
One of the highlights of our Columbus weekend was a day at The Columbus Zoo. We got there right at opening and got a nice discount for being Minnesota Zoo members. We did not really have much of a plan for the day – just wanted to see everything.
Not in any particular order…
Saw the tiger feeding and met a staff member who had been part of the Secrets of the Zoo show!
Watched a training session with two gorgeous cheetahs.
Walked through Adventure Cove (glass tube with water on all sides so you can see the various sealife swim above you and below you.
Watched the lion feeding. I had the BEST spot of anyone… I kid you not.
YA walked through the Lorikeet Aviary
Lots of kangaroos in the Kangaroo WalkAbout
Extraordinarily expensive pizza lunch
Spent a LONG LONG time at Stingray Bay. YA is besotted with petting stingrays and little sharks.
Petted some goats at The Barn
Gorgeous polar bears
Visited the manatees and got to see “Stubby”, who can’t be released to a boatstrike injury but has acted as a mom to many young rescue manatees over the years. Even found a cool manatee t-shirt!
I’ve talked about Jack Hanna running the Zoo for many years, basically turning it around and creating the fabulous experience that it is today. Up near the Africa area, there is a great bench/sculpture of Jack and his wife, Suzi. I couldn’t resist the photo op!
We were at the zoo for almost 8 hours and I can truthfully say that I slept like a rock that night!
I just received notice that my 50th High School Class Reunion will held next September. Current plans are to meet at a local pub/brewery one night, and then at The Lake, aka the Old Creamery Pond, the next night for a bonfire and gathering.
We were a class of about 190. I have no idea how many of us are left. I missed the reunion 10 years ago as we were just getting back from a trip to Europe with our kids. I haven’t run into any former classmates who live in town since we moved here, although I know there are a few. I have encountered a couple of our very aged, but hale, former high school teachers. Our soon to be housemate is a classmate. The local paper makes a big deal over reunions and takes group photos of celebrating classes.
I am so curious to see how everyone has aged, and if we recognize each other. I am also curious how much longer the poor souls who have been in charge of planning these get togethers are going to be sufficiently healthy and willing to continue doing so in ten more years.
Have you attended any high school reunions? If so, tell how they went. If why not?
You know, it was so warm last week, it was so freaking muddy. It was terrible. And I know it’s gonna happen the next time it warms up again. But that’s next month’s problem!
I’ve always found it interesting the clumps of snow and ice that accumulate on the far side of railroad crossings. When a vehicle hits a bump like that and the ice chunks fall off and skid up the road a ways. Newton’s first law about an object in motion I think. It’s kinda cool to me.
Wednesday this week I went to an oat producers meeting. Got another really good free meal!
It was a very good meeting. Lots of good speakers and interesting topics. I did critique the font of one guy’s slides… I’m such a snob. The meeting started at 10:00, and people wandered in for another hour. And it reminded me how hard it was to get anywhere before about noon when milking cows and doing chores in the winter. Feed the beef cows, feed the dairy cows, milk, chase the beef out of the yard, let the dairy cows out of the barn, clean the barn, haul out the manure, throw down hay from the haymow, spread out straw bedding, spread out the hay, and put the cows back in when they’re done eating outside. It all took a while.
Excuse me, can you keep your heads down…
There were 159 farmers in attendance (because the host said now she knew how long it took to get 159 people through the line for lunch.)
One guy kinda looked like Robert Duvall.
I wore a peach colored shirt. I was the most colorful person there. A lot of plaid and dark colors. And a fair number of women at this meeting too.
It was mentioned that 26% of the farmers in Olmsted County planted cover crops last, involving 20,000 acres.
As one speaker went through his slides, he’d show a field of oats and call out ‘Eye candy!’
*He’s also the guy that said it was an ‘Oat-standing day’.
I saw them in concert back in 1984 just to impress a girl. I Broke up with her anyway.
Several of the speakers, and many of the farmers, are growing a few hundred acres of oats. They talk about their 40’ air seeders and stripper heads for oats and growing 140 bushel / acre oats and I sit there quietly with my 30 acres, and 40 bushels / acre and think ‘You don’t have any deer do you?’ I asked a question if anyone is dragging their oat fields. Crickets. One speaker finally said they do no-till planting. Oh. yeah meaning they don’t have bare dirt like I do. Several said that. One of the benefits of no-till, is being able to get out and plant in March without needing to wait for the ground to warm up and dry out to do tillage before planting, like I do.
Several of these farmers are responsible for the surge in oat growers. They’re the founders of the oat mafia.
One guy shared his spreadsheet for his crop input and expenses. If input costs are going to be high, and crop prices are going to be low, then we hope for high enough yields to make up the difference. One example was a 1400 acre farm. If he does 700 acres corn and 700 acres beans, expenses will be this much, income theoretically this much, and they’re losing money. However, if they do 466 acres corn, 467 acres bean, and 467 acres oats, they can make some money. Oats cost less than corn to produce. Remember, less yield or a thunderstorm or a lower price and it’s all out the window.
Jochum Wiersma, from the U of M is always a good speaker. He’s from the Netherlands, and he’s got a bit of an accent, and he is funny, and a very intelligent good speaker. He asked the group if we thought farming was more like NASCAR or a European Rally race? Obviously, a rally. “NASCAR is all left turns, you always know what’s coming.” If it was easy, everyone would be doing it. That’s why farming and raising oats is all about managing risk.
I took home several good lessons. My crop rotation has been soybeans, corn the next year, then oats the next. Repeat. I do it that way because soybeans add nitrogen to the soil meaning I spend less on nitrogen for the following corn crop. When our son was in high school, he did a report for some class, comparing corn after oats and corn after soybeans. Surprisingly, the corn after oats did better. and I don’t really recall when or why I changed up the rotation order, but it was said several times, DO NOT PLANT OATS AFTER CORN, it’s more susceptible to crown rust disease. And maybe that’s why my oat crop has been so lousy lately. So, we’ll try planting oats on the fields that were soybeans last year.
I cut down a bunch of dead Ash trees last Saturday. Thirty years ago, I planted two rows of ash trees and some arborvitae shrubs, hoping to create a windbreak in which I planned to put calf hutches on the south side. It turned out to be a pretty wet area. All the arborvitae died off a few years later. The ash trees got to be 40′ tall and were kind of a pain to mow around, now they’re all dead from Emerald Ash borer. There’s a few I’m waiting for a tree company to take down as they’re too close to the feed storage building for me to cut down. I left the stumps about two feet tall for the moment. I’ll trim them off at ground level this summer.
Using the tractor and loader I was pushing the trees into a pile, and that’s when a tree branch rolled around the inside of the rear tire rim and snapped off the valve stem. Have I mentioned the chloride fluid I have put in the rear wheels for additional weight and traction? It sprays out when you break off the valve stem. My friends at Appel Service and $650 fixed that on Monday. I put the grapple bucket on the loader and picked up the rest of the trees to move them.
I need to remember, a tractor is not a bulldozer.
That worked much better. Until I got the tractor I over a stump. Not really sure how I did that. Bent a shield underneath…
I parked the tractor in the shop and let it dry off and warm up for a couple days, then I rolled under with wrenches and removed the shield. Trying to bend the shield enough to reach the bolts and I remembered Newtons third law: me on a rolling creeper pushing against a larger tractor…doesn’t move the shield, it moves me. An equal and opposite reaction! SCIENCE!
I’ve had chickens living in the garage again. I chased three out of the rafters one evening. The chickens hop from one rafter to another, and the dogs got all riled up and daughter thought the whole thing was hysterical.
Chicken!
TALK ABOUT LEARNING TO RIDING A BIKE.
TALK ABOUT BIRDS / THINGS YOU’VE SEEN PERCHED IN ODD PLACES
(Header photo by Word Press’ Artificial Intelligence, version 3 !)
My summer Padawan is always telling me “I asked Chat GPT about…”
I just can’t get over that. He’s asking a computer for relationship advice. I guess it’s faster than asking Ann Landers… And then he tells me he likes it because it’s giving him the answers he wants to hear. Well of course it is! I am just so astounded that he’s taking relationship advice from this thing…and because he’s asking it ‘why doesn’t she love me’ questions, of course it gives him reasons she’ll come back. I told him to ask it ‘Why won’t this girl leave me alone’ and see what it says? I get the typical teenage “Yeah, but!” answers from him.
Man, am I glad I’m not 19 anymore! Mostly.
So I asked Chat GPT to write a blog and I gave it some pretty general guidelines; farming, theater, and teenage love.
It did pretty good! I had to laugh, it wasn’t at all like I write, because why would it be, but it was a very nice short story of “…slipping into a classroom still smelling faintly of hay and diesel that makes you feel both out of place and perfectly rooted at the same time.”
Then boy meets girl, they go to a show, and, “ We slipped into seats near the front, shoulders brushing, her laughter lighting up the dim room like a sparkler. I couldn’t tell you much about the plot of the play—something about family, love, mistakes—but I remember how she leaned in during the quiet moments and how the stage lights reflected in her eyes.”
Oh my gosh. I’m gonna start asking this for sweet nothings to whisper in Kelly’s ears!
So I refined the request a few more times. I asked for more humor and less metaphors. I hate metaphors like a hole in my head.
It gave me this:
Being nineteen and in a relationship during winter in Southeast Minnesota is a test that should earn college credit. The farm turns into a frozen obstacle course, the wind rearranges your face, and every chore takes twice as long because everything metal turns into a hand-freezing punishment device. Romance does not thrive in these conditions.
My girlfriend says we need to “communicate more,” which is hard to do when the chickens start yelling at dawn and demand full attention. She thinks the chickens respond better to her voice, which is true only because she gives them treats and I hand them feed like a government-issued ration. She insists this is evidence of my lack of warmth. I insist it is evidence that chickens are extortionists.
The grain farm does not help our relationship. Every time we plan a date, something breaks. This week it was the old tractor. The tractor has the personality of a stubborn old man who refuses to stand up without complaining first. I spent three hours crawling under it, dropping tools, and discovering new ways to swear. She sat nearby on a bale of straw, scrolling through her phone, occasionally offering advice that made sense only if the tractor responded to positive energy.
The real villain of December is Christmas music. The month starts, and suddenly every speaker in existence blasts nonstop jingles. She says it “puts her in the spirit.” It puts me in a state of irritation that could power the whole farm. The worst part is that she sings along. She sings loudly. She sings off-key. She claims my dislike of holiday music is a sign of emotional instability. I claim her playlist is a threat to public safety. This topic has caused more arguments than the chickens, the tractor, and the weather combined.
But we’re nineteen, so we keep trying. Some evenings we sit in the shop, surrounded by tools, feathers drifting around, both of us exhausted. She talks about her day. I talk about which piece of machinery betrayed me. Sometimes she laughs at my tractor stories. Sometimes I almost tolerate her humming.
Our relationship may not be smooth, but we are still standing, even in January temperatures, even with demanding chickens, even with that cursed playlist. And honestly, surviving December together might be proof we’re tougher than we thought.
Not bad. But I want to know why there are feathers in the shop?? Are the chickens living in the shop or did I drag that many feathers in there on my clothing?? Sometimes walking around the college and I’ll find a dry chunk of “dirt” in the hallway with a chicken feather sticking out of it. Yeah, that’s probably mine. But how did the computer know that?
THINK ABOUT AUTOMATION IN YOUR LIFE. WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE NEVER EXPECTED?
My schedule has been a little crazy lately. Next week will be better. 🙂
I hear there are places in the country where the weather on the evening news doesn’t take ten minutes. I don’t need the full ten minutes, I just want to know the 12-48 hour forecast, and the 7 or 10 day forecast, Which I know is just a guideline. Especially this time of year, when the forecast has some pretty drastic changes coming.
No, the corn still isn’t out and I don’t want to talk about it. The grain elevators are closed on the weekends now, because 99.8% of the harvest is complete. So I don’t expect anything this weekend unless they finish everything at their place and they just come in and fill up the trucks on Sunday.
I wrote a long story about the thermostat in my shop and I threw all that away and tried to make this a shorter story. A red herring was involved and suffice it to say human error played a part. Because of course it did.
I use a wifi thermostat so I can monitor it from the house. It worked last year. This year, it worked while I’m out there, but it didn’t work when I came to the house.
One day it died completely so I bought a new one. Installing that and I blew a fuse up in the heater itself. Another trip to town for an ‘E’ fuse. An E fuse? Never heard of an E fuse. Oh, it’s a ‘3’ not an ‘E’. Thank goodness I figured that out on my own and didn’t say that to the guy at the auto parts store. Then of course there was a new app and all of that rigamarole. And that night in the house and it wouldn’t connect again.
The day we poured the concrete, including the slab outside the front door, I used a side door, and a different light switch. Turns out, the outlet I have the heater plugged in to is tied into the 3 way switch for the lights. And I hooked that up myself, this wasn’t the electricians fault. Other than they didn’t know I wanted an outlet for the heater, which is why I did it myself. But how come it worked last year?? Because the heater was plugged into a wall outlet and because the electricians weren’t here until March, and I didn’t get the heater outlet installed until April. So now, when I come into the shop and turn the lights on, the thermostat works. When I leave and turn off the lights, the thermostat turns off. Well, don’t I feel like a dunce. How could I tell the thermostat was off once I left the shop?? I thought the problem was the wifi. Nope, that was the red herring. The problem was the thermostat wasn’t even ON.
I have it plugged into a regular outlet again and I can tell you, by the app, it’s 46 degree’s out there at 56% humidity.
We did get the concrete done on Tuesday. Yay! Check that off the list! A big job, and I had the easy job in the tractor hauling the cement from the truck outside, to the pad inside.
(Two reasons; the truck wouldn’t fit inside the shed, and I didn’t want him backing onto the existing concrete slab). When they poured the inside slab a couple years ago, they used a little “buggy” to haul the concrete. This was the same thing, only different.) The truck driver was great! Randy. 65 yrs old, been driving a concrete truck for 38 years. We joked before he got there, would he know we were amateurs? I told him right up front, feel to offer advice. He just picked up the bull float and got right in there helping.
Took about 2 hours to get it all dumped and leveled. I was a little bit short of product and left a bit of a gap on one end of the walkway pad. I expect to finish that with 10 bags of concrete mix I picked up.
About 6:00 PM I was able to start smoothing off the concrete with the hand trowels. (I Learned the difference between magnesium floats and steel floats. You use magnesium when you’re first leveling, and steel to do the final finish.)
It was about 8PM when I was trying to finish the big slab and smooth around the drain. The concrete was getting too firm by that point and it was a little too late to be working it. All in all, it’s not bad for the first time for a bunch of newbies. It will look better when it gets some dirt on it to cover the imperfections.
I spread out tarps and covered the outside ones with straw.
A few days later I pulled off the tarp and moved the dumpster over there. This right here was the original point of all this.
I wonder how much snow will blow in here?
My brother using the bull float on the first piece.
Working on the big slab inside the shed.
Our son helped, my brother helped, Padawan’s girlfriend helped, (Padawan was at work) and Kelly helped. They all admitted this was harder work than they imagined. And we all learned a lot. Next summer’s plan is to do another slab inside. My brother isn’t sure he’ll help again next summer. Son says he will find more younger helpers.
I’m just glad it’s done. I had a beer that night. I’ve been waiting to finish the concrete to have that beer.
We thought for sure we’d have a dog footprints in it somewhere. Or Luna was gonna drop a ball into it. We locked them in the shop at one point.
Inside slab done. Won’t drive on it for a week yet, and will get it backfilled shortly.
You haven’t seen the chickens lately. Here’s the chickens eating some left overs.
I have a new appreciation for the people doing concrete work and making it look easy.
I see that today in 1520 is the anniversary of Henry VIII ordering that a bowling alley be installed in his palace at Whitehall. I imagine it was an outdoor lane for lawn bowling, but even so it reminded me of my bowling experiences.
I noticed last week as we were driving around Luverne that the bowling alley was still a going concern, although it is only open Thursday through Saturday these days. I never belonged to a youth bowling league, but the bowling alley was a place to go to have fun when I was in high school. I don’t remember it serving anything but snacks and simple beverages. My mother belonged to a bowling league, and I remember how heavy her bowling ball seemed to me when I was a child when I would take it out of its bag in her closet.
The bowling alley in Dickinson is a really busy place that doubles as a bar and restaurant. There are very active bowling leagues for adults and children. It also is the stop for the buses that run east and west across the state. The police have their hands full there. A work colleague’s husband was attacked and robbed in the parking lot by a couple of Montana guys recently who he met bat the bar and had a couple of drinks with.
One of my high school classmates had a dad who was a professional bowler who seemed to earn a living bowling competitively. I remember seeing him on TV in bowling matches. I don’t think that is a thing anymore. What a way to make a living!
When I started as a freshman at Concordia College in Moorhead. MN, we had to take two semesters of physical education. I opted for bowling for my first gym class. It was taught by Sonny Gullsvig, the college basketball coach, at a local bowling alley. I will never forget Coach Gullsvig instructing us in his coaching voice as though he was in the Concordia gym ” FIRST YOU TAKE THE BALL AND TOSS IT DOWN THE ALLEY….” I skipped class a lot and ended up with a “C,” in the class.
What are your bowing memories? Ever hang out at a bowling alley?
