Category Archives: Farming Update

2025, Business, crops, Farming Update, Government, History, Music, Science, Technology, Theatre, Uncategorized, Weather

INTEREST-ING

December 13, 2025 xdfben 60 Comments

This week’s farming update from Ben

Brrrr. We are hardy Minnesotan’s but it’s still cold out. Hope you can stay inside and warm for the weekend.

Honestly, how did people do it 100 years ago? Or 500? Or 1000??

We have so much to be thankful for.

I got my corn check from the co-op last week and put it in the bank. And this week I paid off the loan I borrowed from a month ago to pay the bills. And the co-op emailed about setting up the loan and credit for 2026 crops. Easy come, easy go. Repeat. I spent some time this week comparing interest rates. It’s kinda hard to find out what the actual Prime rate is. Course it varies by bank and how much money you have. And it was kind of interesting how that works. One of the companies the co-op uses does Prime minus 0.5% until August, then Prime + 0.5% until Feb of 2027. Another company has different rates on some of the products and zero interest on some, but then Prime +2% on fertilizer. In the end, it doesn’t amount to that much money. It would be a different story if I was spending $450,000 at 7.5% interest. (That’s $33,750 @ 7.5% if you’re curious. Now we’re talking real money!) And the government is going to bail me out with the poor prices on soybeans. So they say. I don’t know what that’s going to amount too yet. It won’t be $33,000 I can tell you that. I’ll bet I can take off a couple zero’s there and be more like it. I always say the difference between me and the big farms is a couple zeros on the expenses and the income.

I’ll fill out the forms this weekend and figure out next years crops. Samantha, the agronomist I work with at the co-op sent out a rough worksheet of next year expenses for my planning purposes, and I’ll get things ordered and prices locked in by mid January for the best rate.

Yesterday on the blog we were talking about things from the past. I had a guy at the farm the other day who had a front wheel drive car and was almost stuck on the bare, but snow covered driveway. He clearly didn’t know how to drive on snow. His wheels were spinning and he blamed the posi-traction. I can still hear my dad’s voice “DON’T SPIN YOUR WHEELS!” Our mantra in winter back in the day of rear-wheel drive cars. “Sit heavy! Don’t spin your wheels.” And my family jokes that Dad would say, “NO TALKING! BE QUIET BACK THERE!” I don’t remember that, but I’m sure it was so Dad could hear the wheels not spinning. Shift to low, back up to the garage so you can get a run at it, and don’t spin your wheels. And the guy got out. Our driveway is long and starts right off with an uphill “U”. (So right, “get a run at it” but you’re making a corner at the same time. You learn a lot about friction doing that.) Then you’ve got a flat 75 yards to gain some speed before the next uphill corner to the left. Most people, if they get around the U, can make the next corner. Although there was some days I had to back up 50 yards and get a run at the second corner again. But a front wheel drive car? Dude. Learn to drive. I remember years ago, the guy who would come in to breed the cows. He had a little tiny car. Rear wheel drive. He couldn’t get out. And he turned around and went backwards really fast around both corners. I was very impressed. But he made it.

Last weekend Padawan called me about 10:00 at night to see if I would help pull a friend of his out of a ditch. So I went. Because we’ve said Padawan is our second son, so, that’s what you do for your kids. The friend had a new sporty little car. Still had the temporary plates. Skidded on the snow and slid into a ditch. Another kid who needs to learn how to drive. He was only a little stuck. Pulled him out with the truck.

Haven’t had much time to work in the shop this past week. Concerts at the college, homework, (had the last ‘in person’ class. I have a couple tests to take yet and some online lectures to watch. Last day of classes is next Friday) And I’ve been moving snow.

Our mailbox is out on the highway. It’s on a swinging post so the snow launching off the snowplow doesn’t damage it, the box just swings out of the way. Meaning it WHIPS the mail out into the ditch…More than once we’ve found the mail under that pine tree behind the mailboxes. Sometimes we may not find it until spring. Hopefully it wasn’t the check we’ve been waiting for. There are three mailboxes as there used to be three homes down our road. The third, unused mailbox our neighbor named “S. Lamb”. The sacrificial lamb. Our neighbors are very witty.

The choir sounds really nice this year. It’s a new conductor and he’s doing a great job with the students. At rehearsal I heard him ask the kids, “Are you ready for the concerts Friday and Saturday?” And they responded, “Thursday and Friday!”

“Good. What time is the concert?”

“7:00”

“Good. What time are you going to be here?”

“6:00”

“Good. Saturday and Sunday concerts, It will be fun!”

“THURSDAY AND FRIDAY!”

“Good.”

Clearly, he’s worked with teenagers before.

HOW YOU GONNA STAY WARM THIS WEEKEND?

HOW DO YOU THINK YOU WOOD HAVE STAYED WARM 500 YEARS AGO?

2025, Business, crops, Farming Update, History, Nature, Science, Technology, The Future, Theatre, Weather

Straight Screens in Curved Holes

December 6, 2025 xdfben 47 Comments

This week’s farming update from Ben

Guess it’s winter on the farm. I even wore a T-shirt under my sleeveless shirt one day.

I don’t think the chickens have come out of the pen all week. They peer out the door, but none of them has much interest in actually going outside. I picked up one chicken that was still living out in the pole barn and carried her back with the rest. And the garage chicken has moved down with the rest. For body heat I presume. Found 4 of the 7 chicks. It’s unfortunate it worked out the way it did for them. I’d have liked them to get a little bigger, or the weather to stay a little warmer, or momma to take a little more care of them a little longer. Any of those options would have served them better.

I got the starter put back on my 630 tractor and it started right up. I can’t get over how quiet it is now. Evidently having a hole and crack in the exhaust manifold is like a hole in your muffler. It’s surprisingly loud. And repairing it was very educational and gave me a great feeling of accomplishment. My dad would be so pleased. That thing has been cracked and loud for as long as I can remember. For a tractor from 1959, it’s getting some much needed attention.

I’m still working on some cosmetic repairs. I have new screens for the front grill and I picked up a cheap spot welder to repair part of the hood. Welding class from 12th grade comes through again!

Dad must have run into something to dent it and break off all the welds on one side. And now I need to figure out how to fit this straight piece of corrugated screen into the slots and curves on the corners.

I know it bends, it is just a matter of fitting it all together.

I worked on it for a while one night and decided this was something to ponder and come back too. The dogs all run into the shop and get a drink, and I played ball with Luna while Bailey gets in my face. Humphrey likes having a warm place to lie down and he’s happy. But the others get bored after a bit and Bailey pee’s on the floor and out they go. Kelly lets them back into the house. Out in the shop is my happy place. Have I mentioned that? As I closed the toolbox and turned off the lights, I thought to myself, this has been 35 years in the making. We took over the farm when we got married, 35 and a half years ago. And I’ve been collecting or buying tools and gaining experience since then. If I had it sooner, I wouldn’t appreciate this so much. Or I’d want something bigger.

=====================

At the college I’m getting ready for Holiday Concerts next week. My friend Paul is designing again, so it’s fun to have him back in the shop.

I added a few more LED lights over the stage. Just some plain LED wash lights. They don’t move or wiggle, they just change colors. Over the stage are pipes called ‘battens’ and they’re all counter weighted so they’re balanced as they come up and down. Called “flying in or out”. Our stage has 19 battens. Three are for lighting (called ‘Electrics 1,2 and 3′ front to back). Several are curtains, and some are open to hang scenery. The counterweight is achieved using metal bricks that weigh about 15.5 pounds. We add or subtract them to balance whatever is hanging. When I added the lights to the 1^stElectric, I had to add 8 more bricks. This is the main lighting batten. I counted 58 bricks. 899 pounds. This batten is rated for 1000 lbs.

These are the counter weight bricks. The yellow brick is empty base weight.

img_5108-1 — The First Electric and it’s 23 various lights.

*********************************************

I read an article in a farm magazine recently about the next generation of autonomous farm equipment. The technology is out of testing and is available for sale.

A little background: As with all technology, this has been coming for a few years. First it was the GPS mapping. Then row sensors so machinery could follow the rows by themselves. Then the machinery started to incorporate the equipment and technology to put all this together and the tractor could follow a line through the field. Then it was automated so that the tractor could raise and lower an implement, slow down at the ends, and all the driver had to do was make the corner, find the next line and hit ‘Go’. From there, multiple implements or tractors could talk to each other. The tractor could pull up next to the combine, and the combine would take control of the tractor and unload at a constant speed. So simply removing the driver really wasn’t that big of a leap, it was kind of the next logical step. That said, I’m not sure I’m ready for a driverless car yet.

This information is from an article in Successful Farming Magazine from November of 2025, called ‘How Farmers Are Using Autonomous Equipment to Do More with Less’. It cites labor shortages, changing weather conditions meaning smaller productivity windows, or maybe just not having enough time in the day to get it all done. Some of the jobs open to autonomy are planting, spreading fertilizer, tillage, or pulling grain carts.

Wanna know what it costs?

There are two big companies: John Deere and AGCO. John Deere doesn’t list prices.

AGCO:

Capabilities: grain cart duties and tillage; planned for 2026

Compatibility: AGCO and PTx’s OutRun system is compatible with 2014 or newer John Deere 8R tractors. Compatibility with Fendt tractors is to begin in 2026.

OutRun for tillage has a $54,000 one-time hardware cost and a $9,000 annual recurring payment; OutRun for grain cart has a $55,000 one-time hardware cost and a $15,000 annual recurring payment.

If using the same tractor and base OutRun Intelligence kit for both grain cart and tillage, it has a $65,900 one-time hardware cost and a $15,000 annual recurring payment.

Carbon Robotics:

Capabilities: tillage, mulching, mowing, and LaserWeeder

Compatibility: Carbon ATK is compatible with John Deere 6R, 8R, 8RT, and 8RX model tractors. Installation takes under a day, with no permanent modifications. Carbon ATK is a $60,000 one-time add-on kit that Carbon comes out and installs.

John Deere:

No price listed

Sabanto:

Capabilities: mowing and seeding

Compatibility: The Sabanto autonomous kit is compatible with 2015–2024 Kubota M5 Series tractors; 2015–2024 John Deere 5E, 5M, and 6E Series tractors; and Fendt 700 Vario tractors. The kit costs $70,000, and is available on cab and open-station models.

https://www.agriculture.com/how-farmers-are-using-autonomous-equipment-to-do-more-with-less-11838003

[Whistle]

First off, I don’t even have a tractor new enough to put this on. Second, [Looking at my bank account]… Nope, there is nothing to say here.

It is kinda cool! I can see the advantage for some farmers. Kelly suggested I could have the tractor doing fieldwork while I was at the college. Yep. Suppose Bailey would still get in the tractor without me? From the video’s of the systems I’ve seen, the operator is monitoring it from his phone or tablet. Inside the tractor you set the field and boundaries. Then once you’re out of the tractor, depending on which system you’re using, either you start it remotely and the tractor honks and the lights flash and it uses all the exterior cameras to make sure you’re not around, and off it goes.

If it “sees” something not right, it will stop and alert the operator, who can view the cameras and decide the best course of action.

Crazy stuff.

JOKE DAY! SHARE A JOKE:

Q: WE WERE SO POOR—

A: THAT FOR BREAKFAST WE HAD ORDINARY K.

2025, crops, education, Family, Farming Update, Kids, Nature, Technology, Uncategorized, Weather

Concrete Herring! or What Color is Your Herring?

November 22, 2025 xdfben 32 Comments

This weeks farming update from Ben

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.

HAVE YOU STOPPED MISLEADING PEOPLE?

2025, crops, Farming Update, pets, Theatre, Uncategorized, Weather

BOO! HISS!

November 15, 2025 xdfben 32 Comments

The 1940’s station I listen to on SXM has changed to Christmas music already.

Bah.

The neighbor guys say they should get to my corn this week. Well, we’re running out of week. I heard recently the grain elevators are full and they may not be taking corn anymore. Great. I wanted something else to worry about.

Waiting on a road repair on the township road that goes into our place. The ONLY road into our place. I’m sure they’ll do that the day we start combining. Mumble mumble mumble…

The 630 tractor I’ve been repairing on and off for 2 years now. I had it running; I got the main hood back in place and got the air cleaner and muffler installed.

***Coming together. Air cleaner and muffler on the top!***

And then the starter, which some times acts up, started acting up again. I knew there was a bad wire down underneath, so I pulled the flywheel cover off, got underneath the tractor and took the cover off the starter and disconnected the wires, pulled them up and out of there, pulled the four bolts out and removed the lower dash, disconnected one more wire, took out the four bolts for the upper dash and gauges, disconnected a second wire, built a new wire harness, taped it all up with heat shrink tubing to make it look all professional like, put it all back together and installed the starter cover while that voice way in the back of my head said ‘You didn’t test this yet’ but heck, I know it’s fixed. And I touched the ground wire to the frame and the starter starts to spin. Crap. Key on or off doesn’t matter, the starter spins all the time. It’s not supposed to spin until I push the start button. It doesn’t engage to start the tractor, it just spins.

Sigh.

I took the cover off again and tapped on the starter with a hammer. GENTLE taps. Nope. Still spinning.

img_4984-1 — **Luna on the left, flywheel is the ‘X’, starter poking through in the right circle.**

Sigh.

OK, it’s just three bolts to get the starter out; will take it to the starter repair guy.

The lights down in the feed room haven’t been working. I replaced the bulbs the other day and they still didn’t work. Hmm, it’s dark early these days you know, I’d like to have lights in there. The barn lights work. I trace a wire and know they should be powered by the barn lights meaning it’s not a breaker. There’s a box in the barn that maybe is the problem, but the box is covered with 17 layers of whitewash.

Anyone remember or know of whitewash? Tom Sawyer was probably using whitewash on that fence he got the neighbor kids to do.

When we were milking cows, we had a guy come out annually to white wash the inside of the barn. Whitewash is a mix of lime and a few other things mixed with water. Evidently it has mildly antibiotic properties. And it dries to a hard surface that will still rub off on your hands or clothes. In the barn, it was a nice finish the milk inspector would approve. Applying it was messy and we had to cover the pipeline (or wash it off when they were done). And once dried, it sure looked nice. Back to this electrical box; it’s covered with 17 layers of whitewash (which is also mildly corrosive on metal) and I don’t want to start digging into that electrical box because it’s gonna turn into a whole big deal.

The next option was to see if there’s power to the switch in the feed room. I got a handful of tools and the gator since I knew it will be more than one trip back to the shop. Pulled the cover off, took the wires off, and when I touch them together, the lights come on. Yay! Back to the shop for a new (used) switch and I have lights again. That project took longer than expected.

I finally got the drain finished in the new concrete. Only took 4 trips to ‘save big money’ to get this glued together. I haven’t finished the outside portion yet, but that’s easy; it was the inside that was the priority.

I’ve got concrete ordered for the 18th now.

I was doing some research about concrete and cold weather. I know you don’t want it to freeze. Research shows that’s only for a day or two while it is curing. Cover it with a tarp and some straw and it’s all OK at these temperatures. Concrete gives off some heat while curing anyway. Whew!

My schedule lately has been busier than usual. Got through the college show, then lit a small show in Mantorville (not a melodrama. Are you familiar with melodrama’s? The audience is expected to boo and hiss the villain and cheer the hero. Back in my youth ((1985)) I was the Hero’s buddy and I won the coveted Golden Oink Oink award for my performance. A big ham in other words.) Then I have another show to light at the Rep. And some outside rental events at the college in the evenings. It will be Thanksgiving soon, then it’s into Holiday concerts at the college. Plus my forensic chemistry class, and pouring concrete, and random stuff to do at home. And IF THEY EVER GET MY CORN OUT I’ll want to get some tillage done this fall before the ground freezes or it gets too muddy. I’m not stressed. I’M NOT STRESSED I SAY!This is pretty normal for fall. Kelly knows she doesn’t see me much between the first of November and middle of December. Some how it all works out. But that doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it.

You may remember we have this Joseph at home. He was rescued from a ditch and we decorate him for the holidays.

The Mantorville show has these plastic figures sitting on the side of the stage.

I sent a picture to Kelly. We laughed, This is Joseph’s twin, Jedediah, and his wife Bertha. Jed to the family. Jed has had a much more bourgeois life… “No ditch life for him” as Kelly says.

GOT A TWIN OR A DOPPLEGANGER? WHO HAVE YOU BEEN MISTAKEN FOR?

EVER BEEN BOOED?

2025, animals, crops, Farming Update, pets, Seasons, Theatre, Uncategorized

WHO’S A GOOD CHICKEN?

November 8, 2025 xdfben 61 Comments

This week’s farm update from Ben

This week I was defeated by cheap electronics that think they’re smarter than me.

We have one of those little fake fires in the college show. The bowl with the fan, and the orange lights, and the silk. I have a 12 volt battery connected to a power inverter (which takes 12 volts and makes it 120 volts) and the fake fire is plugged into that. It is all tucked under a table and the fire sits on top and it worked fine until one of the actors accidentally bashed the table into a wall. And then the power inverter didn’t work anymore. Which is disappointing to me, it’s all solid state, there’s no fuse inside because I took it apart to look, but all it does is give me a red “fault” light and it doesn’t do anything else.
I went to the local electronic store and picked up a really cheap inverter and a little bit better one. Apparently the old one didn’t care if I only had 11.5 volts, it would still power the fire. The new ones want 13 volts and if they don’t have it, they don’t output anything except a loud annoying beeping. I tried a couple batteries wired together in parallel, I tried different batteries, and I tried other various assemblies without success. Between the two shows on Thursday I went over to the auto department of the College. They always look at me funny when I walk in with my arms full of whatever it is I’m working on for a show. They probably think it’s kind of fun and I think they do enjoy helping, but they still look at me funny. They suggested a jump pack, like they use to jumpstart your car these days. They even let me borrow one for the afternoon and that worked great. I’ve got one at home, it just never even dawned on me to try that. I took that in for the last couple shows.

Cold weather coming for a few days. I think the snow they predicted is out of the forecast now. Still, I ran around Friday afternoon like there was a blizzard coming. I had to tell myself to just calm down. I drained all the hoses, put them away, took off the outside faucet I use for watering chickens. I parked all the tractors, the lawn mower, the gator, and the four wheeler in the shed. I finished power washing the deck and retaining wall. Both are in the shade and on the north side of the house so they get a lot of mildew and lichen on them. It sure looks nice when cleaned. One of those things you don’t realize how dirty it’s gotten. Once done, I drained that hose, and put the power washer in the heated shop.

My goodness! How did it get so grungy and we didn’t notice??

Driving into school in the mornings, the sun is at just the right spot now, it hits that gap in the visor.

Another week it will have changed enough it won’t be a problem again. It sure does get dark early now. I like standard time; it just fits my body’s circadian rhythm better. Daughter is very upset it gets dark so early.

I think all the deer in a 20 mile radius have moved to my corn fields. Just about all the other corn around here has been harvested and most fields are dug up for winter. I don’t want to push the guys; they’ll get here when they get here to harvest mine. I just hope the deer leave me some corn. If you come down the driveway an hour after sunset, there are deer ALL OVER. Most coming out of the cornfield with an ear of corn in their mouth. Stupid deer.

In one of the farm magazines, there was an article about an all-black chicken called an ‘Ayam Cemani’. They really are ALL black: Comb, skin, bones and even the meat is black. Their eggs are ivory colored.

img_4948-1 — (Photo courtesy ‘Chickenscratchpoultry.com’)

Research shows these chicks can cost anywhere from $37 to $70 each. And I thought $5 was an expensive chick. The article I read says the chicken is “small, aloof, and only lays one or two eggs / week.” I won’t be getting any. That would be the first one eaten by a coyote.

DOES SUNLIGHT MAKE YOU SNEEZE? ARE YOU A BIG SNEEZER OR A DAINTY SNEEZER?

2025, animals, Art, Farming Update, Music, pets, Theatre, Uncategorized

Lack of hard evidence

November 1, 2025 xdfben 34 Comments

This weeks farming Update from BEN

Did you ever watch a dog chasing a ball or a stick and watch them running and grabbing at it off the ground and think, doesn’t that hurt your lips scraping them across the gravel like that?

We pondered that playing with Luna the other day. It doesn’t seem to bother Luna.

Daughter came up with this Halloween costume all on her own:

Last week driving to Plainview there was a lot of corn still standing. This week a lot of corn has been harvested. Not mine, but all the corn around us. Several guys have finished. And now they’re hard into fall fertilizer and tillage. If any of you retired people want a job, I’m sure you could go to any of the larger farms in the area and get a job driving a tractor or truck for about 3 months. Depending on weather, it’s long days, lack of sleep, field meals, and, if you’re like my brother, “it’s just round and round- it’s boring!” But it’s big equipment and it can be fun. It wouldn’t work for me right now. I can’t get there until mid morning by the time I take daughter in. And I may have to leave mid-afternoon to pick her up. And I have a show this evening… Nope, I’m not the ideal candidate. YOU might be!

And the equipment sure is fun to see.

This week was all about getting the college show finished. We have our first show at 2:00 PM Saturday, the 1st. It will be ready, and ‘good enough’, but if I had more time, I’d tweak a little more.

It’s a good thing this set isn’t any bigger. I don’t know what happens to me that everything turns into a rush at the end, whether trying to get book work done to meet my accountant, or finish a set, or get the machine shed enclosed before cold weather comes, apparently I think I like the thrill of the rush of adrenaline and the whooshing sound the deadlines make as they go past.

Music lately has been some boogie woogie piano, my usual ‘All That Jazz’ movie soundtrack, and then playing a video of “The Gospel at Colonus”, from 1985. The full show is available on YouTube. I’ve had the CD for years, and we saw it at the Ordway maybe 10 years ago. This production has Morgan Freeman, Jevetta Steele, The Five Blind Boys of Alabama, and SO MUCH good gospel music. I was painting alone and singing and shouting along. HALLELUJAH! AMEN!

So. The lack of concrete. I mentioned on the blog one day that I didn’t feel good over the weekend and postponed the concrete.

Last Friday afternoon I rented a little machine called a plate compactor. It’s about the size of a small snowblower, I believe the plate measured 17“ x 20“ and its got a little Honda gas engine on it, and a long handle and when you rev it up it vibrates really fast and compacts whatever it is you’re trying to compact. In this case, about 8 inches of gravel as a sub-base for the concrete. It goes really good in one direction; pretty much drives itself. And it’s not too hard to go in circles, but if you drive it into a corner, you’re kind of stuck. The only instructions they gave me when I picked it up was how to start it. Later on I was on YouTube trying to find some instructions on running this thing, or if there was a certain amount of time you needed to compact material and the only videos I could find were how to start it. What somebody needs to make is a video that’s gonna tell you right up front, this thing’s gonna kick your ass. For the first half an hour. Because when you drive it into the corner the only way to get it back out is to use brute force and pull it back against the machine’s compaction motion. And eventually you’ll figure out you can flip the handle over and sort of steer it, almost one handed, but that doesn’t really help if you’re in a corner with a couple of walls. Anyway I learned a lot that first hour. And when I woke up Saturday morning, muscles I didn’t know I had hurt. And then my stomach started to hurt, then I got the chills, and I just didn’t feel that great. But, I had a lot of work to do.

WFriday evening I had finished compacting the sub base inside the shed, that 20′ x 20‘ area. Saturday morning I started putting gravel in. Kelly came and helped. That woman really is too good for me. She has an attention to detail that I don’t. She’ll spend hours working on something that I said was “good enough” long before. I was still feeling terrible and I finally had to go in the house and take a nap. Three hours later she was still adding a little gravel here, taking off a little there. She used those YouTube videos to learn how to start the machine and she was compacting gravel. We use one of those laser levels that sits on a tripod and puts out a green laser beam line. Then I have a stick with three marks on it: the height of the existing concrete, then a mark for the sub-base, and a mark for the Gravel.

Kelly is not afraid of hard work and she said she was enjoying it. I just wanted to move on because I’m always moving onto the next project.

Saturday night I came in the house and took a shower and then I soaked in the tub for half an hour and I went to bed.

Sunday morning we were back at it. All we had to do on Sunday was a little area 13‘ x 6‘ to be a walkway at the front door of the shop. I didn’t have much energy and if I had to get on the ground to do something, I tended to stay there for a while. Outside the shed, I cut a hole in the wall and shoved a piece of PVC pipe in for the drain, and then I laid in the dirt for a while. There was a thistle under my left shoulder. It hurt. Eventually I got up.

And by Monday, I knew I had to postpone the concrete. I needed to take that off my plate. A friend told me I don’t need a plate, I need a turkey platter. Yeah. That’s about right.

Speaking of pondering, I read these two phrases in a new display at the college art gallery. :

This one reminds me of that quote: “In order to discover new lands, you must consent to lose site of the shore.”

The display is photographs by Ethan Aaro Jones, and is called “Unsearchable Distance”.

PONDER WHY WE DO DUMB STUFF.

ANY GOOD GOSPEL MUSIC STORIES TO SHARE?

2025, animals, Business, dreams, Farming Update, pets, Seasons, Theatre

PICK AX BLUES*

October 25, 2025 xdfben 56 Comments

This weeks Farming Update from BEN

*I used artificial intelligence to give me title suggestions because I had nothing. I didn’t like its ideas, but it spurred me to this one.

Summer padawan and his girlfriend found a hen with baby chicks. Don’t know where she’d been hiding them. That’s the header photo. Kelly and the kids rounded them up and got them in a side pen.

It was a little chilly this week. We had 27 degree’s on Friday AM. I did finally turned on the heat in the house- meaning I turned on the circuit breakers, I haven’t turned UP the heat yet. (Well, we turned on one baseboard heater to burn off the dust and that set off the smoke alarms, much to daughter and Luna’s dismay…) I unhooked the hose on the house faucet. And Bailey even slept in her sink with the blankets. I don’t know, it’s just something she’s always done.

Honestly, she’s not as pitiful as she looks here.

It’s cold in my theater shop; But that just means I have to work harder. Glad I’m wearing sleeves a few mornings.

I didn’t get much of anything done this week at the theater or the farm because it felt like I had a lot of meetings every day. I became chairman of another board, but that’s just a nominating committee and it’ll be quick and easy.

I got the three broken bolts drilled out and re-tapped for the muffler on the 630.

Drilled out the old bolts, and cut new threads using this tap.

Now I’m just waiting for the stud bolts that I had to order. And I got a new bolt for the tongue on the wagon that I fixed. The replacement bolt was a little bit different and I needed to drill a hole in it to put in a cotter pin so that the nut doesn’t work loose and come out causing the tongue to fall off, which would be a whole big deal.

Marks on the head of the bolt tell you the hardness of the bolt. If it’s plain it’s soft steel, grade 3. And this is all different for metric, I’m just talking American bolts, SAE. (Society of Automotive Engineers also called US Standard or imperial). Three marks mean it’s a grade 5 and six marks mean it’s a grade 8. A grade three bolt will bend whereas the five and eight will snap and break. There again, information you didn’t know you needed to know.

I had to re-sharpen the drill bit a couple of times to get this hole drilled through this grade 8 bolt.

This is what it looks like when finished.

Took the dogs to the vet. Humphrey, being 10 years old and having a sore leg, has been on aspirin for a year and he needed a checkup before they’d give him more aspirin. And all three needed all the shots. And then I took the trailer to save more big money, and bought thirty, 20’ lengths of rebar for the concrete. They make fiberglass rebar now, it’s cheaper and lighter.

In preparation for the concrete, I have finished excavating dirt so that I can put the gravel down as the base. I was able to use the tractor loader to excavate most of the dirt. Then shoveled along the wall and existing concrete. I did have to get the pick out for a couple spots. I bought this at an auction a few years ago. Glad to have it, and it worked great.

There was rain in the forecast for next Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday (Which turned into Tuesday, Wednesday and is now just Tuesday) depending on who you listen to. I am planning concrete Tuesday. The biggest portion would be inside so that’s not an issue but the whole reason I started this was the two outside slabs and too much rain is an issue for them. I’m trying to decide if I can somehow put a tarp over this or I should just reschedule for another day. And I don’t want to do that. I’m stressed about this and I have help lined up for that day, so I just need to get it done.

Although maybe by the time you read this the forecast will have changed, that’s what I’m counting on.

I’ve rented a plate compactor for the weekend to get the gravel base compacted prior to the concrete. I’m excited and scared about all this. Trying to think of all the little things I’ve seen done when they pour concrete. The biggest slab, inside the shed, is 19’ x 21’. The concrete truck won’t be able to back in there, so I’ll dump it in the loader bucket and drive that into the shed to dump it in place. And I’m adding a trench drain in there just to complicate it and make it more funner.

I’ll be glad when this is done. And smarterish.

Every now and then I have dreams about water. They say water dreams represent your emotions and it’s the depth and clarity that matter in the dream. Clear or shallow mean you’re peaceful. I’ve had dreams of a hose running clear water across the floor. Nice. Last night I was driving through a flooded street which I didn’t realize was flooding until I was pushing a wave in front of the car’s grill. Not sure of the clarity of it… yeah. I need to get this done and get this show open.

This time next week it will all be better.

ARE THERE SONGS ABOUT CONCRETE? OR PREP WORK, OR DIGGING? *

*I tried asking AI for questions, involving all this stuff but its questions were just dumb.

2025, Farming Update, Theatre, Uncategorized

More theater than farming

October 18, 2025 xdfben 30 Comments

The weekend farming update from Ben

Not a lot of farming this week. Opening a college play in two weeks so the focus is there. Mostly.

Quite a few years ago when I was younger and full of energy and enthusiasm, I bought some pneumatic brakes and other air powered things for sets at the college. I used them for some fun stuff. Then I didn’t use any of them for a few years, but this show is using an eight-foot octagonal rolling platform and it needs some kind of stop, and I thought this would be a good use for the air brakes. I use a small tank of compressed nitrogen rather than air, because it’s a little more efficient, and the tank lasts a lot longer than my small tank of compressed air. Of course that’s assuming the stage managers remember to turn it off at night so it doesn’t leak down.

The wheels are called “triple throw casters”. Three swivel casters mounted on a plate with a Lazy Susan. It makes things roll easily without forcing the castor to change direction before moving.

It was fun to do and the students think it’s really cool.

I’m building some triangle shaped flats. (walls are called ‘flats’ in theater lingo) and they will be covered with cave paintings.

The show is an original, written by our own artistic director, Jerry, called “Ouch”. It’s about a young cave person, who has new ideas, such as words, or cooking food with fire rather than eating raw, and the elders don’t like all the new ideas. Not a lot of set; some fake rocks and the rolling platform upstage (at the back), and the walls with cave paintings. And shadow puppets for the Mammoth of course.

I spent two days in the lighting catwalks swapping out newer 2015 fixtures for 1980 fixtures. And converting some from incandescent / halogen to LED. The LED lights then need ‘data’ cables to them. The others were just swapping out the old for the new. The reason for that was better light out of the new ones, plus, they’re able to be upgraded to LED if we get money. We’ll see at the end of the year how much money is left. An LED upgrade kit is about $600. A whole new LED fixture is $2000 -$3000. Each. All the fancy stuff gets an address, so the lighting board know which light it’s talking too. That’s called “patching”. Each light gets it’s own number, meaning address. One universe of lighting has 512 addresses. My lightboard can output 4 universes. The first universe goes downstairs to the dimmers. The second universe is up to the catwalks and a lot of stuff up there. Universe 3 goes to the stage, and universe 4 has a Wireless gizmo to control some other lights on stage. This photo shows how many of the 512 addresses are being used in Universe 2.

Each parameter of a light takes an address. So intensity, red, green and blue, would be 4 addresses. A light that moves and can do patterns, colors, zoom, and might take 65 addresses. At that rate, 512 doesn’t go far. Something like the Olympics or a rock concert might be using 20 universes of lighting. I know I probably cover this every time I’m working on a show. Sorry for the repetition.

Last Sunday Kelly and I took a drive to see the leaves. We were a little early so there wasn’t a lot of color yet. We started following the Zumbro river at Zumbro Falls and my goal was to drive gravel roads with no traffic. That mostly worked. Down to Hammond, out to Millville, eventually to highway 60 and over to Wabasha, and Nelson for ice cream, then back to Weaver and through Whitewater on that gravel road, Elba to Plainview and back home. It was a nice day for a drive.

At home I’m trying to finish some stuff before it gets too cold. The plan is to pour concrete the last week of October. I have help lined up. I went to one of those big box stores and spent – I mean SAVED big money the other day. I have most of the concrete tools I need now. If this concrete project works out, and I expect to learn a lot, I plan to do more concrete next summer. I’m going all in! Had a load of gravel delivered as I need more to put underneath the concrete. My brother will help, Padawan will help. (The job he started didn’t last. He says they just told him “This isn’t going to work out.” He told his step-mom “They don’t have any patience.” He hasn’t yet figured out that she and I talk. We were childhood friends and he knows we know each other. She and I get both sides of the stories that way) So, he’ll help cause he’s got nothing else. Son is bringing some friends to help. I was hoping one of them knew something about concrete, but he says they’re just the muscle, not the brains. Shoot. That means I gotta be the brains. And I only know enough to be dangerous. I’ve done a bit of concrete over the years, and I’ve watched some YouTube video’s. And that’s why we’re starting with small slabs.

I got the front wheels put back on that hay rack. Remember after straw, the frame cracked, the tie rods bent, and the wheels were pointing different directions? My nephew, Matt, put it back together, straightened it, and reinforced it. I repacked the front wheel bearings and tightened them, and just need to bolt the box frame back to the wheels. One more thing to check off the list. My farming seems to be happening in the evenings now.

Some days I fix one thing and break two more.

HAVE YOU TOO OFTEN BEEN THE METAPHORICAL BRAINS OR MUSCLE?

2025, animals, crops, Farming Update, gardening, Nature, Uncategorized

Squirrel Farming

October 11, 2025 xdfben 43 Comments

This weeks farm update from Ben.

I sure am enjoying the cooler weather. We had 30 degree’s Wednesday AM. I had moved the pressure washer inside the feedroom, dumped out the hummingbird feeders, and we moved the tomato plants and flowers into the garage.

I was using the pressure washer to clean off the haybine after cutting the weeds in the oat fields. After I hose it all off once, I start the machine up and run it slow in order to clean off the reel and get the dirt out of the sickle and cutterbar. And as I walked back around to the front, pulling the pressure washer hose, I gave the hose a ‘flip’ –and stuck it right into the reel and cutter bar and I was done washing. I can splice it back together, and it might hold (it is a PRESSURE washer after all) I just haven’t had time yet. Honestly, I kinda forgot the machine was running and what I was doing. Brain Fart.

The top drawer fell out of our dishwasher the other day too. I ordered some new parts from Amazon and the dishes are piling up in the sink. Yes, we could wash by hand…we just haven’t had too yet.

Last week I mentioned how the squirrels were tormenting the dogs at home. They’re very busy around the college too. Right outside the theater are a couple large Oak trees. Three squirrels are often scampering around them. I call them Frank, Bob, and Jane. Frank seems to mind his own business. Bob and Jane are usually chasing each other and fussing over something or other. When she does get a break, Jane can often be seen foraging in the leaves. She doesn’t mind me and I don’t mind her.

I’ve been seeing groups of turkey vultures lately. Sometimes around home, sometimes in SE Rochester where there may be at least a dozen sitting in a cell tower. Did you know group of turkey vultures in the air is called a kettle? I knew that a group sitting together is called a committee. I didn’t know they could also be called a volt, or venue. If they’re feeding, it’s called a wake. Who came up with these names? I’ve been on some committees that would certainly qualify as having vultures as members…

I am part of CoCoRaHS for reporting rain and snow fall. Although I only report rain. “Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network”. All that’s required to become a reporting member is their special rain guage that measures rain to the hundredths.

https://www.cocorahs.org/

They have a master Gardner guide:

https://www.cocorahs.org/Content.aspx?page=MasterGardener

They have 1000+ stations across all 50 States and Canda reporting weather data, which is used by multiple agencies.

It started in Colorado in 1998. They sent out an email this week talking about “the Water Year” which runs October 1 – September 30. So named because in Colorado, where this is based, most of the water accumulation comes from snowfall after October 1. And that snowfall is what provides water for the next year’s crops.

The email last week showed how we can view statistics from our own locations as well as any of the others.

I’ve been reporting since March of 2021. I see I have 907 reports. This year I’ve reported receiving 25.92” of rain. VS would like the site because there’s all sorts of fun statistics in there.

Last week was our ‘Gotcha Day’ for Luna. I picked her up on October 5th, of 2023. Two years of that crazy dog.

CROPS!

The neighbors got my soybeans harvested on Friday.

I haven’t gotten the total bushels from the elevator yet, but according to the monitor in the combine, they were a little better than average. The price isn’t great, but it seems like there was a decent amount out there. Except where the deer have stripped the pods of the plants. I was out in a far corner of the farm and back there, it’s just stems. Stupid deer. I had to leave about half an acre of soybeans in one little field down by the house and buildings. They tried to get to it, but the head on the combine is 40 feet wide, and they couldn’t fit between the trees and a fence. Not the end of the world. The cost of combining that half acre would have pretty much taken all the profit from that half acre.

The corn looks good. It’s very tall this year! But remember, the height really has nothing to do with the yield of the ears…

There is a fungus called Tar Spot that’s becoming worse in the Midwest. See the black spots on the leaves?

Too much and it will kill the plant early, weaken the stalk, and reduce the yield.

The corn is physically mature, but still drying down. typically when it’s mature, it’s still about 30% moisture in the kernels. The ears are still standing upright.

Too much rain at this point and it gets down inside the husk and can cause mold on the kernels. Some farmers have started harvesting corn and the moisture levels are all over the place. For storage, the corn kernels have to be 15% moisture. Once the ears hang down, it’s into the teens and drying it doesn’t cost quite so much.

WHAT WERE YOU DOING TWO YEARS AGO?

2025, animals, crops, Farming Update, pets, Theatre

IT’S THE LITTLE THINGS

October 4, 2025 xdfben 52 Comments

This weeks farming update from Ben

The squirrels are tormenting the dogs. They start with Bailey, since she’s outside. Then Bailey gets Luna and Humphrey going in the house and they’re at the door whining and barking until we let them out. You’d think they’d have learned it’s just a squirrel. Bailey has this shrill, piercing bark, it makes your ears bleed. We think sometimes the squirrels choose to off themselves because they can’t take her barking anymore. I watched a squirrel about 10’ up the electric pole, head down, dancing around the pole, just tormenting the dogs. (If Luna’s toenails were a little longer she’d be up that pole.) Then the squirrel leapt from the pole, cleared the dogs by a good 15 feet and made it to another tree before the dogs could turn around.

I got out last Sunday and cut some weeds in the oat fields. And I did more Thursday evening. One field left will take an hour. I’m using the haybine instead of the brush mower. Six of one, half dozen of another. The brush mower is 10’ wide, the haybine is 9’. But I can go faster with the haybine. That machine cuts, crimps, and puts the material in a narrow row for baling. I used it for cutting alfalfa when I was milking cows, and I still use it to mow the roadsides. The brush mower is more like a big lawn mower, and it just cuts and shreds the material all up. I’m not saving the weeds or oats to bale, and by opening the rear guides, and putting a baffle inside, it lays the weeds out in a path about 6’ wide. I also don’t want to smother anything growing underneath, and I want it disintegrated enough by spring that it’s not a problem then. I’m hoping we get enough rain or snow or warm or cold temperatures to do whatever it needs to do to break down by April. I’ll bet you didn’t know I could make a whole paragraph on cutting weeds, did you?

Another online auction finished in Plainview on Tuesday. I won some good stuff cheap! Two grinding wheels for concrete sold for $12. They’re about $60 each online. And I bought 5 sheets of 5/8” plywood for $78. They’re $35 each at big box stores. Finally, I bought three doors, brand new, for $36. I needed one of them for a new dressing room we built at the Rochester Rep Theater. It was the right size, the right style, and had hinges on the proper side. I picked it all up Wednesday and installed the door. I told the men using that dressing room, if they had a good rehearsal Wednesday night, I’d get them a doorknob on Thursday. They did and I did.

I’ve been busy with theater most of the past week.

One night during rehearsal I noticed the cue labels on the lightboard made a nice, slanted pattern. It wasn’t intentional, but I appreciated it.

I like the symmetry in things. Also, my OCD kicks in a little bit and that nice slant appeals to me. Like when shopping at the big stores and taking the cart to the stall and they’re all mess up; that bothers me when they’re all cockeyed. I spend more time than a person probably should lining them up and making the stacked line of carts. I would hate having that job of returning carts to the store. You can never finish! I’d hate it. How frustrating.

The neighbors are planning on taking their cattle out this weekend. The cows ran over to see me as I drove past them.

Most of the soybeans have lost their leaves. Lots of guys cutting beans around here. The guys I hire will get to mine when they get to them…

MOST MEANINGLESS JOB YOU’VE HAD?

HAVE YOU KNOWN ANYONE WITH AN UNUSUAL VOICE?

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