Category Archives: Farming Update

2024, animals, Farming Update, Uncategorized, work

The Price Is Right

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Today’s Farming Update comes from Ben.

Got the latest show open at RCTC. The Curious Savage. It’s a nice group of kids.


The paint was even dry. I finished the set, oh… tens of minutes before the doors opened.

There are always last-minute things to do, and I even added some set dressing bits after I finished the last of my set notes. I used the ‘rollerwall’ painting stencil to make wallpaper. It takes some practice, but it’s pretty cool.

“Rollerwall.com” – there are hundreds of patterns available. I also used two different rollers to make a pattern on the carpet. (There are plot points in the script regarding following a pattern on the carpet. “If people walked around the outside of the carpet… it would save wearing out the middle.”)

I’m Behind on a weeks’ worth of newspapers and evening news, which isn’t really such a problem to be honest. 


The grass is turning green, we’ve gotten some nice rain, the temps are warming up, and it really does look like spring is here. Should be a really nice weekend here in Minnesota. I’m starting to think it might be OK to take the snowblade off the tractor and hook up some tillage equipment.

Last Sunday Kelly and I went to Tractor Supply and picked up another dozen chicks. Supposed to be girls. Pullets. The sign said “pullets”, but when we went to check out, 8 of the 12 were marked ‘straight run’, meaning boys and girls. Time will tell. All the chicks are doing really well. Sixty of them sure do eat a lot.

I went to Fleet Farm and picked up two new feeders, plus another small waterer for the chicks, and a large 7-gallon unit for outside once they get a little bigger.

I know I have / had more waterers around. Evidently, I’ve put them somewhere. They’re the same place I’ve put the dogs tick meds, and some other things from home I can’t find lately. Maybe next week my head will be clearer, and I’ll find them. Especially now that I’ve purchased replacements.

I bought a flat trailer at an online auction this week. This trailer has open sides so it’s easy to load and unload pallets.

This was a construction equipment auction, and it was astounding to see the prices some of the equipment brought.

The dogs had to come along on the drive to pick up the trailer. It’s Luna and Humphrey in the header photo. Luna is an anxious traveler. Bailey was in the passenger seat with her nose on my hand.


This trailer is one of those things not critical to daily operation, but it helps at certain times, to make life easier. And I’ve been thinking about that lately. I watch a YouTube channel of a young lady that works on a dairy farm in Maine. https://youtube.com/@tayfarms?si=lFN-zT3XcZzWxrM9

They run some older equipment, and it doesn’t appear they have a lot of money. This spring they were having trouble with the barn cleaner chain. That’s the mechanism that takes the manure out of the gutters and, in their case, pumps it too a lagoon. One morning she said the chain had come off 3 times. And they’re always fixing something with the pump, and it just makes me sad. Life is too short to spend so much time fighting with stuff like this. And yet, replacing costs money too, and it’s a tough situation when you don’t have the money for some needed repair or upgrade. 

We’ve probably all been there. I certainly remember being young and newly married and trying to get ahead. But at what cost? 

Dad was proud to leave me with decent equipment when he retired. He always said his dad had left him junk and he spent more time fixing than farming. And I guess he instilled that in me. I’ve kept up his habit of having decent equipment and not ‘junk’.

WHAT HAVE YOU PURCHASED THAT YOU REALLY COULDN’T AFFORD?

2024, animals, Family, Farming Update, Uncategorized, work

Chicks!

37 Comments

Today’s Farming Update comes from Ben.

The college says it’s ‘Aggressive Goose Season’. Proof of Spring if I nothing else is.

There are two pairs of geese. One pair in the courtyard on the West side of campus and they will fight you. And another pair on a median in the middle of the East parking lot. The male stands in the middle of traffic keeping watch. It’s down to single lane there and security has put cones around them.

I picked up chicks from the post office on Thursday. Poultry chicks I mean.

I ordered 50 this year. And because details are a problem for me, somehow I got 15 male ‘Blue Laced Gold Wyandotte’. I didn’t mean to order boys. Still don’t know how I did that. And I looked at this order several times last week to watch the ship date and I never noticed. Details. They’ve been vaccinated for coccidiosis.

So. Guess I’ll have fresh chicken to eat this summer. My mom showed me how to butcher chickens several years ago and that’s when I decided I’d rather collect eggs. I think I’ve heard the neighbors says there’s place I can take them to be butchered. It’s not a good idea to have adult 15 roosters. The poor hens don’t get a chance as they boys never give them a break. And they fight amongst themselves. And believe it or not, we’ve never had a whole chicken to bake, so that will be something to learn and experiment with. Baby chicks are kind of expensive depending on the breed. Somewhere between $4.55 (for the boys) to $5.19 for the green egg layers. I’ll be ordering baby ducks later this summer and they’re $8.36 for a mixed variety, to $9.52 for mallards. Minimum order is 15.

We heard the sandhill cranes this morning. I hope they stick around a while. Saw a turkey vulture too.

Our dogs, Luna-tic, and Bailey are getting along better. Bailey has realized she can fight back, and when she does, she can hold her own and not let Luna push her around, and now they are playing more than just fighting.

TIPS FOR BAKING CHICKEN?

WHAT’S YOUR POST OFFICE LIKE?

2024, education, Family, Farming Update, Travel, Weather

What Day is This?

54 Comments

The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

I have been completely discombobulated since returning home from Seattle. The weather did hamper our Sunday return flight and because I had purchased my plane ticket separate from Kelly and daughter, Delta automatically rebooked me on a redeye from Seattle to Minneapolis, while leaving those two on their own. Eventually they were able to get on the same flight. We left Seattle at 12:30 AM Monday, arriving at MSP about 5:30 AM and back to RST about noon Monday. We were all exhausted and needed naps.

But the extra day in Seattle allowed me to see the ‘gum wall’.

It’s… something.  It’s kinda gross. Glad I didn’t have to pay for that.

The dogs were mildly excited to see us. They had good sitters while we were gone, and those people said they did their best to turn the dog’s loyalty. I think a few more days they could have done it. I laughed that all the dog treats were gone. No wonder the dogs liked them best.

I attended that workshop called “Psychology of Stupidity”. It was presented by a group called ‘Risky Business Resources’. The room was full, standing room only in fact, which I thanked the crowd for being that interested in safety, and kudos to the presenter for his title. If he had called it ‘Analysis of theater Safety’, it wouldn’t have been so full.

We discussed how people make decisions, and the factors that lead to people making mistakes. He had us play ‘rock paper scissors’ with our left hands, while thumb wrestling with our right. It can’t really be done. Some takeaways: Sleep debt and fatigue increase risk taking. Underestimating risk is a big one.

What stuck with me the most was discussing step ladders. We’ve all stood on that step second from the top. The one that says not to stand on. So why is that step even there?? Some ladder manufacturers have tried removing that step. People complained the ladders weren’t tall enough then. And there was nowhere to put the sticker saying not to use that step. It made the whole room laugh.

On the last day, I took part in a Kazoo parade.

It’s part of a fundraiser.

By Tuesday I was right back into things. A ceiling leak at one theater. Striking lights at another. Back to my set at the college.

I saw a killdeer! It’s nice they’ve returned.

I ordered some extra tough shoelaces off amazon. I got some that are fire and heat resistant. I could  see the need for that if I was a firefighter. But if I need shoelaces that are fire and heat resistant, I’m doing something wrong.

WHAT’S THE DUMBEST ATTRACTION YOU’VE SEEN?

2024, Business, Farming Update, Food, Mysteries, Nature

Spring Approacheth

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The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Change Is Hard

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The weekend Farm Report is from Ben.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It shouldn’t be this hard.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Change is hard.

HAVE YOU FOUND SOMETHING BETTER LATELY?  

2024, animals, Farming Update, Nature, pets

Supplemental Farm Report

26 Comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

2024, Business, Farming Update, Seasons

LIFE!!!

72 Comments

The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

This weather! AC one day, heat the next. We had the windows open Monday and the wellhouse heater on Wednesday night.

Sigh. Lately… Every single thing is just a pain. I’m on the struggle bus. Software upgrades before I can proceed, mandatory password changes that take a while to implement, slow drivers, red lights, carwash lines… all very first world problems, but man, it’s exhausting. 

Monday my friend Jason and I spent the afternoon on the roof of the Rep Theater hanging over the edge, mounting a metal strip into which, a line of ‘LED’ lights will go. It’s the usual flat, tar roof, and we got a little dirty. And I have a tender spot by my underarm on both arms…

It’s gonna be really cool when done and working. I’ll have pictures when we get to that point.

I have done several stupid things this week. Fixing all the dumb things I’ve done keeps me occupied.

We have this new heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system (HVAC) at the Rep Theater. It all got turned on last Thursday. Then Tuesday I was doing stuff and out in the lobby I stopped to look at something. I was carrying a piece of gel; A red piece of plastic that goes in front of the lights to give them a color. I had removed a ‘return air’ vent cover on the wall, because we were repainting the wall. I laid the piece of gel in the hole of the vent and walked into another room to check something in there. And of course, that’s when the furnace started back up. And the piece of gel was gone. “Great”, I thought, “you’ve had this for 3 days and already sucked a piece of gel into it.” But I figured, it’s plastic, what could it really hurt? I checked the big air exchange unit, and it wasn’t in there. Oh well.

That night I realized I should check the filter at the bottom of the furnace. Yep, there it is, inside there… but that slot is only an inch wide. I poked at it with a stick until I managed to shove it further up inside the duct. Twenty minutes later, after removing two shields off the furnace, I could get my arm in there and retrieve the gel. Whew.

As part of this whole HVAC project, we removed all the suspended ceiling tiles upstairs. Which exposed all the old telephone lines, old thermostat lines, and the plethora of internet wires the former tenants had used.

Most of which can be removed now. I have tracked down the actual internet line we ARE using for the phones and computers, so I know which one that is. While working on lighting for Hamlet, I cut a couple old phone lines I knew we’re not using so I could get them out of the way.

And then the general manager asked me why the fire alarm panel was beeping. Sigh. Crap. “Communication Error Line 2”. Took me a while to realize even though the phone system is using an internet provider, I still need a regular phone line between the modem and the fire alarm panel. Sigh. Of course I cut three lines; two of them had 4 wires in each of them and one was the size of your pinky finger and had 48 wires in it. Guess which one goes to the fire panel?

Yep, the big one. Phones are low voltage and they are wired using ‘pairs’ of wires. This was all coming back to me as I worked on it. The blue wire with white spots, and the white wire with blue spots are generally the first pair. Then it’s the Green and white pair, then orange and white pair third. Another trip to Menards for phone wire connectors and 40 minutes on a ladder with a flashlight in my mouth and I had that working again.

Did I mention the wind grabbed the side door and broke the door closer linkage? A mile up the road is a door place. Lukas is my buddy in there. I’m a regular. They had the part. Didn’t take too long to replace that, but it was just another thing.

I remember Dale and JimEd talking one morning and JimEd said he needed a sign: “WARNING! TWENTY FOOT CIRLCE OF EXASPERATION!” That’s me lately. Placating myself with chocolate covered peanuts isn’t the best solution, but it’s a yummy one.

Give us a telephone memory. First phone? Favorite phone? Childhood phone number?

2024, education, Family, Farming Update, Gatherings, Media, Theatre, Uncategorized

Genie In A Lift!

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Today’s Farming Update comes from Ben

This week has been about theater. It’s one of those periods where I have to get a show ready, plus class, plus the real job, plus the everyday household stuff and chickens and kids and dogs and, you know… “Any Idiot can handle a crisis, it’s the day to day living that wears you out”.

I’m lighting Hamlet this week. “A Reimagined Classic” is the marketing tagline. I don’t know my Shakespeare, so I don’t know which parts have been “reimagined”. I know the script jumps over scenes, and it ends with Act 7 and it’s still 2.5 hours long. I recognize many well-known lines. And there’s some funny stuff in the first half. It’s probably not a spoiler to say everyone dies at the end. Being reimagined, I can use some non-traditional lighting and some color washes on the backwall, as well as color on the actors. Here’s a picture from my tech table, just to give you an idea, with work lights still on.

Scenic design by Erica Zaffarano, directed by Merritt Olson.

Paper tech will be on Saturday evening, meaning the director and tech people go through the script and coordinate sound and lighting cues so the Stage Manager, who runs it all, has everything they need. Sunday evening will be a full run through with costumes, sound, and lights. Generally, Monday will be make up, wigs, plus all the other stuff. It’s really interesting, the show can be really humming along, and then you throw all the tech stuff in, and the show takes about 4 steps back. As an actor, it’s just a lot of stuff your brain is dealing with besides lines and blocking (movement).

We had our first meeting at our new Haverhill Township townhall on Wednesday. Bathrooms! Running water! HEAT! And AC!

Our old townhall was basically a one room school. A wonderful place with a lot of character, but it was 100 years old. With no running water, and an outhouse… The only State Insured Outhouse in Minnesota!

I went to 4H there, I did one act plays on that stage, and my mom and dad met as infants when their bassinettes were put behind the furnace by their respective moms during Mothers and Daughters Club. A lot of history in this building.

At the college, I’m working on the set model for The Curious Savage, by John Patrick, our spring play. I also got the genie lift out and tie a rope up at the ceiling for the physics demonstration show Saturday and, since I had the genie out, I changed some burned out fluorescent lamps. I keep a log of when I change lamps so I can change several at the same time if they’re all on the same timeline. Some of these 8’ fluorescents have been going since March 2, 2015! It isn’t unusual to get 6 or 7 years out of them. I’ve got one set in the shop that’s been going since January 25th of 2012!!

When I walk back from class on the other end of the campus on the first floor, I walk up 5 floors, to a roof access door, just to get steps in, then back to my office on the 2nd floor. Written on the wall by the roof access is some pretty wise graffiti: “you bleed just to know you’re alive” and next to it, “Don’t forget you can live without bleeding “
And these: “The quality of life is determined by the questions you ask” – WB 2017
“If you don’t ask the questions, you’re never going to know the answers” – SF 2018

WHERE OR HOW DID YOUR PARENTS MEET? OR YOU AND YOUR SPOUSE? ❤️

2024, Family, Farming Update, home

Life In 4D

71 Comments

Today’s Farming Update comes from Ben

It’s winter again for a few days in Minnesota in February. In Rochester we have a dusting of snow and we had 13 degrees one morning. Good thing I plugged in the chickens’ water bucket. I had to keep moving in my sleeveless shirt or it was almost chilly.

And at least we don’t have mud for a day or two. But now I have frozen ruts. Boy, I’m just never happy with the weather.

I am making satisfactory progress on the farm bookwork and even getting some minor stuff done in the shed. I replaced the dust collector chute on the miter saw (after a minor woodworking mishap broke the old one.) The new one is 3D printed!

That whole concept is really neat! I don’t want to get my own yet, but I’ve got a buddy who had made me several parts with his 3D printer.

I’m a hack carpenter and even with the best of intentions, things don’t always work out the best or like I thought it would work out. The worst part is feeling like I’ll be judged by better builders than me. That’s the part that hurts the most. I got some tin on a door frame and was able to finish the lower part of the steel on the north wall of the shed.

I still need to frame the window and add the upper steel on the North wall and there’s a lot to do on the East wall yet.

Spring will be coming. I’ve ordered 50 baby chicks due to arrive the first part of April. And I’ve got seed ordered, so I’m gonna need a place to put that seed. Usually, it goes on this wagon.

Anyone see a problem with this? I don’t know, last summer when I started this shop project, I guess I didn’t see this coming. As we get closer and I can get machinery back outside, I guess I’ll just have to put pallets down and pile stuff on them so I have a place on the wagon. (I don’t put the seed on the ground on pallets so I don’t get mice in it.) Maybe if I was a harder worker. But I’m also trying to decide HOW I want to put things back. Where should the bolts go? What am I doing with tools? I don’t like pegboard, and I don’t have the same wall space I had before. Maybe I need a rolling toolbox? Maybe I need the slatwall display stuff? I’m almost paralyzed with indecision!

Speaking of design choices, we’re going to have our main bathroom remodeled later this fall. We have a builder lined up and Kelly has been perusing the bathroom remodeling sites for months. This bathroom and the adjoining laundry room are mostly original to the house built in 1968. We’ve painted and done wallpaper and added a wall in the laundry room when we put on an addition in 1995. But the tile floor, and the woodwork are dated, and it is finally time. Kelly has been very patient. The plan is to take some of the square footage from the laundry room, move the washer and dryer to the opposite wall, and gain a little room in the bathroom. It’s all pretty exciting to think about. Before photo:

This is mainly Kelly’s bathroom. I have the mudroom bathroom and that was remodeled a few years ago as part of the entryway remodeling.

Years ago, I had a jacket I wore all the time. I wore it for years (it came with a free tractor!); it was comfortable and I liked it. Once day I misplaced it and a friend of mine said “oh, you mean that ratty jacket?”…and that was it; it was tainted, and I got rid of it. As I told him about the bathroom project he said, ‘When are you remodeling YOUR bathroom?’ I was kinda flummoxed. I just did my bathroom. I mean, it could use a cleaning… but… What’s wrong with my bathroom?? Maybe he meant the basement bathroom with the 1960 pink retro look. But I hear that’s coming back.

YOU CAN 3-D PRINT ANYTHING WITH ANY MATERIAL. WHAT ARE YOU MAKING?

2024, Farming Update, Seasons, Technology, Uncategorized

Something Something

67 Comments

Today’s Farming Update is by Ben

Something Something

As I started writing this, I wasn’t sure yet what I had to write about this week, so I was not sure where this was going to end up.

We got some rain Thursday morning and evening. I don’t think it amounted to much. It didn’t help the muddy areas. I did spread out four bales of straw in front of the chickens’ pen as it was just a muddy mess down there. And the mud over by the shed is full of tracks and ruts. That’s worse than usual because it was fresh dirt last fall after the concrete work. Maybe I can get it smoothed out as the weather gets colder in the coming week so it’s not frozen ruts, and it will be better next year, but for now, Ish-da.

I have a young man helping me on weekends; I got to know him as a college student. He’s really interested in working with his hands and willing to try anything. And he never gets frustrated or gives up. He’s working a delivery job now, and he says he’d love to get into one of the trades like electrical or sheet metal or construction, but he really has no experience. It’s kinda cute, whenever we do a job, at the end of the day he says, “OK, what tools did I learn today?” We’ve talked a lot about which companies would hire him “green”. Meaning no school. And as I’ve talked with the HVAC guys working at the theaters or my nephew who works with a remodeling company, they are all willing to give him a chance as long as he’d plan on sticking around for a few years. And it helps I that tell them this young man isn’t a jerk. His biggest issue right now is he only has 1 pair of shoes. Loafers. Which have been terribly impractical in this mud. I’ve got nothing that fits him. I do pay him; he really should buy some boots.

Last week he and I put new batteries in my truck, we mounted some more 2×4’s on the shop walls, and we worked on changing an electrical box. Then I had him frame up the electrical box and add trim steel around it. Then I could add the “J” channel and get the pole barn steel around it.

There was an old, old fuse box here from when my Dad built the shed. I had new electrical service installed to the shed last summer

but I still need the old service. I had bought this new circuit breaker box 10 years ago and never got that installed. So, this was the time.  A job well done.

I plan on working hard on the farm financial bookwork this weekend. I meet the accountant on April 9th, but I should have 3 months of 2024 done by then, not still finishing 2023.

WHAT HAVE YOU GONE INTO GREEN?

SAY SOMETHING ABOUT SHOES.

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