Big snow storms and big parties don’t go together. I watched the weather like that proverbial hawk for a couple of weeks and was a little dismayed when just a few days ahead of Pi Day, the forecast took a turn for the worse. For the next few days we were hoping the snow would hold off until Saturday night, but it became clear that our hopes wouldn’t be realized. YA suggested that we move Pi Day up to 5 p.m. (instead of 6) to give folks a little more wiggle room so I sent out an email.
I was a bit worried about whether I could be ready by 5. On Thursday and Friday I was… well a little fuzzy. Just not firing on all thrusters. Around noon on Friday, I had some pie shells par-baking; as I waited, I took a quick break on the sofa. When the timer went off, I headed to the kitchen, faced the oven, turned off the timer, put on the oven mitts and then promptly turned right around and opened the dishwasher. Just a smidge loopy I’d say.
YA was an angel and by the time the first folks arrived at 4:30, everything was done except for the whipped cream on the last three pies. We had everything on the table and ready by 5. Phew. Of course not everybody got the email so there was a 5:00 influx and a 6:00 influx. One friend came at 7:15! No worries – enough pie for everybody!
Here is this year’s menu:
Blueberry
Dutch Apple
Peach
Pear Croustade
Oreo Cream
Double Lemon Chess
Nectarine Almond Crumb
Key Lime
Crack
Banofi
Fudge Pecan
Coconut Macadamia
Root Beer Float Whoopies
So you can have a Pi Day celebration when there is a storm and even if you’re a little discombobulated. However I did make everybody who left after 7 call/text me when they got home safe and sound!
It was another Friday the 13th. Any issues for anyone?
And did everyone hang onto their hats Friday? Man, it was windy.
We had a few branches down, nothing serious. One tree down on a township road at 7:30 AM, and I was lucky one of the other supervisors took care of that.
I finally ordered 400 gallons of diesel fuel and 100 gallons of farm gas. The longer I waited, the more it was stressing me out. Prices on diesel fuel are up a about dollar from a year ago. Four hundred dollars isn’t going to make or break us.
Wednesday, we met our attorney to sign a paper regarding the Farm Trust, and I took that to the Farm Service Agency to see if that makes them happy. Sometimes you have to play the game and jump through the hoops. (And that afternoon I had a talk with summer padawan about bureaucracy and hoops, and you can either deal with it or fight everything all the way. That’s part of life. At some point there will be a person in charge of hoops, and they either take care of your hoop paperwork, or your hoop paperwork will never get approved. You get to decide what would be easier in your life. A couple pieces of chocolate and a smile sometimes helps. )
Had a “discussion” with John Deere about the big parts sale. The pitch of my voice went up, and I used a couple bad words. I got all riled up for the hour it took to straighten things out. Ag parts are supposed to be tax exempt, and I didn’t get the discount I expected WHICH WAS THE WHOLE REASON I ORDERED THE PARTS! It was one of those things where the local dealership works different than the online parts order place. I told the guy I wasn’t mad at him; I was mad at the situation. And the local guy was as frustrated as I was. I said they better make sure all the sales people understand because it was not presented to me that way when I called two days ahead to see how to make this work.
The Solution was to return everything (electronically) and redo it through the local dealer. And I filed a tax exemption form to John Deere Parts.com. That was how I spent Thursday morning. By Friday morning it was all straightened out and I saved $250. Almost made up for the diesel fuel! I told the parts manager I appreciated his work and we laughed about some stuff.
I sold the corn I had in storage at the elevator. Price wasn’t really moving. Probably lost money compared to selling it last fall, and I had to pay storage now anyway. As I wrote last week, I am spending money hand over fist, so can always use the money.
The anal weather station sold at the auction for $24. The Culti-packer / roller item I was watching sold for $17,000. Jeepers.
I did get the drag I wanted. Paid more than I wanted. It looked like just me and one other guy bidding on it. I fully expected someone else to come in at the last minute like they do…but they didn’t. Isn’t it something how an item may not have much value until two people want it. Suddenly it’s valuable.
But. It’s mine now. Went with my buddy Paul, and all the dogs, and picked it up Friday morning and pulled it home. Bailey stuck her nose in Paul’s ear for a while, and we learned Luna likes ice cubes.
I’m not exactly sure yet how it unfolds or stands up. There’s a crank and a cable…I’ll figure it out at some point. In the field it will look like this, except not so shiny, or clean, or new, or big, and not such a fancy tractor.
Courtesy McFarlaneag.com
Kelly and I were watching the news the other night. Lamenting ordering diesel fuel and the price, lamenting how prices are going up on crop inputs like Urea, lamenting the cost of the drag, lamenting selling the corn I have in storage. And she said to me, “Are we having fun yet?”. Then we got the giggles.
I said that would be good in the blog and as I added that note to my phone list, I saw another note from a while ago:
“Doris Day, annunciation, nice work if you can get it.” Hmmmm. Was Doris Day annunciated? Kelly thought maybe I met “enunciation” and that rang a bell.
I remember hearing her sing ‘Nice Work if you can Get it’ on the radio and how well she enunciates her ‘T’s. An internet search says:
Key aspects of her vocal style include:
Precision and Clarity: She was known for her ability to deliver lyrics with exceptional clarity, often compared to jazz singers in her phrasing.
Breathy Quality: Some listeners identified a distinct, “breathy” quality in her voice, which was a hallmark of her singing and speaking.
Emotional Control: Day was noted for her ability to convey deep emotion in ballads without sacrificing vocal control.
Technical Skill: Her technique included an impressive ability to manage breath control and blend her belt register with her head voice. *AI Overview, Reddit*
Listen to her sing this. Crisp and clear!
And then I go to Mel Torme because he’s just so cool!
I love that twinkle in his eyes when he’s having fun singing.
From there I think to myself, “What is up with you and these singers??” As a kid, I wouldn’t have touched music like that or those performers with a 10’ pole. And now I love it.
This post title comes from tim, who commented that having one dog makes it your boon companion, but having one more dog means you have “two damn dogs”.
We picked up our second dog, a 12 week old female Cesky Terrier, from her breeder last week Thursday in Kansas City. Our 4 year old male Cesky is from the same breeder. He is located in Oklahoma City, but was at a dog show in KC, so we met him there. I had never been in Kansas City or at a dog show before. We met the breeder back in the grooming area where there were dogs of every size and breed. It was quite fun. He is a very responsible breeder, and the two top Ceskys at the Westminster dog show this year were his. He also breeds Soft Coated Wheaten Terriers.
We drove to KC on Wednesday and drove back to Luverne on Thursday. Mitzi, the new puppy, was a good traveller. We also transported a year old Cesky girl named Secret to Luverne to get her to a Manitoba woman who is a dog trainer and Junior Dog handler trainer. The woman had been at Mayo for hand surgery and met us in Luverne Friday morning. We picked up our Cesky boy, Kyrill, from the boarding kennel on Friday morning as well. Our main goal in getting another dog was to provide him with more socialization and activity. It has been working like a charm. He is 30 lbs and she is 3 lbs but they race, chase, and tumble. They love playing indoors and outdoors. They steal each other’s toys and chews. She is a sweet but spicy little thing who doesn’t seem to mind him running her over. She puts herself at a distance from him and then charges into him. He doesn’t seem to mind. They exhaust one another in the best way.
We are sort of crate training her. I mean “sort of” because she sleeps with me and Kyrill in the guest room so I can let her out in the night when she stirs to go potty every three hours or so. Wednesday night she made it six hours before I I had to take her outside. Kyrill isn’t too sure he likes her next to him in bed with us, but she snuggles by me out of his space. I predict in a month they will snuggle together.
Having a puppy in the house is like having a new baby in the house, and we are pretty tired. She is so sweet and is going to be as much of a soul mate as Kyrill is. I am really glad we have two dogs. We don’t just have two terriers. We are dog people now.
Ever been to Kansas City or at an animal show? Tell about your favorite/troublesome dogs.
My neighbor Don once asked me about how I keep up with supplies for my paper crafts. I think I snorted. I’m pretty certain that if I didn’t buy anything else ever (except for tape, which I go through at a prodigious rate), I could keep making cards until I’m 105.
You’d think that with stacks of paper, I wouldn’t be so stingy with it. I keep almost every scrap, unless it’s thinner than 1/2”. There are two plastic bins in my studio with paper scraps – one is for solid-colored cardstock and the other is for patterned paper. Both these bins are full and I spend a bit of time sifting through to see if there is something I can use rather than cut into a new piece of stock/paper. I try to keep it organized, but many days when I’m straightening up after I’ve crafted, I just toss the scraps into the bin willy nilly.
That means that a couple of times a year, it’s time to sort out the scraps. I go through each bins separately; solids get divided up into colors (blues, greens, purples, etc.) and patterns get laid out by pattern type and/or season (stripes, dots, floral, Halloween, etc.) At this point I usually jettison a lot of the smaller pieces, especially the patterned stuff. The header photo is what it looks like (this is the solids).
This whole process takes about an hour. It’s not hard by any means and I can’t say that I actually enjoy it but it does feel quite good when it’s done. And I don’t have to think about it for another six months or so!
Last Thursday night, YA and I headed over to the Minnesota Historical Center to see the Julia Child exhibit. It’s been there for a bit but we just got around to it… plus the free Thursday aren’t EVERY Thursday, so it does require a little pre-planning.
I’ve seen Julia Child’s actual kitchen at the Smithsonian, but this traveling exhibit if much more extensive, covering details of her childhood, how she met her husband Paul, their life in France and, of course, her culinary journey. There are quite a few fun bits in the exhibit:
Pots w/ smells. There were a few pots next to copies of her most famous recipes. When you lifted the lid, that recipe’s aroma wafted out of the pot. Ingenious. There was a mock-tv studio and if you stood in certain parts of the room, your image was filmed and showed up on three different screens. Another fabulous part of the exhibit was a 12-foot high copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking; the inside of the book was projected from two different screens and every minute or so, the “page” would turn, taking your to another recipe in the book. What a marvelous idea.
I guess I know more about Julia Child than I thought (couple of biographies); the exhibit didn’t have anything that was a surprise about her life but it was enjoyable nonetheless.
I had been surprised that YA had wanted to come along but she seemed to enjoy it. We then went on to see a couple of the other exhibits that are showing right now but she didn’t want to stay for the free concert that was going on that night. Oh well, I take what I can get!
What’s the last museum you’ve visited? Any good biographies lately?
Not quite sure where I got the idea to read And Then We Hit a Rock by Greg Buenzli – it had a catchy title – sometimes that’s all it takes. Greg and his family bought a catamaran and sailed around on it for a year and a half. Four stars. It would have been five stars if the good stuff / bad stuff had been more balanced. It was about 90% the bad weather, the things that broke (legend!) and other things that went wrong; only about 10% (most of it in the last 10 pages) of why it was a good experience. An OK read, just not as good as it could have been.
The reason I’m telling you this is a warning. Do not attempt any home improvements projects right after finishing this book. It’s cursed.
Now that YA has finished painting all the hallways, she’s been at me to re-hang all the pictures. I was ready; I had purchased some new picture hangers, I’d sorted through the photos and stacked them by where they should go, I’d dusted everything off. No worries – I’ve certainly hung pictures before.
It was a nightmare. If it could go wrong, it did. Hallway is just dark enough that everything I dropped (repeated little nails, anchors) needed the flashlight to find it. I only dropped the hammer once – the only luck of the day was that it didn’t land on any of my toes. Two photos had to be re-hung because I just did a bad job the first time. The wire on the back of one photo ripped off after it had been on the wall about 15 minutes. The box with the various tools was right underneath it at that point or the glass would probably have shattered. Also the number of tools kept expanding as I went along. Level, hammer, pliers, painters tape, scissors, flashlight, ruler. And have I mentioned my poor fingers? Mashed, crushed, banged, pounded, beaten, whacked, smashed, bashed, battered…. I’ll stop now. Suffice it to say I hung 17 pictures and bashed a thumb or finger at least 20 times. I did try using a little pliers to hold the nails, but it wasn’t very effective.
I couldn’t bring myself to do the destination photos that go down the stairway after getting the upstairs done; hopefully I’ll have the nerve tomorrow. Maybe 24 hours between me and the cursed book will make it not so painful!
Ever read a cursed book before? Bashed a finger recently?
If I was smart, I would’ve ordered 500 gallons of diesel fuel a few weeks ago.
I called the supplier on Tuesday and he said diesel was six dollars a gallon. I didn’t even blink. Then he laughed and said he was just kidding. Well, let’s hope so. The price is up and was up more that day. Sometimes I fill the tank in the fall, sometimes in the spring, it just sort of depends. I won’t really need it for another month, but honestly, it’s anybody’s guess if it’s gonna keep going up or come back down at some point soon enough… my gut says I should just fill it now. Thankfully 500 gallons will last me the year. One farmer I watch on YouTube uses 7000 gallons / week. Ouch!
I got to the big parts sale at John Deere. I may not have mentioned a couple of weeks ago when I was picking up trees how I got the tractor over a stump and bent the driveshaft to the front wheels. At first, I was hoping it was just a shield but no, it was the whole shaft that was bent.
That’ll buff right out!
That made it hit the bottom of the tractor with every revolution, and it was kind of sickening.
(I had to go back and look; I did very briefly mention it two weeks ago, cause I am embarrassed to talk about it.)
I knew the stump was there…but it was muddy, and dark, and frozen underneath, and one thing led to another and…. so it goes. But still.
Sigh.
If only I had cut the stump 3” shorter.
Good thing there was a sale, saved a little money anyway. Which I spent on lawn mower belts and blades, digger shovels, chisel plow points, filters, rubber boots for the tractor steering knuckles. All that was about $1700.
Stopped and picked up the new bathroom door for the basement bathroom remodeling. It’s a few weeks out yet, but getting stuff around. Paid for that.
And then on another website I ordered some new LED lights for the tractors; just about have them all replaced now I think.
Got home and installed the new driveshaft. It’s really pretty.
Ooooo. Shiny!
Installation is easy; slip it over the splines in the back, four bolts in the front.
Forgot to get new bolts for the shields. They’re metric. I found a few at home, and then stopped and bought an assortment of metric bolts… knew the day was coming I’d need a collection of both standard and metric.
Try not to break this one, Ben.
I need to plan a road trip to Millerville MN. About five hours from Rochester, past Alexandria. I’ve purchased a ‘Track Wacker’. Everybody outta have a TRACK WACKER! (I can think of a few people I’d like to use a track wacker on.) I will mount it on the back of the 6410 tractor, and it covers up the tire tracks before drill comes behind planting oats. It was fairly cheap at $450.
There’s an online auction up in Plainview. The auction goes until Tuesday evening. I’ve marked several things to watch including a 32-foot wide, Brillion brand, Pulverizer / packer. One would use it to help break up clumps of soil, and firm the soil for planting. I knew it would be out of my price range, and as of Friday afternoon it’s at $13,000. That’s $12,000 more than I wanted to spend.
I’m watching a 30′ drag / harrow. I use one after oats, and soybeans, again, just to help smooth the field. It’s over $1100 now…I’m still bidding on it, but by Tuesday I bet it will be $2800 and I can’t convince myself it’s worth that. My old drag is going to disintegrate someday…I bought it from a neighbor 40 years ago. Every year, I add another piece of chain to it, trying to hold it all together.
Man… I am spending money like a drunken…. something.
Included in the auction is one lot containing both a “Wood Duck Call and Vintage Anal Weather Station”. Yep, you read that right. And I checked, and that’s what it’s called. I think we all know what they really mean with the weather station and the three gauges, but it does give you pause, doesn’t it. I mean, it sort of boggles the mind! I really want to know what one would do with an anal weather station.
And there is always ALWAYS a dozen guns and boxes of ammunition. I asked up there one day and they said most of the guns come from estate sales. I bought a shotgun off this auction once, and a box of shells, if they sell cheaper than buying at a local store. All that stuff is officially transferred at a gun shop; you don’t just carry it off from the auction site. And the gun shop calls the state and I filled out forms, so it’s as safe as it can be, for what it is.
Among the shells this time, is an ice cream bucket, of 300- .223 caliber bullets. Called a FREEDOM BUCKET! Picture of a Revolutionary Minute-man and a US flag on it.
Give me a second while I put my head in my hands.
————-
A former student came to visit. She met a guy online, moved to Ireland, and has two of the cutest little girls.
Help me come up with an adjective for a bucket of bullets referred to as a FREEDOM BUCKET.
ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO SAY ABOUT WEATHER STATIONS?
I grew up in the Lutheran church we attend now. I sang in the church choir from Grades 9-12. It was a vibrant musical community. The organist, Mrs Olson, played every Sunday for decades.
We were very active in choir and bells at our ND church, and performed almost every week. It was a shock to find that our new church choir only sings for major holidays like Easter and Christmas. They have bells, but no bell choir. There is a very good guitar/piano/ vocal group that plays every Sunday, and an occasional organist. While they play fairly traditional hymns, they also play a lot of contemporary Christian music, which I don’t care to hear. It is so lacking in substance.
The big problem for the our church music now is that the long-term choir and bell director recently died. She was in her 90’s. There isn’t anyone to take her place. The old organist is still alive, but she is almost 100.
We started choir rehearsals for Easter last week. I hadn’t sung in a choir since we moved. It was such a relief to be able to sing. I didn’t realize how much I missed it, and how important it is for me to perform with others. We will play bells in September at the 75th anniversary celebration of our church’s founding. They have commisdionwd a piece from a composer at St. Olaf. I hope that can morph into more regular ringing.
What activities are essential for your quality of life and well being? What musical groups have you participated in?
Halfway through my BritBox “gift”, I have not yet developed a British accent, but wouldn’t be that surprised; the majority of the voices I’m hearing these days are British (or Australian).
As you can imagine, I’m getting my fill of Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie. It’s been years since I saw all of the Jeremy Brett/David Burke episodes. I do think they are my favorite. No offense to Benedict Cumberbatch/Martin Freeman or Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce but the Brett/Burke are more accurate to the original stories.
I’m a little hit and miss with Agatha Christie. Some of her stuff I can’t get to because it’s “Premium” and some of the stuff I’m finding is just dreck. But I’m getting enough. “Why Didn’t They Ask Evans” was excellent and I’ve watched a lot of David Suchet as Poirot. One of the most fun things was a documentary that followed the Christies on a worldwide trade mission trip around the world in 1922-23. Archie Christie was on the trip as an assistant to the British envoy and the Agatha was part of the mission to support the support. Although her first book (The Mysterious Affair at Styles) had been published two years earlier and was a huge success, she still wasn’t the wildly famous author she was later to become.
The best tidbit in the documentary was that Agatha Christie learned to surf in Muizenberg, South Africa during that trip. In fact, she is believed to be the first Western woman to stand up on a surf board. She apparently adored surfing. This is an excerpt from a letter to her mother:
“Oh, it was heaven! Nothing like it. Nothing like that rushing through the water at what seemed to you a speed of about two hundred miles an hour. All the way in from the far distant raft until you arrived, gently slowing down, on the beach, and foundered among the soft flowing waves.”
There were also trips in her life to Hawaii, where she again spent time riding the waves. It’s wonderful to think of Agatha as young and vigorous, since most of her fame came after this and most of the photos we see of her are from her older years.
Makes me hope that some of my favorite authors have a secret life that we don’t know about. Maybe John Scalzi has swum with dolphins. Maybe Andy Weir has time traveled to another planet and back. Maybe Naomi Novik has flown dragonback.
What fun facts would you love to know about your favorite authors?
I heard about the Hudson Hot Air Affair last fall. Probably on Facebook. It’s pretty straightforward. First weekend in February, sports fields of the EP Rock Elementary, tons of hot air balloons.
YA and I planned it all out. The website scared us a bit about how finding parking would be, so we left the house at 5:30 on Saturday morning to make sure we were there by about 6:15. This turned out to be jumping the gun. We easily found a really good parking spot right in front of the elementary school. Nothing was going on in the dark so we were able to sit in the car for almost a half hour before we ventured out to see the sunrise. It was quite icy on the field and the temperature was in the teens, but there were enough bodies waiting to keep it comfortable. The launch was scheduled for 7:35 but there were notes on the website as well as a couple of announcements that they would decide right at 7:35 if the winds would allow the launch. All the balloons were in various states at that point and when they cancelled the launch due to unfavorable winds they said that the balloon teams were going to inflate the balloons but keep them on the ground. (Turns out that none of the four planned launches happened this year – winds just weren’t in the mood.)
It was an amazing view of all the balloons filling up at once – if you haven’t seen a hot air balloon up close, they are HUGE. Seeing that many in the same place, all inflating at once was amazing.
My feet were starting to feel the cold at that point and I suggested to YA that we head to the craft fair (inside the school). She said we should make one “go around” to see everything before heading in. You’d think she would know better, wouldn’t you. An hour later I was still talking to balloon teams. Name of balloon (Kay’s Windancer, Senorita Sunrise, Late Nite Discussions, Wizardly Dreams), were they the owners/regular team (about 80% owners), where were they last (several had just come from Arizona the week before), how long they’ve been ballooning (most of them over 10 years, one guy 50 years). As you can imagine, many of them had plenty to say and I was having a great time. YA finally lured me with “there’s a black lab puppy over near the Remax balloon”. (Note: There are over 100 Remax balloons worldwide with four dedicated teams. The others can be leased/operated by Remax realtors and agents.)
The craft fair was OK. I bought a bottle of local maple syrup. I liked this year’s t-shirt – not sure what the theme (Skywalkers Return to Ranch) meant but I liked the design but it was a bit much, especially since I already have too many t-shirts. But we noticed that t-shirts from previous years were only $5. Maybe we’ll go again next year – hopefully there will be a launch and I can get this year’s shirt for a bargain!
Trail Baboon 