Category Archives: Uncategorized

2024, animals, Family, Farming Update, Nature, Theatre, Uncategorized

Party On!

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The weekend farm report comes to us from Ben.

Menards has Christmas decorations out. Oh my…

We got a little rain Thursday night. For the heavy storms, large hail, and wind they were predicting, we got about 3/10 of an inch. It was a nice rain and we needed it.

I’ve been seeing some of the neighbors chopping corn, and some of the YouTube farmers I watch are chopping, and it’s amazing how much the technology has changed in this regard in the last 30 years. While many large dairy farms are still using bunkers and pits for silage, a few are going back to cement upright silos. One place I watch on YT had 3, 100′ tall silos built this summer. Two for corn silage, and 1 for haylage. (Haylage or silage is the entire crop all chopped up; The stalk and ear, or the alfalfa, rye, sorghum, whatever, all chopped up, and packed and allowed to ferment. It may be in an oxygen limiting silo ((the blue ‘Harvestore’ ones)) or the plain cement ones.) Bunkers are faster to fill, but take more manpower and equipment to fill, pack, cover, and unload. Upright silos fill a bit slower and take a little more routine maintenance, but they settle on their own and pack strictly from its own weight, and they seem to be automated enough, especially nowadays, that feeding takes a lot less work.

And now they have cameras in the silos to monitor operation, and the electrical cable travels inside and doesn’t need to be moved from door to door. It’s been kind of fun to see and reminisce. There’s a young man climbing the 100′ silos– keyword “young man”… Not sure I’d be doing that anymore.

We used two 18′ diameter, by 50′ tall silos. One for 1st crop hay chopped and filled in June, and the other for corn, filled in September. Usually the primary ingredient for dairy cattle ration is corn silage. Course it depends on geography. In some places it’s grass or hay. Every farm is different. Our cows got ground corn inside the barn, (plus minerals and protein supplements) but they got hay and corn silage outside, plus grass in summer.

The hay silage is dusty, and once a month I’d have to go up the chute and open up a lower door and move the unloader arm down, and every couple of months move the electrical cable and it was just a dusty dirty terrible job. Corn Silage wasn’t as dusty, but still had to open the doors and move the cable and do regular maintenance on the unloaders, and chop off what was frozen to the walls in the spring… it was a whole big thing. I don’t miss a lot of it.

The Custom guys are chopping with these huge eight or ten row choppers that can go across the rows if needed, they don’t have to follow the rows. Then it’s loaded into trucks, or tractors and wagons that follow the chopper and are filled almost automatically, and it’s so much easier than it was 30 years ago when I was doing it with our 2 row pull type chopper. Again, just fun to see

I managed to have one afternoon and a couple hours one other day to work in my shop. Got some sill plates bolted to the concrete floor and I have one post up.

Here is old technology mixed with new. A plumbob and a laser!

I took in some fire extinguishers to be renewed. This one from 1995 still worked great!

I showed daughter how to pull the pin and spray it around. Got a new one to replace this old one.

This week is Tech rehearsals for a 1920s jazz musical called ‘The Wild Party’ at the Rep Theater. Spending a lot of time here getting the new lights hooked up and the lightboard talking to the laptop. (Had to call in an expert to help do that). Here’s a picture of the lighting board from the tour ‘Back to the Future’ at the Orpheum.

Here is our new board at the Rep.

Their board has more knobs and screens. They win.

I did get a new battery put back in Kelly‘s tractor and had that running for a while. But there was a few wisps of smoke coming from under the dash, and the lights don’t work, so I assume I’m not done working on that yet.

And the 630 starter is making a funky sound.

And the 4-wheeler that I put the new carburetor on isn’t working again.

And the lawnmower still quits after it gets hot.

I have some things to work on yet.

Thursday night the dogs met a skunk.  I wasn’t there, Kelly and daughter were. We thought Bailey got the worst of it and she got a special bath (thank you Kelly), but this morning it was Humphrey that smells. Everyone is just staying outside for now.

Can you snap your fingers? Did I ask this before?  The musical director for this show, snapped her fingers LOUDLY, with a real good SNAP for almost the entire 2 hour rehearsal! After rehearsal I asked to see her fingers. I wanted to see if those fingers were twice as big as the rest. No, but she has a callous on that one finger. It’s interesting how that must be a young person’s thing. Daughter can snap good, too. I get a muffled little snap.

Not counting groans and moans, how many noises can you make with your body?

2024, Food, Nature, Travel, Uncategorized

Big Moon and Travel Food

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I spent Monday-Thursday in Bismarck attending a behavioral health conference. Husband stayed home, so I was on my own for meals and entertainment.

The business office at my agency arranged for and paid for me to stay at a quite adequate Bismarck hotel, nothing fancy. It had the typical “free” breakfast that was pretty awful, so I grabbed coffee and a pastry at a coffee shop on the way to the conference site. The conference provided quite fatty and sugary snacks at breaks. I walked to a noodle shop near the conference for lunch, and ate grocery store salads, hummus, naan bites, cheese, and fruit in the evenings in my room. Entertainment was just watching Forensic Files until I was ready to fall asleep.

I don’t like to eat in restaurants by myself, and I know that I am pretty spoiled regarding the food I eat at home. I know that in other parts of the country the options for food on the fly are better than in Bismarck. I was so glad to get home on Thursday afternoon and start planning the menu for the weekend. We are having white beans with clams and Spanish chorizo.

I was also in Bismarck during the the recent super moon and eclipse. A friend of ours who lives on the Fort Berthold Reservation was at a sports event in Mandan and took the following photo.

I couldn’t see the moon from my hotel room in Bismarck. I am not much of a star gazer, but I sure wish I could have got a glimpse of this in real life.

What foods do you opt for in food deserts or places like Bismarck? What would you like to view with a telescope? What is the best travel food you ever had?

2024, education, Fantasy, Games, Uncategorized

AArrrggghhh

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Photo credits:  MIT PE Department

If you thought that getting a degree from MIT was all work and no play, you’d be wrong.

Since 2011, if you complete Physical Ed classes in Archery, Fencing, Pistol (Air Pistol or Rifle) and Sailing, you are eligible for the MIT Pirate Certificate.  I am not making this up.                                                                                                                                   

From the MIT website:

“The MIT Pirate Certificate is only made available to MIT students and is an incentive for undergraduate students to complete their Physical Education & Wellness General Institute Requirement of 4 physical education & wellness courses. It is not a stand-alone certificate. Non-MIT courses and life experience are not counted towards completing the certificate. The MIT Pirate Certificate is for entertainment purposes only and does not give the recipient license to engage in piracy or any pirate activities.”

 I think raising a mug of rum to MIT would be appropriate on Talk Like a Pirate Day!

How do you make a pirate angry?

2024, animals, Family, History, home, Music, Mysteries, pets, Uncategorized

Pampered Pets

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We always had dogs when I was growing up.  The main two that I remember were Princess the Wonder Dog and Irish Colleen but there were a few others when I was quite young and then my moms golden retrievers about the time I went off to college.

It was much more casual having a dog back then.  No special bowls, just some dry kibble a couple of times a day.  No dog beds in multiple rooms of the house.  No walking dogs; when it was time for their business, you opened the door and let them out (fence or not fence).  No brush of teeth.  No flea and tick treatment, no heartworm pills.  No crates even.

It’s a whole `nother world now.  At our house, Guinevere is technically YA’s dog, so we pretty much play by her rules.  So yes, we have a crate, fenced yard, multiple leashes, all the vet treatments, teeth brushing, regular baths and nail clippings.  And beds (at least 3 of them).  Guinevere gets dry dog food mixed with a large spoonful of wet food twice a day.  Several kinds of dog treats.  Water upstairs and down.  A massive number of toys. Clothes and hats (which she detests).

But the funniest (at least to me) is pet music when we leave the house.  YA has decided that just chilling in her crate when we are both out of the house is stressful for Guinevere if she doesn’t have music in the background.  Since the crate is in the breakfast room, before we leave the house, YA calls out “Alexa, play classical for pets”.  Apparently we are not alone in this because every three or four times, Alexa asks if we want to subscribe to the Music for Pets channel/playlist and pay good money for it.  When we decline, then Alexa goes ahead with assorted classical music for pets. Personally I wouldn’t say that Guinevere likes or dislikes the classical – doesn’t seem to make her more relaxed – I think she’s already calm in her kennel.  And since she is YA’s dog, I play along. 

Every now and then if I’m leaving after YA and know I’m getting home before she does, I ask Alexa to play salsa music, or Peter Mayer or Enya – whatever comes into my head as I’m leaving.  Guinevere does not appear to be traumatized by this.

I try to imagine going back in time to my childhood and then having somebody from the present tell me how spoiled my dog is these days, including having to have music on when we leave the house.  I’m sure I would have fallen down on the floor laughing.

What kinds of things do you like when you’re being pampered?

2024, animals, Food, home, Uncategorized

Peccary Plans Gone Awry

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For my birthday, my dear friend Susan got me a javelina cookie cutter.  Pretty niche gift, right?  You wouldn’t think there would be enough javelina fans in the world who need a cookie cutter, but I’m glad somebody thought this was necessary.

Took me a few weeks but I finally decided last Friday to fire up the oven and make a batch of cookies.  The first aha moment was how large the cookie cutter actually is.  It came packaged in it’s own little box so I didn’t really have it in my brain how large it was until I opened it; it’s a good six inches long.  Basically the size of three medium-sized cookies together.

The second surprise was related to the first.  Being so large, I only got 17 cookies out of the entire recipe; I didn’t roll them too thinly because I was planning on sending a small package to Susan when they were finished. 

The third revelation was also related to one and two.  I didn’t have a tin or tupper that I could fit the cookies into.  This wasn’t an irrevocable problem as the Dollar Tree is ten minutes from my house.

They baked up nicely but there turned out to me one more shock.  Instead of making chocolate icing from scratch, I grabbed a can of chocolate icing that I had in the cabinet.  It was clear almost immediately that this ooey gooey icing, while being quite yummy, was never going to set up nicely for stacking them into a tin and sending them via the postal service.  I considered stopping mid javelinas and making a sturdier icing but I didn’t want to waste the icing I had.  The cookies went straight into the fridge and even after sitting overnight, still too sticky to mail. 

Oh well, best last plans.  Guess I’ll have to do another batch at some point this fall and think it all through a little more.

The cookies are quite nice and very cute.  I even bought a cheap comb at Walgreens to give them that javelina-y look. 

What kind of “out there” cookie cutter would you like to see made?  What kind of icing do you prefer on your cookies?

2024, animals, Farming Update, Kids, Seasons, Uncategorized

Ticonderoga!

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The Weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben!

I don’t know what happened to this week, it was one of those weeks that feels like it just kind of disappeared even though last weekend was a long time ago.

I did the usual college stuff, plus homework, went to play rehearsals Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights. Saturday morning I have a theater board meeting and I’ll do some work at the theater Saturday afternoon. Sunday we’re going up to see “Back to The Future” the musical. It got a pretty decent review with special emphasis on the technical stuff so that will give me something to look forward to. 

 tim was in Rochester so he picked up some eggs.

 I did finish planting rye last Sunday afternoon, and on Thursday I returned the seed that I didn’t use.

I took Thursday off from the college so I could work on my machine shed. I snapped a chalk line on the floor from the two existing exterior posts that will be the ends of my new wall, and then I spent quite a while figuring out the bottom plate and where doors will be and how much room there will be in the middle between the doors. I decided I need to get going on this wall because I was getting anxious about it, and I’m avoiding it, and doing a lot of putzy other little things, and walls don’t get done that way. Meaning there’s nothing to do but to do it. 

 A few dairy guys have started chopping corn silage (something I always enjoyed and I kinda miss), and I’ve seen a few bean fields that are losing their leaves. It means Fall and harvest is coming. Daughter was talking about Christmas the other day; she’s got a few items in mind. I had to laugh that I wasn’t thinking about Christmas yet, but she pointed out Halloween is next month, and then it’s just 2 months. Yes, yes it is. The circle is coming around.

 This spring when I ordered all those baby chicks, remember the batch of roosters that I mistakenly ordered? I guess I was too busy most of the summer to really pay much attention, and now at night when I’m throwing out corn and all the chickens are gathered around, I’m starting to count quite a lot of roosters. 

 They are kind of pretty, but I think I’ve counted 13 new roosters, not to mention the four older roosters we already have. And that’s far too many roosters. I had found a place that would butcher them, so maybe I really need to get back in touch with them and get something on the schedule. These are called Blue Lace Wyandotte and they’re really pretty. Although the females are large and kind of ornery. There’s been one sitting in a nest box most of the summer and even with daughter’s milk jug shield, she won’t usually reach under that one for eggs.

I went to Savers for more shirts. I thought I was going to have to use the sleeve I cut off to add the second pocket, (I have one shirt that has very shallow pockets. I can’t even put a pen in the pocket. Eventually I cut a hole in the bottom of that pocket so my pen and pencils will fit.) That’s why I need a second pocket. 

Discuss pencils. Mechanical? Wood? Erasable ink?  

2024, animals, home, Nature, Uncategorized

Amazing!

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Monday night, Husband and I were sitting on the stoep after work, when we noticed a very populous flock of birds flying southwest over our neighborhood. They were pretty high flyers, but appeared to be blackbirds of some sort.

it soon became apparent that there were tremendous numbers of birds overhead. The line of flyers went on and on for almost 20 minutes, and we estimated that there must have been at least a thousand birds in the flock. I can’t imagine why so many of them were travelling together like that. I don’t think it was coincidence that only a few hours after they flew over, we started to get smoke from northern and western fires.

I can’t imagine where such a large number of birds would land to get water and food. They would need a huge forest of trees to roost in. I am not sure where blackbirds go for the winter, but I hope there is room for them all.

What are some of the more amazing natural phenomena you have witnessed? Seeing many migratory birds now?

2024, books, Media, Movies, The Future, Uncategorized

Curated Batman

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As part of my rabbit-holing this past week, I stopped at the Southdale Library to pick up a DVD on Monday.  My local library is Washburn and I don’t visit other libraries too much but occasionally if there is something I want RIGHT NOW at another library not too far from me, I’ll go pick it up.

The Southdale branch does a fun voting game at the entrance on the second floor.   They set out a small displays with a question (usually favorite books or authors) and then you bot by putting a little piece of paper into a can.  It’s a silly bit of fun so I always vote.  I don’t know how often they change out the game and I don’t even know if they ever “publish” the results anywhere.

On Monday, the game was “Who is your favorite Batman”.   I wasn’t sure why but of course I voted for Adam West with no hesitation.  I went in search of my DVD and wasn’t thinking too much about it until I was leaving the library and noticed a big Batman display on the wall.  The photo above is half of the exhibition.  Then I understood why the Batman voting.

Washburn library displays books on a theme every few weeks on the big display table right as you come into the library.  Upon asking once I was told that it’s up to each individual library to curate their own special exhibits.  I always look at the books and usually pick one up every few weeks but I’d have to say we never have anything quite as fun as Batman!  It almost made me want to pick up one of the books but since I’ve never really been that interested in Batman (I haven’t even seen all the movies), I didn’t need to add to my obsessions this month.  But it did make me think how much work and hopefully fun goes into making these displays. And I sincerely hope that after the big Southdale Library renovation beginning in 2025, they will still have these fun interactive exhibits.

If you were to curate a display somewhere, what would it be and where?

2024, Art, Movies, Poems, Theatre, TV, Uncategorized

RIP James Earl Jones

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I read the news yesterday that James Earl Jones passed away on Monday at the age of 93.

It turns out that I’ve seen a fair number of the films that he’s been in.  Not a majority by any means – he did after all either appear or lend his voice to over 100 films/tv shows and had a rich background in theatre as well. 

I saw his first two forays into film by luck of the draw.  His first was in 1964 in Dr. Strangelove as Lt. Lothar Zogg, one of the pilots of the last bomber. 

The second film was The Comedians in 1967, although it wasn’t very funny and I didn’t remember that he was the rebel doctor who got his throat slit 2/3 of the way through the movie.  In fact, until The Great White Hope in 1970, I hadn’t even know his name and wouldn’t have been able to tell you he had been in the earlier movies.  Now, like most everyone else, I hear his voice and know immediately who it is.

It’s interesting to me that JEJ stuttered as a child.  I heard him say in an interview once “one of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can’t utter.”  I don’t remember if this was having to do with his stutter (apparently he didn’t speak for about 8 years as a kid) or more having to do with feeling the need to keep quiet in a contentious world. 

He got over his stutter with the help of a teacher who encouraged him to read poetry.  And read poetry he did.  One of his biggest stage hits was as Othello.  Here is a bit that he did for a White House Poetry event:

He seemed to be able to play just about any kind of role – Moor King, evil Jedi, doctor, teacher, not too bright police office, lion, wise legendary author – you name it.  

I’ve made a list of films that he appeared in.  Guess I have another rabbit hole for the next couple of weeks!

Do you have a favorite JEJ film?

2024, Family, Food, gardening, home, Kids, Uncategorized

Eating it Up!

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“We need to go grocery shopping.”  “We need groceries.” ” We have to go shopping.”  These are very frequent litanies at our house.  YA occasionally cooks (and she’s fine at it) but she prefers quicker meals.  This means she doesn’t recognize foodstuffs that aren’t already “meals”.  She can open the cabinet, see a can of black beans, a can of corn and a can of Rotel tomatoes sitting next to each other and not see a meal.

In my reality, we hardly have room in the fridge, in the freezer or the cabinets for more food.  But if I say, I can make ________ from the cans in the cabinet or frozen items, she is often not interested.  So we go round and round and neither of us ever “wins”. 

She left for London last Thursday and I decided that I would spend her 12 days out of town eatting only what is in the house.  With the exception of milk, I am not going to purchase any food.  Unfortunately it’s not much of a stretch goal.

However after a few days, I realize that I’m running up against a “quirk” of mine.  My mom was born in 1932 and so her formative years were depression years and she came out of them with a “waste not, want not” attitude.  When I was growing up, we had what she lovingly called “goulash” at least once a week – any leftovers saved up and then lumped together when there was enough for a pot-ful.  I don’t remember any of them being ghastly and will admit that as an adult, I have more than once combined leftovers.

BUT, this waste not/want not that she passed to me has morphed over the years into a strong desire to “finish” things.  When I eat the last slice of bread or heat up the last helping of a dish, it makes me feel good, almost lofty.  This can unfortunately lead me to finishing things when I don’t really need to.  No need to eat three slices of bread because there are only three slices left in the bag… that kind of thing. 

While YA is gone, I’m having to balance my desire to finish things with my desire to eat only stuff that is in the house.  So far so good.   Chips/cheese/salsa.  Made a panzanella with a baguette and shaved parmesan I found in the fridge (and tomatoes and basil from the garden).  11 jars of tomato sauce for the freezer.  Ate the last English muffin from Breadsmith.  Got through the pesto pasta with tomatoes that I made right before she left.  Discovered chocolate, marshmallows and graham crackers – smores.  A couple of smoothies so far using lots of frozen fruit.  I harvested the rosemary and it smelled to good that instead of freezing it all, I made a focaccia.

This is all a lot of fun so far.  We’ll see how the next week goes!

How do you feel about leftovers?