Farmerjan's journal - Weather

farmerjan

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Yes, it was nice of her to have been looking for a car.... I really like the other forrester as far as condition and all, but the price is far more than I wanted to take on right now. This is bearable since ds said to wait til we sell some cattle and I can pay him then....he has this stimulus money they have been giving the farmers, so I think that he can manage to carry it for a bit since he is not sharing it with me. He did give me some from the first check and I told him to keep the rest for farm expenses...... of course that was before "they" got back together so tight. But for now, I will take the outback, get things here at the house put together.... get out of the rental, and then have a little more money to work with. Still, it looks like they are going to stay together . He is working his way into the family so much, and to the exclusion of doing things we normally would do.... he went and got the new discbine and just told me about it after the fact. I do not like the feeling of being an after thought with the farm stuff. So take what I can, do what I can, and start to slowly untangle from this situation I think. Sad to think about it. Lot of years tied up in this whole thing.

On another front. Didn't lose very many last night in that horrific wind and chilly temps. So things are looking up. Trying to get the ends on the greenhouse but the wind is still brisk... might have to wait to tomorrow as I can't get up on the step ladder with it blowing so hard. Need to get them out of the trailer and into it and be done with that too.

Had PT today, and he said that I am making some progress with the pain in the muscles, tendons and ligaments around the knees and the thighs and all. I didn't cringe as much today... yet I still hurt. He suggested that I talk to the dr for the knees @ Duke that I went to and got the shots, and see if maybe they would put me on something like Celebrex. I am not sure of it, but he said it is not as bad for my kidneys and liver and all that like increasing the doses of ibuprophen or tylenol that I am not getting any real relief from at all. So I am sending a message through the system online that Duke has. She was real good about answering my questions and concerns when I first considered and then did the shots. I can say, cortisone is definitely NOT MY FRIEND..... totally useless for me and in fact even feel like they hurt more than they did. And there is a very small percentage of people that do have these results. This celebrex would be a "short term" type of thing, as there is no question that I will need them replaced. I am making an appt with the dr the other PT 's mom had her knees done. But this covid crap has really got me a little concerned with the different states calling for more restrictions.... including VA..... but I have got to get in this house first and foremost.......

Got to call Deb and see about dinner tonight.

It is still colder than just chilly. Very BREEZY but at least it has let up from the blow you away wind from last night.
I did some blankets, comforter, sheets, a load of jeans and sneakers today after the PT appt. They are on the line. I put 2x as many clothespins on them so that they didn't blow away!!!!!. They will smell SOOOO good...and will be so nice and fluffy from this wind. Going to see about what else there is that might need to be done after the PT appt on Thursday.....
Calling for clear, cool temps, moderating a bit, with no precip for over 10 days. DS is going to cut some hay today and probably tomorrow and now says that will be it. He will bush hog the rest as we just don't need the hay and after these 2 places, with the orchard grass going into sq bales... the rest would be round bales and he says that it will do the ground good to just bush hog off the places that need to be cut for their second time. That's fine, I am ready to be done hay.... but I am concerned that it might be a mistake as the winter will be harder than we think. Yes we have the silage, but what about a better carry over for next year???? Well, that's his call. I will be able to just work on the house and test what farms are wanting to test, and stay in.

My friend is still very interested in renting where I am moving from. I think it will be a step up for her situation, and might work good for her.... even if only for a year or two. So I am proceding in that vein. We were going to get together today but she wound up in the hosp with an asthma attack as she couldn't get it under control. So I will get with her in a few days. I am telling my landlord about her with this rent payment. That ought to make him happy.... and he won't have to do anything to make the move work. She said she would help me do stuff to be able to get moved... and I am sure we can work out the cats and storage stuff between us. I will do what I can to help them too so that I can keep things workable between us. He ought to be glad for my doing this. Hopefully they will be able to make the rent... but I think that she is pretty responsible in that way. I mean, when she had the accident and broke her ankle, and they got behind with the rent, she paid that landlord all she could and got it all caught up...even with it being a horrible place to live and then after they had gotten all caught back up and current , he gave them their walking papers. So, this ought to be good for her even with the problems there.

Time to get going and get some other stuff done. I probably will go directly to the stone house after dinner tonight. Going out now and put a full waterer in with the chickens and fill the feeder and get the tarp wrapped around the end again. I let the one side/end down in the sun during the day.

I heard about a "tub liner" for the bathtub.... am trying to research that as maybe better to just "reline" the whole tub ? Anyone ever heard of that? @Ridgetop ???? You did all those renovations, anything like that ever come across your radar?
I brought a couple boxes of food up that I had boxed by the back door. Going to start bringing stuff like that so that I can feel like I am making a little progress.... Going to finish putting the liner down in the cabinets in the kitchen, so that I can put all the stuff in there when the time comes. The drawers are all lined with contact type paper. I am going to get the baseboard heaters put together in the bedroom and the bathroom and the utility room. Then can just run the vacuum over them for the dust. Obviously going to leave the LR, and the white ones in the DR and hallway so I can put them up clean. I am tired of tripping over them.
Need to spend a day at the other house sewing. DS gave me some pants that need patches and seams fixed. GF does not sew. I have a couple pairs of jeans that need patches too. And get some more of the fabric and stuff boxed and ready to move. Thinking the sewing machine may wind up in the bedroom.... computer in the LR as well as the TV ....vcr/dvd player.
If I get some of this stuff out of the way, then I will start to make the effort to get the good Liberty Blue dishes moved out of the china cabinet there to the china cabinet here. I will move them myself.... don't need someone breaking them. It will take a bit of time as the china cabinet is FULL....
 

farmerjan

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Have a few minutes waiting for the other shoe to drop. Guy is here looking at furnace. Got a couple of problems already, and he is looking at the heat exchanger and all and will let me know more. The flue pipe is rusted through and needs replacing, not the end of the world, but the pipe that feeds water into it was disconnected...I am assuming that was done so that there wouldn't be water in there to freeze.... maybe not as horrible as he is making it out to be. A new furnace is not in the budget right now... but we will see.
Had dinner with Deb last night and it was good. Went early and got back about 6:30. Came back up to house this morning, then went to vote and went by Deb's house and met the horse that is going to be spending the winter there and I will be checking on when she is not out here at the farm. The guy was supposed to be here by 10:30 but then called and said that it would be later due to another call that was right close to where he already was. Get it, don't make wasted trips. So he is here now.
DS is cutting hay now, they are off today as they traded today for another day they would normally get off. Don't understand the state's methods, but since the weather is nice and the hay is getting cut and there is at least a 7-8 day stretch of no precip in the forecast, I don't care how they work their days off. Hope to have some help to get the ends up and the cover on the greenhouse frame then I can do whatever all else has to be done and get them moved in tomorrow.
Came up to the house to the clothes all on the ground. New clothesline I put up broke ... I guess in the wind with the weight of the wet clothes. I had gotten one that was all cotton type.... So in the meantime I had also gotten one that was a poly/plastic or something, also. So I took that one out, restrung it and rehung the clothes. Could be worse..... but I couldn't figure out where the clothes were !!!!!
There is a breeze but it is warmer than it was. Supposed to be nicer all week.
 

farmerjan

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The other shoe dropped. Heat exchanger is rusted through. He showed me pics on his phone. Water has been capped off, but that all the pipes would have to be pressure tested and all too. New furnace, all the work , we are looking at something like 10-12,000...... I will be just as well off to do the wood burning furnace then. Have to do some checking around..... maybe ds will have some ideas....Definitely not in the plans or the budget......D@#%
 

farmerjan

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Jim came and was helping me with the greenhouse end pieces. Then he had to go pick up ds and take him back to his truck from where he was with the mower. They came back here and ds helped get the top up over the frame for the greenhouse and it really helps when someone is tall enough to about reach 8 ft up (he is 6'6"). So I told him about the furnace and he said well, I have that one used from a friend who replaced it because they wanted one that could accommodate air also, that was going to go in the shop eventually; that he thinks we can make work for the winter. Let's hope:fl:fl:fl:fl:fl:fl:fl:fl:fl:fl:fl:fl:fl:fl:fl:fl:fl:fl:fl
 

farmerjan

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Okay.... drop the panic a level.... hot water systems are 2 to 3 x what a hot air system costs but a "furnace" or boiler is about 15-2500 . Still the other work could make it cost in the 4-6,000 range. Well, not a great drop in the panic level.... if he can do something for the winter, that will get me into here sooner, and get rid of the double payments, and then be able to get something else figured out next year.
And one of the sisters that owned the house stopped, on her way by, and said that they have used Flex-seal tape on their tub and that it does a pretty good job of holding up, for an inexpensive way to get into the house now and do the bathroom later. So I will see about that. The repair stuff I got only does a very small section and is quite involved from what I am reading. Don't care what it looks like since the whole thing is going to be replaced..... just care that it stops the problem for the immediate future.
 

Baymule

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What about a ventless gas space heater? I have lived in houses that had no other source of heat. It was kind of a bummer to come home after work to a cold house, run to light the heater and wait for it to warm up, but that's all I had. It was ok even when it was freezing outside, even quite cozy.


You can get one for not a lot of money, lease a propane tank, they will come and set the tank and keep it full. You may have to run the copper tubing from the tank to the heater, but it is not that expensive to have done. It would get you heat without a lot of cash outlay.

It sounds like you are being slowly pushed out of the farm doings. I'm sorry, I don't know how you could go about addressing that without a big fuss. I think you are handling it well, maybe you and him can sit down and get things lined out so that you know where you stand in your partnership.
 

farmerjan

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@Baymule there is a small "fireplace type" gas heater that went in the LR, but I have to heat the basement/crawlspace enough to keep the pipes from freezing too....Alot to have to worry about.... but tomorrow is another day.
I planned on having propane because my stove is propane and I was going to rehook up the little fireplace heater in the LR. BUT.... neither one will get heat in the house now....which I will need to get the floors dried....Deb mentioned that she has several of those "oil radiator type" heaters that I was welcome to use. They are not expensive to buy but they do run up the electric bill; getting the floors dried won't take more than a week or so...so running any type heater is not going to be a huge deal, because it won't be forever...... I can put heaters in the adjoining rooms as soon as the sanding is done, take down the plastic from the doors.... and it will cost but can get it heated more to get the floors dried with the finish..... Which of course it could have been a moot point if they had gotten done a month ago as originally planned....What I am concerned about is what to do for the colder winter days in the crawlspace/basement area.....
Hurry up and wait.....

Been watching the election results. They are calling several states, and now Pa has shut down counting so that is totally out of contention for the time being. They called Va from the beginning, and it is getting closer....but it has actually been in favor of Trump from the beginning yet it was called for Biden early. They just called Tx for Trump... but it has become very obvious that all the ones moving in from these blue states are definitely moving the conservative states towards the blue tendencies..... it is a little scary that the more liberal socialist feelings are coming with the voters that move out of failing solid blue states to the more workable red states and then they are changing the conservative states in the direction of what they left. That is what bugs me.... if you don't like it enough to stay, so you leave, don't try to change where you are going to, so that it looks more and more like where you left behind. Going to quit and go down the hill. I voted, I can't change it now.
 
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