Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

Tuesday morning. Got home around midnight and came on here for a few minutes but then then quit and went to bed.
Hit a couple spots with some rain, drive .1 mile and out of it. Had some wet on the roads here... checked the rain gauge and basically barely wet so not much of anything.
It is foggy this morning, and the sun is trying to come out. Radar doesn't show much of anything here all day. Late aft might get some showers. Looks like Tenn and SC and some other places going to get a good bit for awhile today. Maybe I can get out in the garden for a bit.

I did get the tall grass all "weed eated" down yesterday morning, that had grown up through the cattle panels. Also did some around the house until I totally ran out the 3 charged batteries. Need to go find the sledge hammer to get the t-posts in to attach them to, and get the tomatoes planted if at all possible. Maybe then it will rain. Also have the sunflowers I rescued before they plowed the garden to get stuck back in there. Gonna stick them at the ends of a couple rows where I stuck some seeds. Then comes the marathon potato plantings... and some vining crops like cukes and other melons and stuff.

Need to eat, take the antibiotic, and some allergy pills since they are acting up this morning. Haven't been too bad the last week or so... Even raking hay was not as bad as some years. Maybe because we were getting it made before the grass had gotten so mature so not as much seed heads/pollen??? Like it is supposed to get made for optimal feed value. Part of the problem with having so much hay to make with limited time whith DS working full time and add in the weather factor. We really knocked out ALOT of hay this past week... and the weather was perfect for making it with no humidity and breezy conditions. The only tedding we did was the week before on the rye/wheat mixed field that was very thick stemmed and we only had a total 4 day window... this past week he got more cut, and down in the first day and then some more the next morning... so it had a good 4 full days to dry... and even that rye/wheat mix we did not tedd out. Saves alot of work, fuel, wear and tear on the equipment, and time...if we can get a window like that to make the hay.

Got samples to pack, probably later after it gets warmer outside.... I think some breakfast and out to the garden for a bit before it gets too hot in the sun. Supposed to get up in the 80's I think before it possibly showers later on. Then hay for the calves and feed the grain up there mid-day / early afternoon so I don't have to worry with them later after the tooth. Will drop the samples at UPS pickup store, it is right down the road from the dentist office so handy. Tooth "pulling" might all turn out to be not a big deal too.... can always HOPE...

 

[Mini Horses]

Hope dental went ok.

Did y'all get more rain? A cell went thru here about 7:30 and wow!! About 30-45min downpour. 2.02". Thought a decent shower would be good but we were slammed!! Didn't look at radar earlier but, hope you got a little wetness as you've been wanting rain.

They're saying more tomorrow & Thur. Don't know if it's staying too south for you

 

[farmerjan]

Wed. early aft. I had the tooth out... it seems like it was better than dentist thought, so a root canal would have been a possibility... was hard to break it to get it out.... but it is out and jaw is sore but not "hurting"....he popped off and a piece broke off the crown next to it... but they had put it on originally, so had the "blueprint" to make a new one.... they make them there, so took an extra half hour to make a new crown and get it put back on the other tooth next to the one that got pulled. Luckily no cost to me...
Big hole but it did not bleed alot, sure it is a little tender, but don't see any problems down the road... AND, I may be "re-eligible" for our dental ins at work since I am doing the herd I have picked up, and the owner sampler herd that I will be putting on test that I used to only do the tank sampler for... so possibility that I might be able to get part of an implant paid for....

Left to come home, and ran through some rain on the way... It flat out poured down rain so hard you couldn't hardly see ahead of you.... got within 2 miles of home and it STOPPED..... dead stopped raining. Didn't get a dozen misty drops at the house. Nothing last night either.... we had 10 drops here earlier today, and then the sun came out again... it is hot out there in the sun...

DS was coming to put in the t-posts because it is killing my shoulder... but he is having some real problems with the headaches again... they have switched some medicine and now he is feeling sick with some of it, but he says it does help the headaches... anyway... he said last night he would come by this morning... then he texted and said he would be here later... I decided to try to get them in... I got the first 3 in, and got the panel up... got the 2nd 3 in and panel up... and the sun came out really hot... I managed to get some of the tomatoes in on the first panel... but was feeling the sun.... he stopped by and got the last 2 in for the half panel... and apologized for not getting here sooner... then I showed him my mower and he actually tried it out... was impressed with how quiet it is while mowing.
DS is off on short term disability... VDOT will not acommodate him since the dr has put him off not wearing ANY hat for 3 weeks... not even supposed to wear the ball cap all the farmers wear...so he is out on short term disability... max 60 days on that then might have to switch to long term... he says he is so done with them...... Got an appt with a workman's comp lawyer to see what is what... So he is a "full time" farmer for now... but the other day he had to quit for awhile and get out of the sun, and in the quiet at his house.... I am of the opinion that some of this might be the combining of all these different drugs... but I am keeping some of my opinions to myself.

So.... the jaw is bearable... the panels are up and some plants planted... Had to quit and come in to have some "late lunch" since I only ate a piece of toast this morning...needed a couple more tylenol/advil combo that they suggested in dentist office. I will try to go back out into the garden in a little bit. Need to stay out of the worst of the sun still until the antibiotic effect dies down. There is enough sun that it is too hot for me to be out there. The radar is showing that we will be getting some "weather" later this afternoon... so if it starts to cloud up a bit... I will get the rest of the tomatoes in at least... and hopefully get some other stuff planted... I am working on the garden "blueprint" to make sure I do not at least plant things on top of each other !!!!!

Time to go out and maybe mow a bit until it clouds up some ... It is getting windier... maybe blowing up some clouds... it would be great to get all the plants in the garden and maybe get some potato rows in...

 

[Ridgetop]

Maybe he will be able to go on long term disability and afford to be a full time farmer. In spite of the headaches, the stress will be much less.

 

[Mini Horses]

The stress over penalty action is causing stress and no doubt enhancing headaches.

 

[farmerjan]

Well, night time. I didn't go out to mow any... and it was getting cloudy/dark so I went out in the garden... but the wind was up and it turned DARK and all of a sudden it poured down rain... I got the box of seeds I had taken out, ran for the house... dropped them by the door under the porch roof and ran and got the tarp on the mower... it was in the carport but it was blowing rain... then ran inside. It flat out came down for about 15-20 minutes.

Then it basically stopped raining, it lightened up some. DS had brought Colt with him and they had been moving and stacking the round bales across the road from my house. He finished what he was doing, and took Colt and headed back to the barn as it was finishing up raining... called and asked if I could run him from Deb's back to the barn, he wanted to put his other truck in the arena with the roof... so I went down and picked them up and took them back to the other truck.. He was going to go to his house with Colt, but Jim was sick, and it seems his son has Covid, so they decided it was not a good idea for him to go there... so they went back to the barn but GF was going to pick up Colt to go to her mom's for supper... DS does not go because GF father showed his a$$ and was drunk and accused DS of playing one sister against the other or some stupid crap because he goes to the sisters house to get the kids and stuff sometimes.. it's a mess... well, DS will not go to the sister's house at all, and he does not go to the family stuff now... and GF won't confront her father about this... so he is "not included " in the weekly wed night dinners, or anything else..
Anyway, he called to see if I wanted to go get some supper since he was not going to his house with Jim feeling sick.... and so we agreed to meet in about an hour. I said I wanted to try to get the tomatoes planted, the soil was a little wet and it if rained again, it would be good.

I got all the tomatoes planted.... put in a short row of burgundy "green" beans... put in some squash seeds, and transplanted 5 volunteer squash seeds that had come up... might regret that since I am not sure what they are... but I mostly had summer squash in that area... so we will see. I can just pull them out later if they are a mixed up mess.

We went to the little Italian/pizza local restaurant, and ate. Then he headed to her house and I came home... BUT... while in there eating, it came up another downpour/rain... and was raining for about an hour I guess... It was still raining some when I got home at the house (5-10 min from the restaurant) and I waited for about 10-15 minutes til it let up to come in.
I had checked and we had gotten .25 inches from the quick afternoon downpour, and I dumped all the rain gauges... so will be looking forward to seeing what we got this evening. Still possibility of some more...
PERFECT to settle in the plants I got in... and will go a long way to getting the seeds a start to come up...

I think I overlapped the squash and the burgundy bean seeds... I didn't have the garden plan with me when I went out later... oh well..... we'll see what comes up.

I still have the 1/2 panel with nothing planted on it... and I plan to lay out the string to mark the rows and start on potatoes as soon as I can get on the dirt... I see lots of "green fuzz" looking at the garden so weeds are starting to come up... BUT... with this rain... it will be great to be able to work the soil and get the potatoes in....
I want to get some cantaloupe and cukes in... Would have liked to have gotten more done today but the sun was too much for the skin sensitivity, and it was hot compared to what it had been... my lips are still very sore from the "sunburn" on them from the antibiotic reaction... they did sorta blister so are kinda raw... tender to even put the lip balm on them a million times a day... but they will get better if I am careful, and the antibiotics are done.... Thank you God. Still, I am not sorry that I did them if it helps to keep me from getting any infection into the replacements and future problems.

So, tonight I am in... brought the gallon of tea in, and made, and in the fridge...
Going to get in touch with the farm I cancelled on Sat for our Hay making... and see if he wants tomorrow or Friday... got my regular once a month one, scheduled for Sunday aft... their weekend to milk...Back to the real world again...
Hoping that it will be cloudy for awhile tomorrow... maybe I can get some potatoes in the garden??? Says it is supposed to be sun by afternoon... Maybe the farm will want to test and I could get in the garden on Friday.....

Can't find my V-hoe to do the potatoes... found the sledge hammer, got the posts in, and put back in the shed...but the V-hoe is just no where to be found... GRRRR....
I will surely have to mow since we got this rain....

Going to take some more tylenol, and get a shower and go to bed. Hope to sleep a little better tonight.

 

[farmerjan]

INTERESTING MORNING.... It has been cloudy but the sun is trying to come out. Then it goes in and sky is dark clouds right now.
Just watched a black bear go from right at my property line with the Christmas tree farm, up their driveway, across the road and amble across the just cut field DS spent all the time getting the bales of rye/wheat along the edge in rows. He went up top of the knoll and milled around up there. Finally out of sight into the woods I guess. Called the previous owners, he said he saw it yesterday right about the same time... I just wanted to give him a heads up like he called me last year when the one was out there...
Concerning, as a couple of people have seen a bear around here lately... guy who plowed the garden saw one a week ago down nearer the farm. The land across the road runs down behind the nurse cow pasture, all the way to doug's farm... there is the old railroad bed that runs through there... and there is mostly woods through a long stretch of it. Last year I saw the sow and cubs and then the single... but not like this out in the middle of the day. Getting concerning.....

It is getting really dark... I checked the rain gauge and we had another .3 inch yesterday evening and last night. I would have thought we had more... but that is a half inch so far... so that is good.

I cannot get in the garden it is just too wet. SOOOO glad that the plants are in and watered in good.

Jaw is aching this morning so going to have to take something... Didn't when I first got up, it felt about the same as last night and I thought it was not going to be so bad. But it is aching. Oh well, only been 2 days.

Farm that I cancelled Sat for hay making, is chopping their triticale (?) that they had to put off last week... they have not had any of this rain we have had the last 2-3 days... Funny how it has been so localized. I am very thankful we got this now. He will call me in a day or 2 as soon as they are done and we will schedule.

OOPS, it is raining right now... Definitely NOT getting in the garden... In fact, hear a little thunder... and it is a straight down rain, not hard, and not very long, as it is letting up already... So, we'll see.
Lips are very sore today too....

 

[Mini Horses]

Was the tooth extraction on lower jaw? If so, watch for clotting, etc, as lowers don't drain well -- obviously. If it worsens, call the dentist.

Hmmm. Bears. Not a good thing to have around but, there it is. Be careful, stay prepared. That's way worse than snakes, possum & groundhogs!!

 

[farmerjan]

The tooth was top jaw so draining not a problem.... glad of that... just sore and I need to stay on some stuff for a few days and not "forget" to take something like this morning... I really did kinda forget it when it wasn't so awfully sore earlier...
I will be sure to call if it gets worse... waiting for the tylenol/ibu combination to kick in.

Yeah, the bear being so "out there" in the middle of the day is a bit concerning... I don't have a trap big enough for it !!!!!

Another quick shower... Radar shows through mid afternoon then gradually clearing off some... We'll take it, even if it puts me out of garden for a few more days... Will need to get an old roll of hay to smother the new weeds coming up ...see that overall light green shading where everything is starting to sprout...

 

[Mini Horses]

see that overall light green shading where everything is starting to sprout

Yep! Here, too. Soooo unnecessary PIA !