Farmerjan's journal - Weather

farmerjan

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It's about 6 pm. I managed to wash 2 loads of clothes that were here and got them hung. Put one more load in the machine. Got the few boxes in the hallway from yesterday moved. All the paint stuff in the closet; dish drainer emptied. Went down the hill, and got all the clothes that were hanging on the pole, in the car and a couple small boxes. Packed one box full of clothes and didn't get it in the car, but did bring a couple small boxes that were there close.
Got everything out of the car here in the house. Have several bulky overalls and heavy sweatshirts to wash so will have to go by the laundromat sometime but not a priority this minute. I will do the ones that didn't have any plastic over them, but the ones with plastic look okay. Many are probably too small for me so will go through them but for now they will get just hung up here on the rack out of the way.
I do have several things that need to go to the dry cleaners. Going to get them all together and drop off one day on the way through town.
Knees are not happy and I had to sit. Like really hurt. I will go in and see what I have to make for some supper. Get another load in the washer.
The weather was BEAUTIFUL this afternoon. Next to no breeze, sun out, warm. Tomorrow should be even warmer. Good drying weather while I am doing other stuff.
I am going to try to pack some stuff, maybe tonight if I can do some sitting, maybe tomorrow morning before they call me that the tires have been delivered. I don't know how much standing I can do. I didn't get the kitchen vacuumed behind the cabinet he moved, but I will get to that tonight. Won't take too long to get it cleaned good. I may take the time to pack the sample bottles in the racks for Wednesday so they are ready to go. I can do that sitting here. Got to do these new exercises with the ankle too.

Going to see what there is to eat.
 

farmerjan

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Thanks @Bruce , some days I wonder.

Today was a decent day. Beautiful weather... sun again, a little warmer, light breeze. I was out in just a long sleeve t-shirt.
Got the 2 loads of clothes off the line, 3 more loads washed and hung out.
I packed some small boxes, then went to the co-op to get the tires put on. Had a waiting line. They don't do appointments there. Sometimes it is better to come back later and see if things slowed down but I needed to get them on so just waited. Had a book to read. Had to have the back of the car empty to take the old tires back because we will use them at the barn to put hay rolls on or something. So brought them to the new house, and that's when I took down and hung up the clothes. Then went down the hill and loaded the back of the car. Brought it up and then took the truck down to the barn to get the truck and trailer to go to the cow sale in town.
DS didn't go, he said he was late getting home from the other sale Monday night and had a real bad headache today and is feeling real tired. That is probably a combination of the after effects from his bout with covid back in Dec...., but he gets like this alot still, from the accident a couple years ago, and he had another dr appt Monday and he often gets headaches as a side effect from the treatments and PT.
The cows were better than the last sale, but alot of older cows and I wasn't very impressed. Wound up only buying one due to calve soon (8 months preg they say).....bid on some others but was not impressed so didn't buy them. Got her loaded and brought home. in the lot. She will get moved into the back field with the other older cows probably.
DS said that he has to take the load of the "mediocre" stuff he has been buying, on Thursday. There are 2 or 3 heifers he bought last night at the sale, that he thinks are pregnant so I will have to stick my arm up them and check. Can't ship any that are pregnant... and if they are well along, then we will calve them out. That will get another 10-15 out of the barn. 2 real crazy ones so that is good they will be gone. Anyway, that was my day.

I will unload the car in the morning, taking the truck down tonight. I have to go to the farm that does the owner sampler, get the samples and do the computer work in the morning on the way to Winchester to test the 200 cow herd. Hate to be inside, but at least it won't be cold. I will try to get a load of clothes hung in the morning... I forgot and put it in the machine tonight so want it to be on the line rather than in the machine, getting wrinkled.
Did get the area vacuumed behind the cabinet and another sink full of stuff washed.

So, this is short, will maybe get on here tomorrow .
 

farmerjan

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Was gonna update, went through alerts and some threads and made a few comments, but I am tired and knees really hurting... 4 1/2 hrs in the parlor and I feel every minute. I am going down the hill.... will be back in the morning to do samples and stuff ... will update then.
 

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I got caught up on your posts, didn’t want to skip you all week! Drinking my coffee, got a 4 year old and a Silky Terrier in my lap, watching Mickey Mouse. LOL You are getting closer to getting all the big stuff moved.
 

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Thursday night. It's been a long 2 days. Weather has been absolutely gorgeous. Sunny and the last 2 days have been in the low 70's. Quite breezy today but still real nice. I was out in a short sleeved t-shirt today.

Got home from testing last night and my knees were not good. Nearly 5 hours in the parlor. I did bring the samples in the house before I went down the hill.
I did not get up too early and it was a chore to walk around. I finally came up to the new house, and got 2 more loads of clothes out on the line and the rest brought in. All hung on hangers.
Did not get the stove cleaned ... there is a lot of rust and it is not looking very good. Mouse nests in it and I just am wondering now if I should just look at a new one. The chrome on this one is all pitted looking on the handles. Maybe tomorrow I will look at it in a different light. I was not in a very positive mood this morning. Nothing I have taken is touching the ache in the knees.
We are supposed to get some rain tomorrow late afternoon. I have plastic to cover the stove. I hope to clean it out and then make an assessment.
I will bring in the last of the clothes off the line in the morning. Have come up with a bunch that I will never wear again. Must've been wishful thinking when I kept them and moved them the last 2 times....

Car tires are good. So at least that is taken care of. I do need to get it aligned as it has a slight pull. Also they said that I will be needing back brakes and if I bring it down and leave it, they can do them.
2wd truck battery is working fine. Guess it was mostly the bitter cold. But it will be needing replaced before next winter I am sure.

DS asked if we could work the cattle he bought monday night. The "common cattle" he was supposed to deliver today got changed. This guy does this all the time. Sometimes I am not sure if it is worth it... but making at least $.15-.25 a lb on top of what weight they gain while we have them is pretty good. So, I agreed to go up and help. I got a small dorm type fridge a couple months ago to have at the barn so we don't have to constantly go get the vaccines at his house etc.... so I got the old regular sized fridge there ( that doesn't work) that we keep stuff in so mice can't chew things, cleaned off on top and put the mini one up there and plugged it in. It got cold pretty quick so now we can keep all the vaccines there where it is much handier.
He came and we had a couple calves that were coughing a bit... so decided to treat a whole bunch . He decided to keep the 4 red white faced heifers, and the one smaller horned hereford to breed in June/July.... so they got vaccinated and all. One was sounding a little raspy/cough so we treated all 5, plus the steer that will be going with the rest that was cheap. His friend had come and bought the 2 that looked like pure herefords, so he made a little off them. The guy knows that they came direct from the stockyard and all... and was glad to get them. They were nice and pretty calm. These 5 are pretty calm too, so ought to make nice cows I hope.
He also had to run the 6 bull calves that we banded 10 days ago, through the chute and cut off the sacks that were "dying off", the "now steers" look good. Then we worked the heifers he bought monday. Several are pregnant... I palpated them and they all have 5+ month calves in them, from what I can tell. So instead of them going with the "common cattle" we will keep them and calve them out. They were cheap.... less than $500 average each. I think he said that he paid about $.80 /lb average and they weighed in the 6wts.... several were not pregnant, in fact a couple were sold as open, so we did the shots the guy requires and turned them out with the other ones that will go.
We also looked at the heifers that we had kept back, and picked out several more to sell. I think he is only keeping 4 now instead of the 8 or 9 that he had kept back. Works for me. There are 2 that are mine. Not counting the ones up at the nurse cow field.... There are also a few out in the back field that he kept that were small... one or 2 on old cows that have been getting the silage the last couple months....I am thinking now that we will have 20 -25 to go. He says we are going to take them next Friday..... works for me. Supposedly the "common ones" will be going next Tues or Wed....
We also moved the last of the bred cows that we preg checked, and sold the bunch of calves off of last week, out with the rest to the field out front so they can start calving.
The cow that I bought on Tuesday night we ran through the chute and she has a pretty good full mouth.... he was pleased with the cow. Gave her a vaccination too. She is a big cow, hope she has a nice calf.
By the time we got done with that, I was wanting to just sit. So, here I am at the new house, and am going to go down the hill and get off my feet.

I did get all the samples packed and sent UPS this afternoon. No more farms set up until next Monday afternoon.

I need to get on the packing and sorting at the other house tomorrow. I will drive the truck and take some more stuff to the dumpsters too. I plan to bring stuff up with me and then clean the stove and take a better look at it before we get the rain.... they are saying showers.... not a hard rain or downpour or anything. Have really enjoyed the warmer 70* temps this past week....Too early for these warm temps this time of year..... next week is supposed to be more normal in the 50's ... but it sure has been nice.

DS also surprised me with gravel in the driveway. I had mentioned that I needed to get some.... it was done years ago, and then they have been mowing it and it had alot of grass. So then when I was in and out alot, it wasn't bad until we got all that snow/sleet/rain/ice mess. It got pretty slick as it is just a little bit of an incline.... and I was making some ruts.... so now there is a nice layer of gravel/crusher run on it. It will pack down a bit but it will stop any of the spinning on the dirt. It has a base underneath it, so this will just stop the muddiness. He did it yesterday when he brought the stove when I was gone.
 

farmerjan

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Saturday eve. Another pretty warm day. 50 this morning. Partly/mostly cloudy but some sun peeking through this afternoon.
Yesterday, Friday, I did bring a few things up to the house. Got the stove all taken apart that comes apart, and vacuumed it out good. Decided to get some oven cleaner and see how the inside looks after that. The 2 pull out racks in the oven, are rusty, so got some wire wheels to go in the drill and will try to use them and see how that goes. Was going to do that today, but I got side tracked at the house loading some bags for the dumpster and other stuff.
Anyway, I figured since I wanted to go to the cow sale, I left to go do a few errands; got the "easy off" professional oven cleaner, got the wire wheels to use, got the delivery set up for the freezer for next Thursday because it is in a warehouse. It was "out" when I first called about it. They are supposed to call me about the delivery. This will get me to clean out and move one freezer's worth of stuff up and then clean out the freezer there to get moved so I can get the next one moved. I am thinking that if I am organized enough, I will be able to combine 3 into 2 here, and then will have room to move all the chickens from the chest freezer at the fairgrounds; into an empty freezer here at the house.
So, I went to the sale and the cows were high. Some as much as 2200 EACH.... glad we have been buying a few along.. And DS had gone and looked at some 1st calf heifers a guy had for sale, he wanted 1450.... they dickered back and forth and DS bought them for 1300. 6 of the 12 have already calved. They are big heifers, 28-30 months old.... probably weigh in the 1000 + lb range. Almost a little too "conditioned" (FAT) but the calves are not real big, so the rest shouldn't have trouble calving . They are real beefy heifers so ought to go on and make good cows.
DS has wanted to get some "better" beef cows.... he is a little too influenced by what some other people's cows look like and the calves they wean off.... and I get it to a point. But we are getting nearly as good a price for the steers we sold out of alot less expensive, common or average cows.
Although I will say that he could take these to a cow sale like last night and get 16-2000 for them. I hope they give him the satisfaction of "better calves".

With all that, I just said I would pay for the one cow I bought for $650 the other night that is 8 months pregnant. So she is mine. She has a good mouth so ought to be around for a few years I hope. And as much as those heifers are nice, I really prefer the $650 cow's prospects to make me some money. I have culled several of my own cows in the last 2 years for age and non-breeding.... so she will replace one. There is that REALLY NICE heifer I had planned to keep that is just too nutty, that is going to the guy when he takes the "common cows"...... she would have made a dandy cow but not with that attitude. So there is one that I don't have to replace one that I sold either.
So, after doing the few errands, I went to the sale. They had over 2,000 head total due to the high prices last week and it being dry, everyone was thinking they needed to get their cattle sold. Prices were about the same as last week, maybe a few cents less... I stayed for the cow sale, and then left. Didn't see what the heifers were bringing.
I did finally remember to take the cans and got 3 more cans of fuel for the house too, on Friday night on my way home. With the real warm temps this week the heat hasn't been on much at all. This coming week temps are supposed to be cooler, but 50's and 30's maybe.
There is a chance of rain now several days.... not like RAIN, but more like showers, light rain. Sure hope that it doesn't affect me getting in to get the calves out of the nurse cow field.
I have grain on the truck to take up there and feed in the pen tomorrow. DS also did get the board(s) fixed on the catch pen up there.... he must be angling for "something"...... actually he said something about the gravel at the house and I said yeah, it was nice but I was surprised since I had only mentioned it... he made the comment that he had to use the skid loader to get the stove on the porch, so it was already there... he did a nice job spreading it....AND .... he needs to take care of his mother...... bet the GF got on his case.... he is like a different person with her... he NEVER screams or cusses at the cows when she is around, the way he always has in the past..... not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth....

So today after I went to the dumpster and came up, he texted me and said that he wanted to go get these new heifers around 1:30, was I still able to go. So I said yes, and I drove one truck and trailer.... she came to the barn and they went in the other one. He was spreading fertilizer, so of course we didn't leave until about 2:15...It took about 3 hours or so total. Got back and put them in the field with the other cows that we moved out there this last week. I will put my new cow out there too. They are all due to calve and they are close there at the barn so he can watch them closer. Maybe get some of the calves tagged as they are born. They will all go though the barn/chute to band any bull calves before they go out to pasture.
Hoping tomorrow I can get the bull out of the nurse cow field. It was getting too close to dark this evening. I have to get him in the little lot there at the barn and then will go get the trailer to move him to the bull lot for a couple of months. Will need him or the other easy calving bull to breed in June/July....

Knees were pretty sore.... seems nothing is helping ......

I have got a few more boxes in the hallway to move and then will bring some more stuff up. Sorted through some stuff and have more to go to the dumpster. Some canned goods in one box that the cans are bulging... some home canned stuff that has to be dumped out of the jars so I can re-use them. Don't know how old some of it is and it is all dark and discolored so it can get dumped. Maybe I can do a better job of rotating stuff here, too.

Tomorrow's jobs are cleaning the stove/oven and stuff... bringing some more stuff up I hope. I have to get some boxes since I am not getting things unpacked now... just brought up and stacked. I will go by in the morning and see if there are any at the cardboard dumpster that I can snag.

Called the other guy's number that the propane guy gave me to see about coming to give me a price about doing the tree work and such. He doesn't have a chipper, they will haul off the brush... I will see what they price it to me.... then maybe call the other guy back and see if he just plain forgot to write it down in his calendar.... he will chip it here...

I feel like all I do is go in circles some days. Need another clothes rack... don't have enough room to hang stuff on the one I have.... there are no closets here....
I am going down the hill early this evening and maybe I can pack the few boxes I have there....
 

Baymule

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Gravel on the driveway! Taking care of his Mom! I hope the stove cleans up good enough to use it.

I hope the cow you bought has you a good calf and makes a good momma cow for you. You need to get some more like that.

I am so sorry that you are having so much pain with your knees. That is misery. It won't get any better until you have surgery and recover from it. It will make a world of difference in your life, just to be pain free.
 

farmerjan

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Sunday night. Another nice day out... partly sun a little cooler and windier. Supposed to change tomorrow.... colder, some rain and then possible wintry mix...o_O:barnie:th:hu:hu:th:th It is only March, and we do get snow in April too... but this nice weather and temps has sure been great.

Of course we are starting to get a few calves.... probably get a bunch in the colder rain this week.... Murphy's Law you know.
Brought a few things up when I came. Unpacked 2 boxes here to take down. Got all the stuff out of the hallway. Small steps.

DS called about 5pm; one of the 4 red white faced heifers had a calf half hanging out of her. He said they were getting her in the chute now. I said I could come down if he needed me; I could call Deb (where I look after the horses) and tell her I would be late as we were going out for supper, he said he would call me if he needed me. Turns out one shoulder/leg was back... got it pulled pretty easy but it was dead. Said it was small, fully formed... heifer has NO UDDER ....probably a7-8 month fetus I would guess..... I never bothered to preg check them because they did not look even questionable as to being bred. They got vaccinated and antibiotic shots the other night when we saw those few with snotty noses and some coughs... He called back and said they got it, no lute at the barn but gave it dex.... will watch her and maybe get her back in the chute in a week and give lute to make sure she cleans good. Better for her to not have a calf now, they are too small to be calving. She should clean up and then all 4 will go with the bull as planned in June/July for breeding as we planned.
Sometimes an antibiotic will cause an abortion... her not feeling well probably didn't help and she might have been in the beginning stages of aborting when we ran them through the chute. Doesn't matter, just hope she cleans up and comes along. All the feeders in the barn are on Tetracycline granules top dressed on the feed/silage for 5 days. Must have brought something in with the last bunch he bought. Hope we caught it quick enough to avert a real problem. The one rwf steer that was pretty mopey looked better yesterday and fever was down. We ran him and a few others that looked peaked through the chute again.... 48 hours after the initial shots... ought to get it pretty good.

I did get the oven cleaner all sprayed in the oven today. It says you can do it as an overnight thing so I will work on cleaning it out tomorrow. Talked to the friend who goes to Pa Amish country about the guy who refurbishes old stoves. He is going to stop and look at it and see if he thinks it is in good enough shape to do a refurbishing. I still really like this stove. In fact, he said he is probably going up there next week to pick up a load of lumber, a 1 day trip, and I asked if I could ride along; either we take this stove with us to take to him, or I will get some pictures to see if he will redo it. If not, then maybe he would be interested in it for parts for any other ones he has to redo.... and I will spend a little time looking at propane stoves up there. See, Va has laws that they HAVE to be electronic ignition... so need electricity so totally USELESS in the event of a power outage.... Pa has a big population of old order Amish... no electricity.... so they can/do sell some stoves that do not have electronic ignitions. That is what he & his wife got for their house. So if I go a new one, I will buy it up there. I can install it here, just can't buy it here. Plus the hook up is all there... all we have to do is hook the line into the house, to the stove and open the cut off valve for the propane.....
I would rather pay a couple hundred for refurbishing than 6-900 for a new one.... We'll see.

Went to supper with Deb to a place called "Quaker Steak and Lube"... it was okay.... not to die for but definitely not bad. Might go back sometime for their special burgers on a Monday night or their 2 for $20 on a tuesday night. We shared a shrimp appetizer and both had a nachos plate... both of us brought home 1/2 of the nachos... there were alot. Deb said we could have shared it, too. It was good. I haven't had nachos in a long time and just had a chicken cooked again, so this was a good option for a change. Went back to her house and just gabbed for a bit. She showed me pictures of the grandbabies... it was twins, I had forgotten.... that she went to see rather than make a special trip out last weekend. She is here for a week or so, working from home....

So, tomorrow I will try to being up some more stuff and then do some things here. Then get sample bottles together and leave a little early for testing and run 2 errands on the way to test down near Roanoke. Good thing it is mostly interstate in case we do get the "wintry mix" that is an iffy tomorrow evening..... easier to drive home on the main roads. Don't know if DS is going to have to go in tomorrow night.

Fed the calves up at the barn but only about half of them went in. I did figure out which calf is on the #4 sucker cow..... I want to try to get the bull out. He was not near the pen today and if I called all the cows, then I would have everyone trying to run overtop of me. He has been in there 68 days... so a 2 month calving window if they all got bred. That would be great.
Calling for some real rain on Thursdayo_O:th:th:hit:hit:duc.... I want the bigger calves off those young cows and out of there.....
Oh and the catch pen he fixed... he used new boards on 3 places.... and reused the old board on the worst spot and they pushed on it and it broke again today when I fed.... I don't know why he even bothered with the other places, the calves couldn't get out there.... I just looked at it and said WTF was he thinking. It made ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE to reuse the old split end board where the calves were putting that much pressure on it and new boards around the bottom where there was about 6 inches clearance.... this is a board there they can walk through between the other 2 boards.... I stuck an old pallet up and tied up the 2 pieces of boards with baling strings for today....Sometimes you wonder if they have any common sense at all.... I said there was A (as in 1 single) broken board that needed to be REPLACED..... :barnie:barnie:barnie:he:he:duc:duc:somad:rant:rant:smack:smackI give up. I will find a board myself to nail across there like it should have been done in the first place.
 

Mini Horses

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Sometimes you just wonder With these men --- WHAT???? :lol:

We have a lot of north winds today, so chilly. Getting rain all day tomorrow, again Thurs. Just saying half to one inch tomorrow, a cold rain. Maybe some sleety mixed. Don't like that with these new kids. But :idunno They have shelter but those mom's can get pushy, or will take kids out. Just hope for best. Of course it challenges feeding....hay blows, does fight, I cuss. Hope for best & less rain. :rolleyes::fl

Hope your stove can be refurbished! It's like old vehicles, no payments, some repairs work. ;)

I need to get to a store a little earlier than I usually start, so with DST it's dark when I'd like some light. Will be chasing hay. Hate that! Prepped all I could to make it faster chores, didn't plan on this wind!!! It's like 20 mph + gusts! I'll get there but prob not happy. 😁. Tomorrow same thing, just add rain. :th
 
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