Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

Geesh....my neighbors don't call me when animals get out -- just the cops . Relocated city idiots.

 

[farmerjan]

Well, things are pretty much OKAY... better knock on wood...
Water pump situation at the pasture is fixed... at least for now. Found some burned wires... I think that is an indication of something else... but they have the pump and all working and as of tonight the reservoir tank is full. 1500 gallons...They said it could have been lightning, but it is rare it burns a couple wires and doesn't take out the pump. Not our concern at that place. Plus, if the pump doesn't work, they also only have the water in the reservoir to use so it is in everyone's best interest to make sure it is working. I do not remember any lightning in the last week around here anywhere....
The cows have not bothered with the 2 full 100 gallon water troughs but we will leave them there for a few days at least. They might drink some just when they are near there anyway. Jim hauled them the water and I am glad that they did not flock to him and go crazy wanting to drink. But at the end of today they would have been wanting water if it hadn't gotten fixed.

 

[farmerjan]

OOPS, hit post.
Anyway, DS went back and got the other field baled. Made 103 total 4x5 bales. Last year it made 140. So it was down like everywhere else we have made hay. He got all the equipment moved out of there also... brought the tractor and baler to the barn to put it in... IN CASE we are lucky enough to get rain... then went back and got the discbine with the truck... I called him to see if he needed a ride but GF was at her mothers house for Wed night supper, just down the road a couple miles, and called to see if he needed a ride anywhere...so she took him back to get the truck and discbine. Tractor and rake is at the field about 1/4 mile from the farm for when he cuts it... will probably do it as soon as he gets back from this "trip" they are going on.

I took the ranger and 2 full 15 gallon barrels to the nurse cow pasture and dumped them into 2 of the protein tubs that hold around 20 gallons. Fed grain. Calves have worked on some of the hay and the twin hol bull calves were out of the pen eating some grass... but then they couldn't find their way back in the creep gate with all the cows crowding around the truck as I was trying to back up to the gate to be able to dump the water in the 2 tubs, far enough in the pen that the big cows couldn't reach it and then the calves wouldn't have it. What a pain to try to get them out of the way and back up and all that. They had their heads on the back of the truck looking for grain and being a royal PITA....

But got that done. Came home and one of the soaker hoses has a split and was pouring water out so that part got well "watered".... like drowned... but it will permeate through some of the dry ground too. Then another one had a small split in it. I think these are my older soaker hoses so I'm not overly upset. I will just have to cut them and put the ends back on so I can use them again. Last year I sent away and got a bunch of 1/2 ends for them since I couldn't find them at many stores, so have plenty for repair.
Want to get the ends on the regular hose I cut. Maybe tomorrow since I will not be doing anything with hay.
If I can get myself going in the early morning, I would like to go get another load of mulch hay on the ranger and get it down... not sure if the bale truck arms will squeeze it enough to be able to load it on the truck. It has to pick the bale up and lift it over in an arc to put it on the truck... I still intend to try it while he is gone while I am moving hay around off the fields here closer. He said he was going to go move that hay and put the bales up tight to discourage the bear, but he will bring 2 good bales back with him... you never come back "empty handed" with the truck. So, I won't ask him to bring back the mulch hay since he will want to get more of the good hay out of there to prevent the stupid bear from tearing them up. I get it really. The mulch hay is not worth what the good bales are... at least not to him... or to the cows.

So, I got the tomatoes watered on the first cattle panel, and have one soaker on the corn, will turn it off for the night in just a little while. . Tomorrow I will get the soaker on the cucumbers that are coming up on the 1/2 panel...don't see anything out of the gourds; and the tomatoes on the 2nd panel. The butternut squash are watered and there are a couple of seeds coming up that are probably the striped crenshaws... will have to check the garden "blue print"... replant what is not showing after they have a couple days of being "soaked".... Need to get some water on the row that was supposed to be cantaloupes. There are some purple beans coming up.... don't see any lettuce or any of the dill seeds I planted... the transplanted dill plant is starting to come back... it did not like being transplanted.

Got to call some farms for testing, but as hot as it has been I am sure some are glad I have not called to come.

So, that's my day... think it was enough. At least it did cool off this evening and was not too bad working out there until dark.. down to mid 70's by 8.... felt cool in comparison. Tomorrow is supposed to be hotter and the weekend even worse. What a way to roll in the FIRST DAY OF SUMMER, tomorrow June 20th.

 

[farmerjan]

NOT up and going this morning... so didn't go get a load of mulch hay.
65 overnight, already 92 with the sun on the recording thermometer... as soon as the sun moves a bit it will drop to the mid 80's with the tree leaves protecting it from the direct sun.

HOWEVER, the new drought monitor is out... comes out on Thursday, and we are officially in moderate drought status here. NOT GOOD for the whole Shenandoah and Roanoke valley areas... the whole state is in the extremely dry category.... DO, and D1 for us... Forecast just said that there is no widespread rain expected for the next 7-10 days... that is what they said a week ago...
NOT GOOD....
Temps supposed to hit the 90's and possible low 100's by the end of the weekend.

Shoulder was hurting earlier, I know I had to have slept on it wrong. But it is working out the kinks.

I am going out to use the weed eater for a bit. Then have some stuff to load, to take to the dumpster. Not going to kill myself this morning.

 

[Baymule]

I’ve become a sorta expert on drought, we have drought way too often here. Hang onto all your hay, get busy on getting all you can. Cut numbers soon before prices drop to zilch. Nothing you don’t already know. Hold tight to any extra hay, prices will rise.

My future plans for my shipping containers is set them up, roof over space between them for a hay barn and try to stay a year ahead. I know y’all have don that before, but your reserves have dwindled down.

As I travel the state, the empty pastures tell the story of the past few years. It looks like ranchers are holding onto their core breeding stock and have culled down anything extra.

If you have anything to sell, beat the crowd and take them soon.

 

[CLSranch]

 

[farmerjan]

Sad but true.....

Friday... 68 overnight, more humid and hit 95 already at 2 p.m. That's in the SHADE of the maple tree leaves. Way too hot for June here in the valley...

Had an opportunity to go to the massage therapist this morning so I took the appt. Just got back a little bit ago. Always feel a little better after that.
Has anyone ever had Craniosacral therapy? Or work with a myofascial therapist? I have a friend that goes to myofascial massage and swears by it. I am going to do some of the craniosacral therapy... which is to get the "pathways" of your nerves, through the skull to help with pain and other things. My chiropractor also said it might help... and since I had all that skull damage in the accident back in 1989, maybe this will help too. Anything that I can try... and maybe it will open up some of the nerve pathways to make the shoulder feel a little better too.

Yesterday I did a trip to get the check from last week's cows and the couple of calves we took in; cows were okay... averaged $1.00 lb between all three and they were all under 1000 lbs... so a little smaller than the buyers like for the "top prices"... not bad and they are gone, 3 less to feed, and those couple of calves that did pretty good too.
I went to Dunkin and they had 6 /5 gal buckets and 2 of the 2 gal buckets... haven't been in town for a week.....so filled them with water this morning to "dissolve" all the sticky glaze and stuff out of them when the sun heats up the water....
Got another load of clothes in the washer and they will go out on the line in a bit. I put them through 2 a second rinse so there is no "soap" residue, to irritate skin even though I use Arm and Hammer detergent....

Put a gallon of water out to make sun tea and just brought it in and it is made and in the fridge chilling now.
Loaded a couple 50 lb feed bags of stuff and went by the dumpster on the way this morning, too.

I am working on some sorting of things here in the house... papers and stuff that can get put in a "paper to burn" bag... It is just too hot to be out there right now... have the fan on and the house is not too bad... 82 inside.
Bless all of you that live with this heat all the time... can't do it and I am not ashamed to say that.

I hope to go move some of the hay bales later or tomorrow morning early. Thought I might do it when I got back, but not going to go out and start now. Maybe later.... Need to go check cattle at the one pasture where the "bear mauled bale" is..... maybe I will take the ranger this evening and check the water there, check the cows, and then bring back some of the mulch hay with me. I will haul 2 barrels of water to the calves in the morning up at the nurse cow pasture so I don't have to fight the cows and all. They are usually out grazing early while it is cool....

Okay... going to work on some more "junk mail" and stuff here..

 

[farmerjan]

In for the night... It is 80 out at 10 p.m. It hit 95 today , in the "shade" of the maple tree branches/leaves.

There is one HE// of a full moon out there... HUGE.... called the strawberry moon...

Went late this eve and got another load of mulch hay and checked the water trough at the pasture. It had water, cows all way off grazing so I did not go through the gate and out in that section . I was in the 2nd section that DS had them in, then they got moved to 3 when they finally got the fence done there... that was a deal between the 2 landowners... not our problem. But it took them forever to get it finished... Grass in section 2 is green but short and is not growing with no rain.

Brought the hay back and noticed that the gas prices had jumped at the one station I usually get gas at. So everyone had gone up but one, so I filled the truck, it had about half, and then came home and got the car and refilled it. $.20 jump from 2.99 to 3.19.... .

I will unload the truck early in the morning. Then after I get the truck unloaded, I will put the 2 , 15 gal barrels on the back, and fill them to take to the calves at the nurse cow pasture and put grain in there for when the rest come in later... they do tend to come up and lay around in there during the heat of the day some.
Need to do the hose ends too.

Forgot the clothes so they are in the basket, by the door, to get hung in the morning too.

Bunch of dark clouds out there and I was praying they just might be one of those "pop up" storms right over our heads... even left the car windows open to tempt it... but it doesn't look too promising.

 

[farmerjan]

In for something to eat since all I did was a cup of yogurt this morning.
It only got down to 71 last night so started the day warm.... humidity is up but not enough to make it rain.
It is now 94, in the shade at around 1 pm.......OUCH.... A little more humid so feels hotter.

I went out and unloaded the hay off the truck and put the 2 barrels and the feed buckets on the truck. But since it was "bearable", I spent some time in the garden going down the first row of potatoes and pulling all the weeds. Then did about 3/4 of the 2nd row. There is a whole bunch of volunteer dill plants coming up so was careful to weed around them. It is a thing with me to grow dill... always loved growing it since I first made dill pickles way back when... and the row of old dill seeds I planted are not looking like they are going to come up... but it could be that it is soooo dry and I have not watered that part.
I did not spread the hay since I wanted the the weeds to wilt real good an "dry up" before I put down the hay.
Then I went up the road and saw a neighbor out, and stopped to ask if he would come and use his rototiller on his tractor, to redo the section that I just have not gotten planted yet. He is only 4 houses down, and so he is closer than the guy who plowed and then disced the garden, a couple weeks ago... I want this "tilled" smoother than the disc got the rest..... and that guy has to use another neighbors tiller and they are kinda funny about it... so don't want to ask. That is why he disced mine instead of tilling after he plowed it.. Because of having to come nearly a mile to the house with someone else's tiller...
Anyway, Ray said he would be glad to come, I told him that I have no problems with what Sam did, but hadn't had time to get it all planted with us getting into hay and all... and it just needed to be redone... and since he was much closer, just thought I would ask him... I told him that I will be glad to pay him just like I pay Sam to do it... I realize he has fuel and wear and tear on the equipment just like we do on our farm stuff... So, I will show him the section... it is a straight shot since I have planted down to where the L is, he will be able to just do it straight down the length of the whole thing there. Plus then we just chit chatted about how dry it was and things in general. His wife is the one I went with, to that play last year, Fiddler on the Roof... and asked Deb to go also... I've known Ray for many years...Drives a school bus for his "retirement".... but said he might give it up this year... he will be 78.....we talked about just not getting around as FAST as we think we should be since we hit out "golden years"..... and that it is aggravating dealing with so much stupidity in the world....
So, maybe in the next couple of days...

In the meantime, I went to the farm, got the bale truck, came back and moved the 9 round bales from the one field at the one subdivision, to the field across the road where DS is putting it along the tree line there. Also went and got the "old bale" from Deb's and brought it here and got it near the other end of the garden where it will get retilled...... and on end so I can peel it off around the sides as I need it... Took the roll from my little field here and put it across the road with the other hay too. Decided since it was getting near noon time, I would come in and take a break and eat something.

Also got the clothes hung. So both loads can come in this evening.

I need to go check on water at 2 places and one place is somewhat near the place with the old bale of hay I have been getting... so I think I will take the ranger with water to the calves, fill the feed buckets and put them back in the car except for the one I take to the calves, then when I go check that waters, go the little extra and get another load of mulch hay. Then I can bring it home to empty tonight after it cools off or in the early morning again. It actually has been going good to get it loaded in the evening, then unload in the morning before the sun comes up over the trees across the road, so I have a little shade in the garden for a bit.
I brought the hoses to the house to see about fixing the ends so I have hoses to use again. Want to put the soaker on the seeds I replanted for the cantaloupes, and the cucumbers on the 1/2 panel at the other end of the garden.

I dumped the sticky water out of several of the dunkin buckets... the choc frosting ones, and put in some fresh with some dish soap so will see about getting them washed out too. The water heats up quite warm in the sun. Nicer to wash with warm water than cold. And the water just gets dumped so the lawn gets some watering that way.

There are honey bees in the huge holy tree here at the house. Last year there was a Gigantic swarm of them and I thought they were swarming from somewhere else... then I found that "small swarm" in the garden this past late fall... well, I have been hearing them and finally saw some where they are coming and going there on one side where there is a "slit/crack" ... don't know if it is where there were two "leaders" that grew close together or if there is an actual crack and hollow inside the tree... but there are honey bees there. Would be nice if I could get someone to establish a hive or 2 and then I could get some honey as well as have them do the pollinating... but I guess they are doing enough pollinating with them there now. Never noticed them before the huge swarm last year so I think they just moved in there.

Think I will go out for a little bit and just take the weed eater to the "junk" growing up around the maple tree where I want to put the mulch. The previous owners had some of that fabric stuff I guess you use to prevent weeds... but there is stuff coming up through it. I am going to cover it up not take it out since there is dirt and all through out it and around there... The chips ought to slow down the weedy junk and make it look nicer. Then I can take the gorilla cart hooked to the mower and go over and get a load of the chips to use. Got some other stuff to go to the dumpster in it... and some sticks and branches to pick up and pile to burn a small pile with what Deb cut from around the dogwood. I also want to mulch around it.

Time to decide what I can do... need to go move some of the bales from the other subdivision where we cut too... that might be what I should do for a bit. Don't feel like doing anything right this minute.

 

[farmerjan]

Just got to thinking... if I mow the grass SHORT around the garden, I can get the netting up AND that would give Ray a visual of where the "edges" of the garden are on the sides....plus with the heat it won't grow back anytime soon. maybe that's the best way to "mark the boundary"....

Heat is making me sleepy since I ate.... did not get to sleep very early last night and so short night. Need to get up and get moving.