Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Have any of the rest of you gotten it?

We received ours a couple of weeks ago.

There are no taxes on it, you don't have to pay it back, it will not affect any tax refunds. "Free" money. There are AGI limits but generally speaking single adults get $1,200, MFJ get $1,200 each for a total of $2,400. This is a one time payment.

Thanks for pointing that out, Mr. @Bruce. I had been wondering if I needed to report it on our taxes for 2020.

 

[farmerjan]

I have not had any refunds direct deposited to my accounts so I am assuming this stimulus direct deposit is due to my having the SS direct deposited monthly. It will be nice extra that I will use to pay off a cc so no interest accumulates, as I was going to split it into 2 payments just to not deplete my on hand cash emergency fund. My income hasn't really changed or suffered much with this shutdown, except for our cattle income; but for me that is always extra money since you never know what they are going to bring so I never count on anything.

 

[farmerjan]

It was a cool 42 this morning and has been partly to mostly cloudy all day with some patches of sun coming through. Not as warm as they said and tomorrow is supposed to be more clouds with strong storms in the eve and Thursday.
Up to the high 60's this afternoon with some late sun again.
I will be in the barn testing Thursday morning so no big deal. Just have to make sure that there is plenty of room inside the truck for the boxes with all the samples because they are cardboard outside. I normally can just put them in the back against the tool box when it is dry.

Did not even attempt the mower today, just not in the mood to deal with it. Maybe tomorrow.

 

[CntryBoy777]

We found out today that both of ours is "pending"...so, we are hoping to find some affordable, reliable wheels before our neighbor takes off to the Boston area til Oct....peddling a bike in 90+ with 90% humidity is a bit much for either of us....

 

[Bruce]

The neighbor might want to hang around a while longer, MA is still getting nearly 2,000 new cases a day and the Boston area is ground zero. Not surprising given the population density.

Neither the truck nor van are reasonably repairable? Hopefully you'll find something suitable.

 

[farmerjan]

Today it started out cloudy but turned out to be more sun than clouds until late afternoon. a little warmer 45 up to 73.

I got the mower started finally and made some serious inroads into the areas that the landlord's son wasn't mowing. Have to go over it again in a couple of days and get some high spots/missed spots and get the small area behind the house where the clothesline is/was; where the one end "T" fell down. It started to get pretty cloudy and actually had a couple of "10 sprinkle" things while I was getting done. Didn't do any of the weed eating or anything and my ankle aches from being on the mower for 3 + hours. I had to do most of it in the very lowest gear, and had to often go a foot or 2 and then stop as the grass was causing the belt to slip on the mower.... all this that I did had not been mowed at all yet so would have been really good grazing. Such a waste. I also mowed the front part where they mow so that it was all the same and will re do it all and probably catch the grass and load it all in the truck to put under the lilac bushes that are so hard to mow close to, that I was mulching with lawn clippings last year. Maybe I ought to take it all up to the cows at the one pasture and let them pick through it. I just decided that I needed to get it done. I figured out how to push down with the boot so that it actually went down enough to start with me sitting on the seat. Bless my poor mower... I do abuse it.

Got all the sample boxes loaded in the truck for work tomorrow morning. Everything ready to go so that all I have to do is get dressed and go. I will take some pain stuff as soon as I eat something so that I don't get too "behind" since Geneva and I are going to do this without my son. He called today and with the lousy service, I could mostly hear him but he couldn't get much from me. He has to go into work at 4 a.m. as they are expecting serious rain and wind tonight.

He delivered the 8 steer calves to the guy where we rent, they have 2 separate places and he puts calves on the one place and we rent the other place..... and wants me to come up and get the clipboard and get the paper work caught up now. Mostly everything we had to sell is gone, and now I have to get things caught up so we can get calves tagged and cow/calf pairs moved to spring pastures. Then we will bring home the ones with the fall 2019 calves so we can pregnancy check and decide what we are going to do with them..... although for now I expect we will be holding alot of calves through the summer with the way things are looking.
And there will be haying inbetween. At least there are a couple of tractors that I think I will be able to drive even with the boot on, to rake hay. Not the Farmall H , but there are 2 that are "hydrostatic" like automatic, that I ought to be able to handle okay. Plus the Ford 4600 and the 6600 both are pretty low to the ground and the clutch is not "tight" in space because they do not have a cab on them. I used the 4600 last year and think that I can operate it okay. The 2 big tractors, are both totally automatic - use all hand shifts and stuff.... so if necessary, I will have to use one of them.

Going to try to get a dr appt so I can get this ankle assessed and start any PT if I can. Maybe they will have me doing stuff in the house. I do walk on it, with the crutches, in the house, without the boot. The swelling is going down slowly, I can see a difference in the "size" of it some. I do move it as much as it freely moves on it's own like they said I could and I do see more movement. It does still swell quite a bit though when I am on it for any length of time.

Everything else is still status quo. Got to ask my son if he got up with the owners to go through the house yet. I would like to do a lease / purchase for 6 months, I think, so that I can take my time getting stuff done and moved up there... get things out of this place and put up there where I want them instead of tons of boxes to pack and then unpack later. But with a set purchase price, and hope they will carry a mortgage.... maybe see if they will carry it for even a couple of years, then could do a refinance.....

MOSTLY, I need to know what price they are thinking so that I can go forward from here. If they want too much, I may wind up further away than I want to be just to get into something somewhere so I am not still here this coming winter.
Got another possum in the trap at the chicken coop that is empty.... d@#$#d miserable varmints.
Need to check on the status of the "road" up to the tower so I know where to get the meat bird pen set up at my son's property. They won't be ready until last week of May or 1st week of June.....

Caught 4 little mice on the sticky traps...... I know there are some that are bigger.... I think these were babies that had come out to start running around. Can't seem to catch the bigger ones on the sticky trap and I have finally reverted to poison bait to get rid of them. Haven't seen where they have touched that yet either.

Wind is picking up quite a bit. Need to get a shower, relax the foot/ankle and get some sleep. Hope we don't lose the power.

 

[farmerjan]

WELLLLLLL, had a not productive morning. The wind was terrible last night and then the rain. We lost our power and I never thought to set the wind up clock,,,,, so woke up to total darkness and then got the cell phone and it was 5:15.....WHOOPS... Ever try to manipulate on crutches with NO LIGHT???? Not fun. Tripped on the chair leg trying to get to the desk to get cell phone, and flashlight. @#$#@#..... Geneva had tried to call me but of course no service. Then she had sent a text. Had to go outside to get a text back to her.... So didn't get to test. We are going to try again tomorrow (friday) morning but Michael will be able to help.
We were without power for several hours but it was back on when I woke up again around 6. It had gone out before 2:45 a.m. which is when my clock was set for. By then I was so mad that I had overslept, I really couldn't go back to sleep.

The bad thing is that I had set up another farm for Friday afternoon. 220 cows. It is a smaller parlor, double 6 and I have to set up but not that bad.... but it takes a long time to milk because of only 6 cows per side at a time. I am going to go since it will be easier to do the morning with Michael helping, but really am not looking forward to the LONG day. Just have to take some extra pain killers to get through the afternoon, mostly because it will be aching, and it will be swelling , not that it will "hurt" so much... They do help pull down all the meters after milking. But it will be about 7 or later before I usually get out of there.

I am thinking that I may just not come all the way home since they are fairly near to each other..... just have everything on the truck to go this afternoon; then after the morning farm, I can pack the samples, and then just go get some lunch, go set up meters, and sit for a bit with my foot up.... Guess I will see how the weather looks. I cannot fit all the boxes for both herds inside the little truck.... if no rain in the forecast, I may just do it. I think I have most of the stuff on the back of the truck already (meters) so will check and see.

Time to go out and feed cats and check the rain gauge. The clouds are passing and I see where it is getting brighter and looking like the sun is trying to come out. I do see where the wind got the tarp off the mower so will have to leave it uncovered to dry out .

Stimulus check did get deposited..... nice addition to the checking account until I pay off the credit card. But, "found money" so can't complain.

 

[farmerjan]

Rain gauge had 1.2 in it so a pretty good amount. Not as much as some areas from what I am seeing. But the wind, and power outage was a pain.

Probably won't be able to Not come home between farms as we are supposed to maybe get a few showers still. So I will come home, pack all the samples from morning and then drop them off, on the way to the other farm. I need to take my computer to the other farm so it will be easier to get bottles and computer and put inside truck without worrying about anything getting wet. I will make it a point to take off the boot and rest the foot while packing samples. We'll see how the morning looks. I may decide to take them at the last minute, in the morning.

Going in to bed early tonight and will set both alarms!!!!!!

 

[CntryBoy777]

I remeber when I was driving....it seemed there would be "obstacles" to delay me and I'd get a bit "riled"....when I'd finally get started and down the road some there would be a bad accident....then I was thankful to be behind where I thought I sbould be.... .....I know ya have a "climb" ahead of ya tomorrow, and surely take care of yourself....
You'll be in a new place before long....things will work out for ya!!....

 

[farmerjan]

Well, thank goodness Friday is over. It wasn't too bad at the big morning herd with both my helpers. Michael had to leave at 8 for a dr appt at 9 so that is why it worked out for him to come help and I helped with the last 3 groups to come in and get milked. Geneva loaded all the boxes of samples in the truck and I did all the computer stuff and it went pretty good. Took a little longer than normal, we didn't get done milking until nearly 9 but I was done and driving out by 10. Came home and got the stuff unloaded, then had to get the other stuff loaded for the afternoon and left. It was a VERY LONG afternoon. I set up, no one there to help so getting the meters in the barn was not fun, but that's life. 4 + hours milking. This farmer also had some major computer problems, and the program is locked up. Meaning I am going to have to get on the phone Monday morning, and then go back up there.....

On top of it, after milking checked my phone and had 2 messages. The farm that is 125 miles away wants to test either Tues or Wed.... and I have to have help there as there is a TON of walking in that parlor and it moves right along. So talked to my son to see what he can maybe do.... Then another farm wants to test because they are going to be changing their feed; opening a new silo, and that affects the cows for a few days/week. They wanted to test on Monday. I told her that Michael could do it Sunday afternoon, and she said she would talk to her daughter. Well, sun won't work, so she said she guessed us 2 "crippled old ladies" could do it and she will help me. She had her shoulder operated on the day after my ankle and has been in a sling/harness thing and VERY RESTRICTED with use and all in both arms as if she pulls the muscles - ligaments in the other side it can mess up the surgery side. She is about 10 years younger than me... so we were laughing about it. So I am going there monday afternoon. If someone is around to carry the meters in, then I guess we can manage the rest.

My foot was/still is quite swollen and my right knee really aches. Have done nothing today and it is a beautiful day out. Very frustrating but I hurt.

Going up to the "new house" prospect tomorrow at 11 a.m., since no one can go to church, with the friend to look at the ceilings and the overall house. The owners said they were going to be working on it today. They have contacted a surveyor and then will get it appraised. This sounds like it might work but all this cleaning up and stuff is going to affect the price a bit.... and if it is too much then I just might not be able to do it. I think penny is coming with her husband tomorrow too.... I did mention to him about the bathroom needing a new tub/shower and that I wasn't so sure about it passing inspection to meet bank requirements with the rooms that only have one outlet etc. He said that the one thing they look at is if it has a good breaker box.... no fuses or the old style stuff and I said that yes, there was a good one they put in when the kitchen was remodeled and the front room redone and new wiring with more wall outlets. He said then it ought to pass....

So, we will see. I wish I had had the cash to make the offer on the other place with 5 acres even though it is further away..... I am really worried that this place may appraise for more than I want to spend.

I just read an article that this virus, the shut downs, and all things is going to bring housing prices to it's knees within the next 2 years..... and that it is going to take a long time to recover because it is not going to affect just our country, but is going to be a world wide "recession" ...... I sure hope not. But with the idiots that are trying to keep everything locked down for another month at least, it is going to break the bank in alot of places.