Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

Tuesday evening. Another long day. Ached from all the activity yesterday, and finally got going about 8 a.m.. Had to be at PT at 10. I was sore all through that in the pool. Not one of my better days.
I had made a call to the dr office because I have a spot on my arm that had a very reddish "ring around it " like what the pictures for a tick bite for the Lyme carrying ticks. They are deer ticks and very small. I have no idea if there was a tick, never saw one, but again, they are tiny. The red ring around it was not very big, the whole thing is smaller than a nickel..... BUT.....showed it to DS when we were doing the cows and he said that I probably should get it looked at. He has had Lyme disease and my mom did too and she had set backs for 5 or more years.
They said they could see me about 11:30... so got out of PT and went up there. PA that I saw, she is new there as the one I used to see left that practice, said that it definitely looks like a tick or a spider bite. At this early stage, blood work would be useless as it takes 4-8 weeks to get into the blood stream. It is not really swollen, not itchy, no new aches and pains .... I said they were normal all the time ..... again, BUT..... so she suggested and I have to agree even though I am not in favor of alot of stuff, because of us out in the fields and with the animals, that I am going to take a 2 week course of antibiotics for it..... stop it before it can get a foothold in my blood stream..... If I have any symptoms, weakness, fever, unusual aches, headaches, etc and so forth, to come back in.
It just looks different than if I had pinched it , or poked it or anything like that.....I am not an alarmist.... but this just caught my attention the wrong way.....

So left there, came to the barn, got the truck and trailer and headed south to go get the 5 head. They are not ones we are going to resell to that guy, they are to keep for a bit, and hopefully will match up with some we have here to make a bigger pen of calves to sell in the future. Pretty nice calves really. Priced right to buy.
Coming back, wanted to stop to pick up the prescription, but it wasn't ready. So brought them to the barn, unloaded and got my car; and then had to go 15 miles back to get the script, so I also did a little odds and ends shopping while waiting, and then on the way back, went to the old house and got a load in the car. Sky was looking darker, but it passed north of here. I looked on the radar a little bit ago and it did stay about 20+ miles to the north. Looks like we might be in line for some tonight again, though.

Have not unloaded the car yet of the boxes....wanted to come in and get something cold to drink.

This was after 5 pm. No signs of the guy having been here, but I didn't go out in the back to look around the deck and all. Might not have come since it was so cloudy early, even though it did partially clear off and then got just a lighter grey cloudy. Have to talk to glen and see what the story is. He might have needed him today for some stuff... I would like to go out and try a load of the chips along the short stretch of fence right there by the driveway so see if I can smother the weeds and grass so this weed eating doesn't "go to waste". Not tonight... maybe tomorrow morning? See how I feel.

Still have to go down to the house and wash out the upright, and get some more stuff cleaned up. Got a bunch of stuff that I need to finish up. Kitchen needs some major finishing up in.... lot of little odds and ends stuff to bring up..... and then the storage building with the fish tanks....

Going to spend some time sorting and condensing some things tomorrow again... and more stuff to the dumpster....

No farms scheduled ... one wants to wait til next week now....have another one scheduled for next Tuesday aft.... and have to find time to do the 500+ cow herd next week too....I texted Geneva as DS will probably be in hay and won't be able to help....I would get my raking/tedding done mid day, but he bales in the afternoon and this test is supposed to be afternoon. I am hoping she can help next week one afternoon... I am honestly not missing doing them much.... maybe once I get the rest of my "junk" moved , I will have time to miss doing the farms.....I think I am getting ready to give up testing.... but it could just be the moving project has been so time consuming and the knees hurt so much. Not making any decisions until after the knee replacements and see how I do....

 

[Mini Horses]

I find I am far less interested in going to work when I have a lot of my own things needing my attention! Plus, older I get the less interested I am in getting up early.
Still not ready to just quit...slow down works.

 

[Baymule]

You do well to pay attention to those warning signals going off in your brain. I pay attention to those gut feelings that something isn’t right. If it is Lyme, catching it now is the smart thing to do. If it isn’t then no harm done. But that’s too big of an “IF” to ignore.

I agree the moving has dragged you down. Tiring mentally and physically, when you are DONE, it will set you free. Getting your knees done, therapy and recovery will REALLY set you free. At that point you can determine if you want to continue working.

 

[Ridgetop]

Looks like you are almost done with the old house. You will be able to get more done when you don't have to travel back and forth. Putting in the fencing is a good idea Easier to graze the calves than to cut and rake the grass for hay! LOL

 

[farmerjan]

Another day .... hot humid with a quick little shower that the radar was showing to be a real downpour. We had some sun and clouds all day.
Went down and spent some time sorting through a few more boxes. It is breaking my heart but I am probably going to throw out about 6 volumes that are about 8 inches thick, of "dictionary reference" books. The front and back covers are totally no good...falling off the book pages. They were printed in 1897.....From my grandmothers house and they had been stored in her damp cellar. The pages look pretty decent though. It just seems like alot to bring them up here. Looks like a complete set but the covers are off and falling apart.

Brought another bunch up here and unloaded the car and half the truck. It started to sprinkle as I got here, and was enough that I covered the rest on the back of the truck. I will get to it in the morning then go back down. Got a bunch to go to the dumpster. Since it is only a mile away, it is easier for me to take a pickup load on my ranger, and then not overdoing the knees all at once. Need a couple of good boxes to put some stuff in that are in falling apart boxes.

The guy did come back yesterday and did most all I wanted done. The few things I can get ; and there are some "woody weeds" along the split rail fence that I will have to take a clipper to cut off. Glen needs him again, so I am thankful to get this much done. Really wanted to get the wood chips along the fence, but oh well. I might try to do some here just to save some of the work in the future. But finishing up at the other house is priority. It was just hot today. Got the ceiling fan on in the bedroom.... found a pull chain that was long enough so I don't have to stand on the chair to turn off the overhead light and leave the fan going. It works off the wall switch and I had put a longer one on the fan part when I moved in here... I had a neat one with an old fashioned cow scene on it. But then I needed one on the light too. Need a ceiling fan here in the LR. On the list.
Called the boxwood/tree guy and left a message about the stump grinding... he is supposed to come out Friday morning.... look at the boxwood stumps in the back so that they can get ground down to surface so that when the time comes to do the wood stove base.... and I am going to go with concrete like the friend said he wished he had done.....it is going to go at one end of where the boxwoods were. Also want that mess cleaned up out front. Granted he took it off the price before so not like he "owes me" , but I want it cleaned out because I want to be able to drive out to the garden or the chickens with the truck along the road side of the maple tree, not on the yard side where I was driving last year.

Carport has alot of stuff in it.... But some I will be going through over the summer... and there is a bunch of stuff in there that will go in a yard sale.

Think I will work on the desk drawers for a little bit... clean, put in, and organize stuff as it goes in. At least for a little bit for now.

I am not that big a fan of Walmart... but when I was waiting on my prescription, I did a little shopping and they are redoing the stores... taking out most of the cashier lanes for the self serve ones.... and redoing the floors to look like marble... I think they are ugly and they make the store dark as they are a dark grey....almost black. But there is a BIG section with clearance stuff .... and I bought a replacement toilet seat for here because this one is padded and it has a couple little cracks in it now.... for 11.00 instead of like 17 or 19.00.... and I happened to see a wall mount for a tv.... 69.00 one marked down to 35 then down to $15.00.... I wasn't sure of the size of my "new used" flat screen... but when I got home it is like 42".... and this wall mount is for 42 to 65" or something..... seemed like a good deal to me since I am considering putting it on the wall after all. Supposed to be adjustable for 16 and 24 inch stud spacing....so that trip was productive. I also bought a couple pkgs of soap for the bathroom, and some more otc allergy stuff to keep here in the cabinet.

Did the sink full of dishes and 4, gallon jars that I keep the milk in, in the fridge; so they are ready for the next trip. I get it in a 2 gallon bucket with a tight lid so don't have to worry about breaking a jar on the travel....
Moved my spider plants outside and the aloe plant. They need to be repotted but wanted them to get some rain water and it looks pretty good for us to get some more rain for the weekend...I've got several hanging pots to transplant the spider plants into....they are so root bound and so many in each pot that they need to be split up some.... and several pots that I can use for the aloe plant.

Okay, that's my 2 dollars and 2 cents for the night!!!!

 

[Baymule]

On putting down the wood chips, weeds will come right back, up through the wood chips. I use them a lot in the garden and I lay down cardboard or paper feed sacks first to help with the weeds.

 

[farmerjan]

Mostly sunny out, 64 to start. Very slight chance of some showers later but much better chance Friday and over the weekend. Emptied 2 desk drawers out on the floor and vacuumed them out, and wiped down the outsides real good with the furniture polish. Then I quit for the night. Slept better than I have been lately. So, some breakfast and empty the truck and back down the hill.

DS texted to see if I was doing anything today.... I think that he wants to get in the cows and calves from the one field and get them preg checked and wean off the calves and get these cows moved out to a pasture somewhere for the summer. Haven't heard back but he doesn't get off work til 3:30 so it would be after that.

Gonna run by and see if there are any boxes, so I can take them down the hill and transfer some good stuff into them. Still thinking about taking the contents of the books there and putting them in a box and salvaging them without the covers. I kinda would like to be able to look through them and maybe they aren't worth keeping..... but maybe would learn some stuff.... and let's face it, perspectives from 1897 are different than now.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

You might be able to get them rebound? If the pages are still good and it's only the bindings that are failing. Maybe a collector might want them if you no longer do?

 

[farmerjan]

Friday eve. Went down the hill this morning after a couple of phone calls for work. Also talked to guy about the stump grinding stuff. He gave me a decent price to do all, especially considering there is more in the back at the boxwoods than the front stump clean up. He had come by on Tuesday when I was gone, said he had some time and knew where the house was and all... which was fine. I will probably get him to schedule it for after the middle of June which is only a couple weeks away anyway.

Brought a bunch of stuff up and sorted through some more down there. Had the car because it was sprinkling on and off and looked like it might get more serious but it didn't while I was there.
After I unloaded it, I did go by and get another half dozen boxes to take down, and had loaded the vacuum in it to be able to do some cleaning inside. Plan to start that tomorrow.
DS has had 2 guys back out of helping move the freezers.... he is pretty mad, and he cannot do them himself.

There was sun at 7 , clouds at 8, sprinkles at 9.... I was going to go back down for another load and DS needed me to go to town to the sale. I planned to go to the house after.... and there weren't any cattle priced for our needs so sorta a wasted trip, but I did stop at the feed store and pay on my account, before the end of the month since Monday is a holiday and they are closed. Picked up 4 TM salt blocks too.
Stopped at the one pasture and dropped off a trace mineral salt block for them.

Came back and DS called and asked if I could help him get in a couple of calves to treat for pinkeye, they have runny eyes, just getting a little cloudy, so hopefully we got them before they get bad....so I went directly to the barn. Wound up treating 7 total.....
Also looked over a couple of other heifers that he had, that I thought he was going to put with the bull, and he thinks are too small.... and I wound up sticking my arm up them to check and one is already pregnant. The other 2 he is going to send next week along with a few other ones he has to the buyer. Get them out of the barn. He is not sold on them, and I don't think they are too small, but they are his....

There is one smallish heifer that he bought awhile back, that I checked preg that has calved, and another getting quite round. One of my heifers that got bred too young is about ready to calve... and now this other one I said is preg. He is going to put them out in a lot so they can eat and not get bullied....

Took my jersey steer that is going to butcher in August up to the nurse cow field, and the 2 small heifers that I brought back from the dairy as they are not getting enough there to eat and he is not feeding any grain. I will start feeding in the catch pen and they will be able to come in the creep gate for feed with the calves that are on the cows. He also took 2 steers, while he was going in that direction to GF father, he wanted to put out on some pasture they have, that will get killed late this year.

It rained some as I left the stockyard at 3:30, and was very light rain at the barn. Then it rained pretty good for a bit then let up as we were loading the ones to move. It started to shower a bit more, as we let them out, then I just came home since it was 8:30.... Too late to go down the hill. I am going to go down in the morning and get going on some more stuff. Planned to make at least 2 trips today with some stuff sorted and the keep stuff in the new boxes.

So, I got the one cabinet moved into the corner where I wanted it so it can be a bit of a "linen closet" and bathroom storage cabinet. I need to just go wipe it out and "furniture polish" the outside of it. I used it for a kitchen cabinet with 2 drawers for silverware, and pots and pans storage next to the stove... it will work for this okay.

After 9:30 already.... Guess I will go in and do the cabinet then get a shower & quit for the night.

 

[Mini Horses]

Finally got a little rain here. Only .15 " but first in just over 3 weeks. Hoping it "sprinkles" all night. Not gonna. They say tomorrow we'll get more. Great!!!!!!!!!! Ruin anyones cookout ya want -- just rain! Corn in fields is curling.

Sounds like you are pushing the laaaaaast of the move out with weekend..... I know it will be a relief.