Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[Baymule]

He sprayed the rose bushes? He has no sense of value at all.

 

[farmerjan]

Yep, the once beautiful old rose bushes. The one by the window had gotten really big... and okay, you want it smaller... so he cut it to the ground... LITERALLY cut it off at the ground... as he did with all the other ones. I got that piece because the cane was in the grass and he missed it so I could dig it up.
So they have all been coming back up, and were nice 2 ft high bushes... and he sprayed and the one by the window is a mass of dead leaves and discolored canes. The one next to the storage building is also all dead leaves. I am hoping I can salvage the 2 in the front. And the little bunches of the daylilly's that have resprouted after getting cut off at the ground with the lawn mower, along the front porch.... I planted them there to make it not look so stark... he hates flowers I guess... but won't use a weedeater around the trees and lilac bushes... his son runs the mower over the grass and then zips out and that is it. And there are 2 dead pines in the front that the top 15-20 ft came out of one of them, last year... real attractive....


Just sad and stupid....

 

[farmerjan]

WELL,,,, didn't go back to the house to do kitchen floor because it turned black and we got a pretty hard fast t-storm/downpour..... didn't last near long enough.... I was unloading the truck stuff, and got soaked to the skin...YAY!!! Hung the shirt on a plastic hanger on the shower rod... peeled it off!!!

Didn't get enough I know, but it sprinkled a little more and was getting later so I said forget it. Tomorrow, I will go down there. Maybe can get a few other things around the storage building there... but it is mostly all done. Plants will be the priority after the floor; and I do not plan to spend alot of time on it.

There was a possibility of maybe a little more but it moved east pretty fast. Wish it had sat on top of us for an hour or more.... The forecast is for possibility of more tomorrow but not as much chance. This will barely give the grass a drink, but it is still better than nothing....and it cooled it off too which will help.

Deb called and did not come down for the weekend from work, so I will go check on the horse tomorrow. She said her friend, who actually owns the horse, said that she does not have to have grain everyday now.... she is not pregnant as they had hoped when they took her out of there a couple months ago to get her bred.... I will close the gates to the couple of hayfields and let her have the yard and the grass along the driveway up to the top where I will close that gate too. I was as much checking on her daily, in this heat, as to actually feed her grain....

Brought the other gallon of tea in and made my iced tea and it is in the fridge....had some left over chicken nuggets that I don't often get anymore, so I warmed them up to eat. Been too hot today to eat much.

Still some rumbles of thunder to the east where it went too quick... hope it is doing someone over there some good.

I am going to get a shower and quit for the evening in just a little bit...

 

[Baymule]

I’m so glad that you got rain! We have had good rains this summer, no drought.
That is sad what that idiot did on the roses. You are almost done there and your yard is your yard to do as you darn well please.

 

[farmerjan]

Got down to 65 overnight so comfortable, but already up to 77 at 8:30. Sun out and no breeze. More possible storms this afternoon, but they are looking to stay down along the NC/VA border with the way the front is coming across. We are down to a 20% chance so it is very doubtful we will see anything. Got to go out and check the rain gauge but I know it was not near enough. It will green up the grass and help the pastures for a few days to green up but doubt it will help any growth. Only supposed to be in the 80's for a few days, then hotter, 90's , by Wed and maybe some precip by the weekend.
Well, can't change it so will be thankful for whatever we did get.

I will go out and soak the plants here to add to the little drink they got as this kind of rain will make the top of the ground "open up" and it will soak up any added water well.

The daughter and husband are at the house on the nurse cow pasture, of course had to text me with this cow has this and this baby looks like that.... she is a nice person, but worries us to death over every single little thing... have that hereford that has the lame foot we couldn't get in, with a bad eye, that we darted the other day... she calls it a jersey.... I mean, they were staying there a couple years ago and her son was the one that used to sit on the one jersey steer's back.... and she still can't tell the difference... so I texted her back last evening, and said I would be by after 9 a.m. this morning...they moved from Nashville Tn to somewhere up in Pa with the husbands job last year.... she doesn't work just raises the 2 kids... but also does not have a garden, or anything that I call practical.... just doesn't fit in with my type of life.... sometimes it just gets on my nerves even though she is a basically nice person. The 2 kids are a little spoiled and can be real brats....they would've had a few sore backsides when they were smaller and a little more respect towards people. We all know that kids get more "bratty" as they get older though...
Oh well, different strokes... glad they are not my grandchildren though. Although they could use some good lessons on things like gardens and helping work in the house. And appreciating what they have.

So, aside from going down the hill, don't have alot planned. TONS to do... will just see what hits me when I get back. I will go by the horse when I am out since it is right next door... got to put a shovel and some stuff in the truck to take down when I go.

Gas has gone up here again. It is over 3.00 a gallon now most everywhere. Trying to make trips anywhere I go really count.

Waiting to hear back when the guy can do the stump grinding so I can see about getting in a concrete pad for the outdoor wood furnace. It will cost me, but I cannot afford to pay for the fuel oil or even to put in a propane system.... there are enough dead ash trees alone to heat half of rural Va for the next 50 years. May as well heat my house this winter... and the hot water and cut that part of the electric down too. Especially since I see it just getting more expensive.

 

[farmerjan]

Went to the nurse cow pasture and visited with Susan. Her husband didn't come up. Seems her mom has stage four melanoma.. is starting immunotherapy treatments and was supposed to have her 2nd one last Thurs so that is why Susan came up. However, the mom was real sick with diarrhea, so didn't have the treatment. Hope to do it this thurs... She and kids are leaving to go home in a little bit.
It is the jersey steer that is suddenly limping and I got up near him and looks like fot rot or a wart between the toes. I will take a syringe of LA300 and squirt on the area between the toes that is red and looks like a wart there. Do not want to go with injections at this point since he is scheduled to go to butcher in a month. Will try the topical... which is done regularly on dairies, and may have to get him into the barn to pick it up and do the bottom too... but will see. It came up suddenly since he was acting fine a couple days ago. Swollen and sore so he is walking on it as little as possible. The pinkeye we treated looked better on most of the animals I checked and the hereford and a few others with the smaller calves were off by themselves laying in the shade so I didn't disturb them.

1850 with the holstein bull calf was letting it nurse in the field...she talked to it as it went up to her. But I also saw it sneaking on another cow... so it will get it's fair share one way or another. So that is working out good.
Spring had the water trough full.... the cows make the rounds and when they all go down and drink, it naturally drops down in the concrete water trough... but it usually slowly has been filling back up. Well, it is full, so I expect that they will go make the rounds to drink here in awhile. As long as I see if full, I am not going to worry about it when they all go drink and it drops way down. The last 2 times I saw it , it was just about to the top of the overflow pipe so I was not worried... but then the owners & all see it down and get all panicky.... they don't listen when I try to explain about the cows normal movement through the pasture over the course of the day.

Saw 3 cows in heat and the bull right there with them... so I hope he is doing his job.... this little bit of cooler weather will really help get them showing their heats better.

None of the calves were showing any interest in the cows so not able to do any matching. That usually works better in the late afternoons when they are out front grazing.

Just ate a pbj sandwich and am going to go outside to put the hose on the trees for the day. Want to try out those small waterer things I got... I have a couple shorter hoses that I can use I think... got the shovel and the broom and all in the truck to go down the hill to the other house too. Forgot to go by the horse when I left the nurse cow pasture so will do that too.

Radar really looks like we will miss the rain later that is coming straight across along the NC/VA border.. but looks like @Mini will get it again this eve...
Lunch over.....

 

[Baymule]

Reckon maybe the steer could’ve stepped on something to injure his foot?

 

[farmerjan]

Tuesday. Have been a little busy and very sore... Knees are just ........no words.

I went and tested yesterday afternoon. Left here early enough to go by the farm where I pick up the couple of samples for that farmer.... where I get my milk, but didn't have my cooler, so didn't get milk then. Left there, and went by and grabbed some lunch at Taco Bell.... naturally they gave me something that was not my order, so I was ticked off and went back... took too much time out of my planned schedule... that is the 2nd time in the last 3 times there over the course of the month that they have screwed up.... I'm done with them. Not that good this time even when I finally got the right stuff.

Stopped at the dollar store up near there and picked up a couple odds and ends....and got 2 very simple "stools" to sit on... I had gotten one at Ollie's store once and really liked it... metal.... cost 5 bucks... and couldn't find any more... almost fell over when I found 2 there. alot easier for me to get up and off them than the softer camp type chairs.... and don't take up much room either and stack...

Got there early enough to get set up just as the sanitizing system started so that was good. Then I made a couple phone calls... got through to the lady at the dr office for the knees.... had gotten a call about a possible conflict. So, I asked about the possibility to reschedule and put it off a week due to testing ... and she said that she thinks that they called me by mistake... and that there were NO dates available until MID -DEC..... UH NOPE..... she had a cancellation for Nov 30 th.... I said , no I will just keep the date the last Monday of Oct.... but she did say that they would put me on the cancellation list in case something comes up and they could call me to give me a choice..... So not going to change it..... I will have to do some juggling with the farm that usually gets done the last week of the month. I wasn't thinking about that and should have realized it way back when I made the appt. Oh well, it will work out.

Tested and then came down and stopped and picked up the milk at the farm and talked to Lee for a bit. Came on home and got that into glass jars in the fridge and made a baked potato for dinner.... I was tired.

Had PT this morning. Really sore. We agreed that I have "lost a little" with the cancelled appts with the loss of my mom and trip north and haying when we got back..... the pool pt helped last week but am not able to straighten the knees as much. At this point he agrees that I need to just try to maintain... until about a month before, and then really push... and hurt... to try to stretch them knowing that it would only be a month til the pain of the joints grinding will be done....

Went from there to the Little Debbie "warehouse" outlet.... wanted to see if I could get the coffee cakes as they don't usually have them.... and did get a case of them..... they keep good and it is better than the "sweet stuff" like cupcakes and ding dongs and yodels..... they are good to keep in the car, like when I am coming home from testing, rather than stop and get junk food.... not great as they are processed "fast food" but I don't like all the creme filling and icings and stuff...so I figure they are better and I can keep them in the car without them going bad like fruit and all. I do try to buy fruit and take it but in the summer it doesn't keep in the car for more than a day or 2.

Stopped at the Ace hardware to look at the "camp stove" that is on legs that has been mentioned as a good alternative for canning... Don't have any in the store... but were going to see if they could get one from the warehouse...

Came home and went down with the car and they were not busy so got the oil changed and all. Added the power steering fluid again.... most have a leak or the pump is going bad.... will have to see about that. But at least the oil has been done.....

Came here and am going to make some lunch and pack the samples from yesterday. Got to go by and do the horse when I go drop off samples. Been sitting at desk dealing with bills and such, making sure I am caught up on everything since I picked up the mail at the P.O. today. At least no big surprises....

Nice out, mostly sun, not too hot and not too humid. No additional rain but maybe this weekend coming. Things did green up after the .6 we got on Saturday night.... but we sure need some more.
Think I will work on some things here in the house so I can quit and sit inbetween since knees are sore.

 

[Ridgetop]

Glad that you're finished having to go back to the old house to move more stuff. We forget how much we actually have until we have to move. I used to clean out every closet in the house every couple months, but haven't into done it for over a year. I need to do it again and get rid of some stuff. Old linens for which I no longer have that size mattress, etc. LOL Chafing dishes which i will give m DDs and DDILs, tablecloths whicha don't fit any tables I own. Although since some of those are real linens, I may just box them up and save them since you can't get real linen tablecloths anymore and I do love real linen. I did a thorough clean out of the board games a year ago when painting the spare BR (now Robert' nursery) ready, but still have a lot that the children won't part with. It seems that my children collect monopoly games with themes and don't open them to play. Just collect them.

Hope haying is going ok with all the rain you have had.

 

[Baymule]

Maybe that dairy will test a week early and work around your surgery date.