Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[Baymule]

It’s been nice weather here in Groveton the past 2 days. Cool enough for Carhart overalls but sunny and breezy. Supposed to start raining and a cold front blow in.

There’s a pile of OSB plywood in the floor that I want to haul to one of the shipping containers. I already got 2 lumber piles out of here, but need help with the plywood. Also want to get my trailer unloaded, put lumber in container, stack tin and gate on outside. Then I can take trailer home and load more stuff!!

Three inches of snow shuts Texas down. LOL we don’t have road clearing equipment or anything to deal with it. It is generally gone in a couple of days anyway.

 

[farmerjan]

Sat morning. Temps down to 7*.... clear and FRIGID .... sun coming up and supposed to warm up more than yesterday. Low 40's maybe. Then a front coming in as rain for tomorrow.... hate rain when it is in the 30's. Hard on the cattle.

Just had a cup of hot cocoa and going to work in the house in a little bit. Trying to get the last shelves in the "spice" cabinet and then can get some things put in there. Have already had to reposition one shelf down 2 notches, to fit things where I wanted them. That is a pain.... Think I am going to curl up with a book for another hour or so. House is cool, low 60's, as I did not want the fireplace heater running 24/7 and using up all the propane overnight !!!!! Bedroom down to 58.... So glad I got that other oil filled radiator heater... kept the temps in the DR warmer which helps the rest of the rooms to just stay less cold.

Might be a good day to bake something too.

DS called last night, and had to go into work again last night. He was not happy and very tired. I hope he had a chance to catch a nap or 2 inbetween. He had done feeding after he got off from working all night Thursday night, and was staying up so he could sleep good Friday night, and then the boss called and said he had to go back in at 8 so he only got a couple hours.... There was some melting which was causing black ice as it started to refreeze by dark. He had planned to get a good night's sleep and then do extra feeding today while it was real cold and the ground harder. There is rain forecast for Sunday, so it will make it a muddy mess again. At this time of year, once we get some weather, I prefer for the precip to be snow with days in the low 40's and nights down in the teens and 20's so the ground gets hard and stays hard. It is actually still a little soft under this snow even with the cold as it didn't get hard before we got it. There is some frozen ground, but not like it should be.
No, I don't want 0 or single digits all the time, but somewhat more normal would be nice.

I will wait for the sun to get up and shining and warm up the air a bit before I go out to the chickens. One good thing, the dog crate/box has a bale of straw on top of it and alongside it, so they stay a little warmer in it. Still no eggs yesterday.... guess they are on strike. The feeder is full so they have free choice. Have to remember to take out a bucket of hot water.... I dumped the waterer but there was a little in it and I just screwed the top on the little thing where it comes out and dumped the water out of the outside lip. This way when I put the hot water in it, it will be lukewarm mixing with the little bit of ice frozen in it. They sure don't drink much; but I am too used to the meat birds and they did nothing but drink. Glad I don't have any of them right now or they would all be dead because they could not take coming from a heat controlled building to these temps.
DS knows someone who might want to buy some already killed. I can do that to get some out of the freezer... They were paying like $7,50 for a 5 lb bird... which is about what the going rate would be here. They bought a 1/2 beef from him. Since I get them half grown for nothing, that price is still okay, I have about $5.00 in them with the killing costs. I can do that as it will help to just make mine "free". Hope to be able to start getting some again this spring. The one farm I was getting them from lost their contract with the poultry company because they would not do the upgrades, so hopefully I will just be able to get them from the farm that is closer. And now that the knees don't hurt, I should be able to go through and catch them myself.

DS made it through the night... he just pulled in across the road to get hay to go feed. I am across from the big 10 acre field where we make the sorghum-sudan and we also move alot of hay there from other, farther away fields, to have it close to load and go feed. He got off at 8 a.m.. I do worry when he has to work and has not had enough sleep. So I think he is going to do what feeding he can while it is frozen out there... he said it was a muddy mess at the barn lots with all the cattle in there, and the rain then the snow and it all get churned into mud when they come out of the barn for the hay in the lots. He didn't ship any yesterday, said he talked to the one auctioneer and he said not a good week to even send the pound cows. I didn't think it would be a good time to send them.

Going to get dressed as the house is too cold to sit around in bathrobe. I think I have some brownie mix calling my name to bake them......Might even send a few with the chicken dinner with DS to take home.

 

[farmerjan]

Sat night. I have been busy....and it was a good day overall. Started out at 7*.... BRRR.... sun came out and it was nice actually. Warmest here was 36* but there wasn't really any breeze so the sun was nice. It was actually decent in the greenhouse/shelter for the chickens and the water wasn't frozen solid either... Surprise. Of course, no eggs.

Came inside, and put away the clean dishes. Got the last shelves scrubbed for the spice cabinet and put in. It looks like 2 shelves aren't the right ones... I think they went to the other cabinet. It is stored in DS barn... with the shelves that are supposed to be for it.... so I have to go tomorrow and see if they got switched. Started sticking some stuff on the shelves to check for the height between them for optimal use. Will work on getting things in there on the top half until I check out the shelves and see if there are more for this cabinet mixed with the other ones.

Made a big pan of brownies and put some in with the chicken and all for DS to take home. Put the rest in a glass pan with a snap on lid so I could wash the bigger baking dish. Washed the baking dish and some more stuff here so the sink is empty. Have been putting similar things together into a couple of boxes so I can put them into the cabinets and know what I have when I am putting it away.

Made a bowl of french onion soup again (yes it is canned) because the swiss cheese melts so good in it.

I went out to lock in the chickens around 5 as it was getting a little dark. So nice that the days are getting a little longer already. Chilly with the sun going down but not much breeze.

Heard from the one farm and they want to test tomorrow aft while the daughter is milking so that will work. The weather forecast is for rain so it won't hurt to be inside. All I have to do is change the brackets on the meters and load the tote with the short hoses... everything is on the truck now. I will take the ones off that I don't need tomorrow. Have to stop and get the samples and info from the farmer that I get my milk from on the way to the other farm. Plus nice to space them out, not back to back days.

Then later this evening I put some of the chicken that I cooked for me, in to heat and had it for supper. Had 2 brownies for desert.

Going to read a bit. Maybe watch a movie. I need to spend a little time on the exercycle to work the knees some. Have the bottles in the trays for tomorrows herd and a bucket to take to the farm to drop off. I take one bucket for milk and leave it and so then he can just put it in the bucket and put in the fridge for me... so then I take a bucket to leave everytime I pick up a bucket....

Got the reservations for the yearly beef seminar on the 21st. I asked DS if GF wanted to go and she does. So there will be 3 of us. Last year it was virtual.... but this year is back to "in person". Our new Gov will be in place by then so I am not at all worried about them cancelling it. Normally you have to make reservations by the 1st of Jan to get the best rate and I was resigned to pay the full price... but when I went on to make them, it said that the early reservations date was extended to Jan 11th, so I hit a jackpot on that and saved money too. $35 for early, $50 for full price each......so I saved $45 ..... NICE. They serve lunch too. They hold this in 4 different places around the state.....18th 19th 20th and 21st. Usually gets a good turn out. Va Forage and Grasslands assoc. Have seen some good ones and they have guest speakers and all. That is where I bought my forage measuring "yardstick" a couple years ago.

Temps have dropped to 23 already at 7 p.m. I didn't dump the water so hope that it is not too frozen in the morning. Oh well... sure wish they would lay again.... I will have to buy some eggs for cooking/baking... I have 4 "fresh eggs" left to cook for my breakfast.....

 

[Mini Horses]

Weather cold here today...not as yours! We were at 28 for wake up. Sunny tho. Tomorrow 60? Then that front that leaves you gets here 8-9ish, so colder and wet into Monday. Don't need either of those. But cooler all week. . I'm wanting a chocolate fix, so I'll bake Monday. Tomorrow I'll do some outside work while it's warmer.

For whatever reason, my old hens are laying. Not all, not every day but, pretty ok. 7-10 a day...and I rarely eat them, so stacking up. Pound cake takes 12, quiche another 8-10, egg salad, yep I'll use them up! . Terrible problem.

Nice extension on those tickets. Enough to almost pay for #3.

 

[Baymule]

Frittata is good too and so easy to make!

It’s 69F in Groveton with a high of 71F. Thursday and Friday I was in Carhart overalls to block the cold wind! Nuts!

 

[farmerjan]

Well, talk about nuts.... it was frigid yesterday to start then cold but okay. Got down to 24 last night so 17 deg warmer than the night before. It is now 9:30 and already up to 43.... Partial sun, high hazy layer of clouds but sun is trying to break through. Supposed to be raining by noon. I am going out in a few minutes to let chickens out and then get the brackets on the meters changed for the herd this afternoon so it will be done in case the rain does get here like forecast.
Ate bacon and 2 eggs for breakfast. Got 2 left if they don't start to lay again soon. Guess I will buy a carton to have for baking. I did hard boil the last 6-8 of the store bought eggs so I could make egg salad... thinking I would be getting enough eggs and ......that came to an abrupt halt. Oh well.....
Supposed to get from 1/4 to 1 inch of rain possible this afternoon/eve. Then turning cold again so glad I am doing this herd this afternoon.

Yeah, the extended time on the registration about paid for the third ticket so that was really good.

Gotta get dressed and go out so I am not doing the stuff in the rain. I can come in and sit and relax for a bit then go and get the samples at the other farm on my way to go set up at the one I am testing.
Going to try to go by DS barn and check out the shelves to see if they got switched with the 2 others I have here. Maybe there weren't as many in this cabinet as I was thinking.... and I put more in the top half than there were before???? Won't know until I go look, but the 2 here don't have the "finish" on them... polyurethane I think; that the rest have on them. Oh well, won't know til I go look. The other cabinet/bookcase/cupboard is 10 ft tall, and I don't think I can get it in here, that is why it got taken to his barn to stay in the dry. It wouldn't fit in the carport here when we moved the stuff. I used to have all the jars and containers of stuff on it so you could see them all filled with usable food stuffs. The ceilings in the stone house were 12 or 14....at least..... and I had these 2 pieces of 10 ft pine shelving so made it the full length....

 

[Mini Horses]

With a little "adjustment by saw" that other would fit. . Maybe look at the area under stairs...is there a taller open area there? You know how badly canning jar shelves are needed!!

Have a good testing experience today.

 

[Bruce]

paying like $7,50 for a 5 lb bird

Buck and a half a pound for a ready to cook bird? Not worth the time and effort to feed and raise the birds.

It’s 69F in Groveton with a high of 71F. Thursday and Friday I was in Carhart overalls to block the cold wind!

I hope those weren't insulated overalls!

 

[Baymule]

Buck and a half a pound for a ready to cook bird? Not worth the time and effort to feed and raise the birds.


I hope those weren't insulated overalls!

Thursday and Friday were cold!

 

[farmerjan]

Sunday night. Waiting for the chicken and mashed potatoes to warm up. I got home from testing about 8. The samples are in the truck as I didn't want to try to carry them in in the dark. Won't hurt them for me to get them tomorrow morning and pack them.
The almost sun this morning didn't last long. Clouded up pretty quick and was sprinkling by noon. I did get the brackets changed on the meters and the short hoses in the truck; racks of bottles in and bucket for the farm. Chickens turned out of the crate and the water wasn't frozen... some ice to skim out of the waterer.
Left about 1, went to the other farm, got the samples and a bucket of milk. Went from there to the farm I was going to test and set up meters for the sanitizing rinse. Testing went well and I was out of there by about 7 and home around 8. Rainy wet but it is on it's way out of here.... looks like @Mini Horses is getting a good lick from it.
Much of the snow is gone, but my yard is still white. Temps only got up to 44 once it got cloudy and is still at 43 now. Will get down around freezing tonight but then cold and mid 30's tomorrow. Glad I tested this eve even though it was rainy... no wind and not terribly cold.
Tomorrow I will get on the phone and get some more herds scheduled.

Time to eat a bit and then go take a shower and wash my hair. Have a load of jeans and stuff that needs doing in the big machine so might make the time and do it tomorrow. Maybe go by Home Depot and look at sinks there. Something I want to get done before we get into serious canning season; and before I get too much into the lower cabinets.
Yes, @Mini Horses I could cut the cabinet/shelves but I am running out of wall space to put them against at this point. So for now, I might just wait and see. I did not get by there to look at the shelf boards to see if there were any for this cabinet there... but I can go do that tomorrow when I go drop off the samples to go out UPS.... and I won't be rushed. Or I can do it if I go out to do the heavy stuff that needs the big machine. Got some sneakers to throw in there too and they wash so much better in the big machine. Could do that Tuesday though since I will be close.... see how I feel and what the weather forecast is. If it is going to be too cold tomorrow I don't want to be hanging clothes....think we are going to get a warm up mid week.

@Mike CHS , hope the lambs do good for you tomorrow.

I'm gonna eat...