Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

Morning... a "balmy" 23 to start... compared to the 13 the other day I'll take it. Sun is coming over the hill across from me, supposed to get into the upper 30's and tomorrow into the 40's. The best part is the wind has let up and only a breeze right now and should die down during the day.

@Baymule yeah, this spring/summer I will get to exploring the problems with the window on that side of the house. So far the temp taping and the blanket has changed it inside so that I don't feel the awful draft and can keep the room temps up and the ice in the water on the floor is all thawed. It can stay the way it is until warm weather. There is siding on the house they had done for the mother years ago so don't know what sort of a project it will be.

I'm going to go out to the chickens before the snow gets too "wet" and thawing as it will be easier to walk now while it is firm. Take water out and get them situated for the day. It will warm up comfortably in there for them. Might even thaw the one waterer some between today and tomorrow. Glad I have 2 so that I could use the empty one when it was so cold.

Going to get the samples all packed; since there was no UPS pickup yesterday I didn't even worry with them. I wouldn't have made the trip to take them down to the place I drop them off at in that cold weather... had no plans to go out in , except for helping with the stuck truck . They aren't life or death to get out. I am so glad to have gotten those 2 big farms done before it turned so cold.

Nothing on the agenda for work this week. Not going to schedule anything either. Most of the farms have enough to do just to make sure the cows are getting fed and taken care of and don't need me in there being a pain... plus I have no intention of going into any of the barns and freezing either.

I don't envy you @Mini Horses having to put in a full week this week now... yeah it is nicer and nicer to NOT have to go into work. I am torn about making a decision to retire..... but I hate having to go out in the cold anymore for work... it is different to do my own stuff... I know you "get it"....

Just ate some more of my chipped beef on toast. As soon as the sun comes up over the crest of the hill and hits the greenhouse and warms it up a little I will go out to the chickens.
Then the snow will start to soften and melt. Got LOTS to do here in the house still... I have been a little lax the last couple of days in the house... haven't gotten done near as much as I planned to do... Those blowing cold dark grey days just makes you want to hunker down and hibernate. I did do a fair amount of reading.... and some cooking.... now need to get motivated to get back to the clothes folding and straightening up and working on the cabinets in the kitchen.

 

[Bruce]

Jan what about taking the trim off the windows and foam insulating around them? It might fix the draft problem.

Excellent idea. And @Ridgetop can put it back up with the brad nailer.

 

[Ridgetop]

Yay - another road trip!

 

[Ridgetop]

Jan what about taking the trim off the windows and foam insulating around them? It might fix the draft problem.

At my aunt's house in Yelm her windows leaked like a sieve. They were the original windows designed to lift out in the summer months and put in screens. MJ had nailed them shut years ago after a series of burglaries. When I checked them, you could see through between the frame and window to the outdoors! As a quick measure before we returned to do the rebuild on her house, I got exterior caulking and caulked around them on the outside. This worked to stop the wind blowing into the house. I had planned to replace all the windows with dual pane ones but when we ran out of time when we did the rebuild. We were going to replace them the following year but that was when we found out the city had incorporated the property and no more livestock. Then she died, it wasn't worth doing for a rental.

If you go around the outside of the frames on the exterior and recaulk it might help, and would be easier than pulling the trim for now. Later, you can pull the trim and fill the gaps on the inside, then replace the trim. By the way, when pulling off trim use a sharp utility knife to cut through the paint layers between the wall and the trim. This will keep the old paint from pulling off the walls which will require patching and repainting.

 

[Ridgetop]

This will keep the old paint from pulling off the walls which will require patching and repainting.

Found that out the hard way!

 

[farmerjan]

Tuesday early evening. Been an okay day. Got the samples packed and took down to the place I leave them for UPS pickup. Stopped at the local bank that I opened an account at, because I cannot seem to get on the website so I can do my banking over the internet... problems with the password and them saying it was invalid then locking me out because of too many tries the last 2 days. . I switched my SS direct deposit to this account and wanted to make sure that it went through before I authorized some payments and to find out that it hadn't gone through....so they got it cancelled out and now I can go in and start over and go from there. It was right at closing time... I hadn't paid attention to the time... and said I could come back in the morning... but they did that and she said if I had any more problems to come in in the morning, and they would help me get it fixed but that I should be able to do it now. We will see in a little bit.

It was mostly sunny today... got up to 40 but there was still a light breeze so not really warm... I see some signs of some melting, hopefully it will melt more tomorrow if it gets up into the upper 40's.... It started at 23 up to 40 for a little while, down to 27 already at 5:30 p.m.

Talked to DS a little bit ago. He was headed down to her house with the skid loader to clean out some of the driveway because it is very shaded and does not melt well. He has to go back in tonight and he said he opted to stay on the night shift this week because they were going to not work tonight then go back on nights, if we get the weather change on Wed night/Thurs morning. He said that he would rather stay on the night all week now. They are going to go in at midnight, and they are going to do repairs on several plow trucks....

So anyway, he said that yesterday after we got the truck pulled out and he did the feeding with the tractor and all... he put the bucket on the tractor and cleared out a couple of swipes with it and then rolled out a partial bale there at the farm for the animals since the snow stopped. He said that the new cow I bought, with that unexpected new little tiny baby, had moved the baby to the hay he had rolled out and that it seemed to be doing okay... I honestly expected for it to not make it through that horrible snow/wind/sleet weather on Sunday. She is quite a good momma. She is "short-mouthed" meaning short teeth... older cow... but her "stock" went way up with me that she is sticking with the calf so good and taking such good care of it... The good thing is the calf will be 5 months old before the cow goes with a bull to get bred in May/June... so ought to be in good shape to breed back. She definitely will be getting another shot at getting bred and to stay around for a few more years.... I don't know if the calf is a bull or heifer... hoping it is a heifer so I can maybe keep it.... hoping for genetics to carry down and for the calf to also be a good mother (if it is a heifer calf)....

He said he hasn't seen any cows or calves with problems... none of the small babies lost that he can tell.... that is a big plus. There is a new calf at another place that he wasn't expecting to be there.... again, should've been moved before now to the barn and preg checked.... He did say he was going to go get the panels and get them moved to that place, to get those cows/calves out of there. Plus, he is going to move some of the heifers we are keeping, out into a lot out back where there are just a couple of calves that went across the concrete feed bunks... so that he can make more room in the barn. I meant to ask if he had moved the bred cows out yet, but I doubt it. Maybe he is going to move the heifers out back and then the cows out to the back field on the other side of the farm with the other bred cows. Got to get stuff out of the barn to more efficiently be able to check the cows coming back to the barn.... and to separate off their calves.

So, I am going in to make some supper... And work on something here. Ankle has been swelling alot.. but I have been doing alot of sitting. So need to get out of the chair at the desk and get it up a little bit. And more exercising it to get the fluid to flush back into the blood stream and get moved out of the leg/ankle.

 

[Mini Horses]

Don't know about your area but, we are getting TWO possible/probable snow hits! Thur and Sat. Don't know why we're a target this year, maybe because none for so long! . Thur seems most probable to be none to an inch. However, Sat one mode says poss 6" and other says 12". . Noooooo!! As always, timing and wind currents could blow either to good or bad.

I just know that hay will be in the close trailer by Thur night -- when they suggest it arrives -- and that my work will be done then, also! Next week is 1/2 day at my leisure. . So no problem! If things get tight for some reason, 1/2 day of this week's jobs are ok to schedule for next week. I'm good with it. Besides the jobs are moving fast for me, after I convinced myself it was happening. Just did 12 hr of jobs in 6.

Today I got a call to see if I'd go back to working the food demos. I'm hesitant and need to consider which job I'd rather do. Both is too much in Spring. Would have done some Nov & Dec...where was he then?? They are basically weekends! Plus, they've made some changes and not sure I'd like them; no flex time either....set time start, stop, date, etc. Knowing I want to cut back, might be a good time to actually resign there. Decisions!! I'm not beholding to anyone and like it. I feel a "NO" coming on.

 

[farmerjan]

I am seeing that you are going to be in for a significant amount more than us for the weekend "weather" .....my DS has had to go down to the eastern shore areas in the past for heavy snows; with the snowblower from this area. Not many can operate it. So it will remain to be seen....
We are supposed to get some rain wed night, possibly turning to snow showers Thursday... but maybe only an inch or 2. Friday is also a concern for here and it all depends if the stalled front stays further south or curves up more. If it does stay south, you will get it worse and us very little... if it curves inland a little more, we will both be getting an "accumulation" ... will know more once tomorrows rain/snow passes by....

I am thinking that a "NO" is in the works for the food demo for you. "WE" tend to get less agreeable when they get less flexible....And all this down time makes you (me) realize we are tired of constantly "punching a time clock" of sorts.
It will cut into your gardening time and your "social life" at the small stock sale, and being able to go to things that naturally occur mostly on the weekends. There comes a time when the money is less important than the enjoyment of not having to "push" all the time.

Got an e-mail from the "boss" at work... wanted to know if any of us in this area wanted some more herds as there is a tester quitting.... end of March I think it said. This tester travels from across the mountain to do these so has alot of travel time invested from where she lives... I immediately e-mailed her back and said that no, I did not want any more as I was just getting back to working with my new knees and it more than enough for me. These herds are all north of here, and travel would be about an hour at the closest. I just don't want anymore. I am sure the testers up in Rockingham Co. where these herds are, are going to fuss and not want any either as they are all pretty set in their ruts too... one only works part-time, now, as she took a job at the post office 2 years ago... the other 2 both have said in the past that they don't want any more... one is my age or older, the other has had both hips replaced and has said she is content with what she has and definitely did not want to take any more on... but that if I needed her to do a couple when I had the knees done, she would see if she could help.....

But I am not going to get roped into doing more... I would do a few for an emergency for a month or 2 if needed as I have done fill ins in the past... but not even going to offer for that or else I will get stuck with them. Plus I am not going to do mornings for any that I am not already doing.....
It is going to be interesting as I think there are 4 or 5 of us that are over 65... so retirement is coming for a bunch...

See @Mini Horses it isn't hard to say NO and I am sure I have alot more debt than you do, with a mortgage and all, and I still had no problem saying no, nada, no thank you, NOPE!!!!!

 

[Mini Horses]

am thinking that a "NO" is in the works for the food demo for you. "WE" tend to get less agreeable when they get less flexible....And all this down time makes you (me) realize we are tired of constantly "punching a time clock" of sorts.
It will cut into your gardening time and your "social life" at the small stock sale, and being able to go to things that naturally occur mostly on the weekends. There comes a time when the money is less important than the enjoyment of not having to "push" all the time.

All so true. Being able to set my own schedule for 98% of my work is the biggest plus! And I can change at a moment's notice....get up and feel like doing something else, I usually can. Rare jobs have tight schedule. Most need done in one or two weeks. You can get into trouble if you put it all off to last minute.. I do plan ahead and know what's more critical for time.

Oh, I still have a mortgage! But it's good. Like you, I work more on buying most things cash, 2nd hand, save first, or short term with low/no interest. Occasional high cost needs a bank loan.

I have to email tonight to let him know. When I started those, years ago, wasn't doing anything else....so 3 days of control wasn't bad. Now that I have this freedom, it is. . Haven't done one in almost 2 yrs now. Thanks COVID.

Speaking of that....I went on line and ordered my 4, free from Uncle, CV19 tests. Someone may need one. Thought site would be blown out. Nope -- on, gave name, addy, done! Both DG and DGD work at Wally world, so sometime they require a test to work after an exposure, etc. Wonder how long the shelf life.. Anyway, about 3 weeks ago that happened and WM was out of them. Got more 2 days later. All were negative, back to work.

 

[farmerjan]

Wed morning. Started out at 24 and quickly up to 47. Sun is out and will help to melt quite a bit of this. Going to rain - tonight into tomorrow morning; maybe some snow as the temps drop and tomorrow is in the 30's and Friday only in the 20's... with the night to go down to the single digits. Will take today gladly.

Goes to show how much I pay attention... I didn't know there were free covid tests to be given out. Couldn't care less... I'm not going to test for it anyway... there is enough hysteria over the "numbers" of new cases....
Our newly sworn in Governor has already said that there is no MANDATORY vaccine mandates for state or school workers now... voluntary is fine... and signed an exec order about children and masks, only already court challenges...I only heard a snippet on the news yesterday... have to look up the latest info. Good for him. Plus in his acceptance speech after being sworn in, he had a prayer with his new lt gov and the atty gen and the respective spouses... asked for the almighty's guidance and help to get our commonwealth back to a productive and supportive state for ALL people in the state. Since the new Lt gov is a black woman, former marine, and real fiesty person that says if you want it, work for it just like she did... daughter of immigrant parents..... and the atty gen is latino... there is NO ONE that can say anything about it not being a diverse group to represent all of the state.
I have listened to her in interviews, and she is one tough person.
Since the gov term in Va is only 1 term, I sure hope that if she is anything like she seems, that she will go on and run to be gov the next time.... and if I am not mistaken, he could run again for a 2nd term if it is not consecutive... but let's see how we get through the next couple of months at least.

DS had problems with the transmission in the automatic bale bed truck this morning,... Has to put the new tie rod in the other one as soon as the parts place gets it in... said about noon. So I will go get it and take it to him so he can start taking the truck apart now. ALWAYS SOMETHING.....

He already knows he has to go into work tonight for the rain turning to maybe snow....

I'm going to go make a couple sandwiches for him for lunch to take with me.