Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

Monday morning. Down to 23 last night, just hit 42 with the sun on the temp recorder outside... as soon as the sun moves around a little and the direct sun is off it, it will probably drop down to the mid 30's until the air warms up. The sun is nice and bright, some high clouds...

Sent out 2 messages for testing and have another to contact. Getting things back "in line".....

Feeling better... still have a little sinus, a little coughing to clear my throat but no headache this morning. Going to make some bacon and eggs for "brunch"....

A little concerned over the last week with the economy..... stock market. Losing alot of points.... I think we are looking at more than just the "corrections" that are touted. It is going to affect everyone... and if it starts to really get bad, this will be the finish of a bad first year for this administration.... For anyone who has been wavering, get your finances in order and move money out of risky investments even at the cost of losing a little now.... Most of us are at the point where we are too "old" to be able to ride another roller coaster of a huge loss and to wait 10-20 years for it to come back. When we had the great drop in the 2008-09 time... I lost nearly 50% of the "value" of my retirement account... and I did not have near as much put away as many people.... When it gained it back to where I had been....counting the continued money I kept investing so really did not "gain it all back".....but in about 2019, I moved 2/3 of that money into a very low yielding safe investment... and have never regretted it. Then I was able to take that out for my down payment on the house.... I still have a little in the retirement, and a little of that is still invested in more risky stuff... but like 1-2%.... and I have very little there. I have just moved a little more into the "safe" investment that is not market based....
I have a little debt other than the mortgage and it will be paid off in the next 2-3 months.... my cattle sales will get it all paid off. I am worried that alot of people are going to get hurt in their retirement investments.
On top of it... look at what is happening in the world....this situation with Russia and the Ukraine is going to put us into another war and this country does not have the leadership to effectively meet the challenges.

This is getting more than worrisome.

 

[Mini Horses]

I'm not in any stocks. Made some $$ years ago and sold while I had write offs to cover it. Now pretty much cash and carry. The Russian thing worries me as they won't back off, IMO. We've sent a lot of military munitions, cost a lot, hope we don't send troops.

Since I am unable to control markets and wars, my focus is about my personal self and surroundings. I try to stay informed about things in the world that affect me, like markets of all type. Ultimately my own survival in such desperate times is the main consideration. Shelter, food, water. Even money is secondary to those. You feel like a "prepper" sometimes, and we are if we are planning. The current situations may not be as bad as the next 5 years might be. That's a terrifying thought!!

It's all a reason and a purpose for the self sufficiency and survivor techniques most of us use on a daily basis. But it never hurts to expand and improve on them. Part of the reason my farm is more important than working this year. At the same time, a reason why I will cut back but not quit entirely with work. It's a tightrope we walk upon!

 

[Ridgetop]

I wanted DH to sell off some of our stocks a few years ago, but they were paying good dividends so he wouldn't. Said it would cost all the gains in taxes. Now too far in the hole to sell. We will just have to wait for the stocks to go up. Have ridden out several stock crashes in the last 50 years. This one will pass too.

 

[farmerjan]

Monday eve. Going to go in and get a shower and quit for the night.

Got up to 43 this afternoon,,,sun and clouds... Not alot of melting but a little more... it is going slowly because it had gotten so cold and it is icy snow that is frozen hard. Supposed to be mid-upper 40's tomorrow.

Got a farm for tomorrow that has not been done since Sept..... I will load things in the truck in the morning, and go from PT at 12:30 up there afterwards because it will take alot of computer work. But at least it won't be quite so cold in the barn. Hope to get all the basic computer work done before milking so I only have to do milk weights and catch up with whatever cows we come up with missing that they maybe forgot to write down when they dried them off or sold them.

The other farm does not want to be done until next week. I have one more to call tomorrow... I did not want to have 3 all decide to want to test the same day so hate to have too many that I am waiting for a return call....

Calling for some possible weather this coming Fri-Sat again, so DS wants to see if he can get some more cattle moved to the barn and do some more preg checks, before then since he was thinking to get a bunch moved on Sat originally. Talked to the vet's office... and tentatively scheduled for vet preg ck on Thursday at 1. Vet will be down at another farm down south of us around 11 so that works..... DS wants to get some moved on Wed.... luckily the vet's office is fine with us cancelling on Wed aft if something happens and we can't get them moved. So, that is the plan for now... I have PT on Thurs and should be back by noon.....DS has dr appt and should be back here by 11 or 12..... cows will all be in the barn lot so just will have to be sorted....

Got 1 egg today and water was all thawed so they are happy.

 

[farmerjan]

Tuesday eve. Got up after a somewhat restless night... knees not relaxing.... same old same old.... Went outside and it was "warm" in comparison to the last couple of days.
It was down to 29 but all the way up to 51 and was mostly sun and high clouds. Much warmer....

Snow was softer on top so no slipping or crunching... it did melt quite a bit in the driveway. Did the chickens, loaded the meters and hoses and went to PT. She said that the hamstring did feel more "knotted up" and showed me another "small shallow squat" to do against the wall to help a little... and they said I need to try bending them a little more and not worry so much with the straightening... that might help relieve it a bit too... I work on the straightening so much... maybe too much.

Went to the farm, set up and did quite a bit of the computer "paperwork" from the last 4 months. Things actually went well, the new guy there who started just before I had the replacements, does a better job of writing down things and only had a very few questions and un accounted for cows. Tested, entered the milk weights, and got everything done and then after the meters were done going through the complete wash system, pulled things down and came home. Brought the computer and printer in the house... samples will wait for morning.

Warmed up some baked beans, and some left over noodles, and ate the last of the vanilla pudding. Ready to go in and get a shower and quit. I will pack the samples in the morning.

Neighbor that works down south of here and comes home around 11 in the morning is going to stop and pick me up when I take my car down. He comes right by the shop and right up by the house so convenient. I NEED my car done. DS is going to be busy with GF again tomorrow at another dr appt.... then he is going to get cattle from one of the pastures. I was not asked again if I could help. So I guess she is going to help him again.
Since I have asked 3 times when it would be convenient for him to bring me home home from taking the car down, I am not asking anymore. I am not feeling very charitable towards them. He has time for what he wants to do, and all the time in the world for her.... and none to do a few small things for me or get these cattle moved. But.... I am going to just let it ride for now. I can't change it at this point.

It is supposed to drop way off into the low 20's or teens tonight and cold and windy tomorrow. But one nice day has helped it to melt/thaw quite a bit.

 

[farmerjan]

Wed. Sunny noon time. It was down to 19 but up into the mid 30's.... colder than yesterday definitely. But it seems that the sun is softening the snow a little. Tomorrow is supposed to be a little warmer, then there is the weekend snow storm coming. Coast is scheduled to get more than inland here... poor @Mini Horses ... they are not equipped for it. But we are in the 1-3 inch possibility now... was just a few passing flurries. New England is supposed to get it in the form of a real Nor'easter..... Can't change it so just take it as it comes. Hopefully more of the snow will be gone off the ground by Friday.

Took the car down and neighbor met and picked me up and dropped me off home on the way by. Worked out great. Talked to the owner at the shop. Great news all around. His SIL quit his job and is coming back to work at the shop, and his other SIL is wanting to do some extra work so they are going to have more help. There will be someone in the shop 7 days a week now... even if they aren't "open" so to speak. And the other couple of guys will get a little time off because they have been working 6 + days a week. He is really glad and seems relieved to have things looking better. Said he has been looking for the transmission for the car.... they will be able to get it torn down and then either rebuild it or put a new one. He also said he will get by to see about the 4x4 here at the house as soon as the SIL is there to work since I can't get DS to get the distributor and get it put on and see if that will get it straightened out. Then he said they will get on the outback.... I realize it won't happen overnight, but it looks good for something to finally get accomplished.
He said the whine in the truck is probably a bearing. They get like that after they get miles/age/wear and tear on them. It is over 200,000 so ..... He said that it is not going to get better. To make sure there is gear oil in it, and not to take it on a long trip. It will have to be redone... I said that I needed another vehicle to drive if it goes down and he said he understands and will try to get on the forrester very soon.

Got the (hopefully) final paperwork from the company that my father had the annuity with. Seems that neither my sister or other brother have made an effort to move the settlement ahead. The "poa" brother has told the company that he wants the annuity split so that his and my part can be settled. They don't like to do it but said that they can do it since it does not seem like the other beneficiaries are working towards getting the paperwork settled. Then at least it will have mine set up in the 5 yr payout... and that brother is taking a lump sum which he will be able to "absorb" into his fishing company, plus all his continued trips to NH for their house and getting the rest of the estate settled.... I am glad to have the amount defined because of the economic situation...
On advice, I am taking mine without paying the taxes up front.... I should be able to absorb most of it with having to pay little extra taxes with what I normally get back each year going towards that. The gov't doesn't need to use any more of my money for the year. They waste enough now.

This is also making me think about retiring more..... I have decided to see how this year goes, and make a decision in the fall. I really don't like having to go out to work in this cold. And once I get more "mobile" I might not dislike it so much... but I hated having to come home last night at 8 p.m. in the dark and the cold.... especially with having to pull down the meters and all.
The only saving grace is that all this covid and mask insanity really does not affect me. Not one farmer or worker can wear a mask and function in the barn with milking and all.....

DS called and the dr appt got cancelled. He wants some numbers of cows to get some stuff moved out of the barn. He said he moved some heifers out last evening. I told him I would call him back once I got done packing samples.
He also said that the red cow I bought that had the calf, and the red cow he bought are both tea totally CRAZY NUTCASES in the barn. They will run right over you. Said that mine did not bring the calf in and the 2 of them will hurt you... I said, sell them.... No skin off my back. They are making the other cattle in that lot "spookier" acting. Need to be gone if they are going to be like that. I will make money on mine with the calf on the ground... she is a good mother even if she is an idiot in the barn. He thought they might calm down a bit after being with ours and coming in to eat and all but he said they aren't any better than they were.

Got some cow #'s for him to move some stuff around.... he and I will have to get together on what got sold here too....
He said, we need to get your car down to Wayne's..... I said already did. He said, oh, recently, and I said yes, Rodney picked me up and dropped me off since he goes by here every day so it worked out. He said, oh, well, good. Left it at that.

So, I am going to get the samples finished packed to go out UPS...

 

[Ridgetop]

Crazy cows are dangerous, particularly in confined spaces. Good idea to get rid of them now before you have to feed them anymore. That red cow that calved just 3 days after purchase was a good buy! You will make $$ on her in a very short turn around!

I like the idea of you retiring if you can afford it. You already are working with DS on the farm and cattle business. If gas gets much more expensive, driving to test dairies will become less profitable for you. Hope you can work it out.

 

[Alaskan]

Crazy cows are dangerous, particularly in confined spaces. Good idea to get rid of them now before you have to feed them anymore. That red cow that calved just 3 days after purchase was a good buy! You will make $$ on her in a very short turn around!

I like the idea of you retiring if you can afford it. You already are working with DS on the farm and cattle business. If gas gets much more expensive, driving to test dairies will become less profitable for you. Hope you can work it out.

X2

 

[farmerjan]

@Ridgetop .....We got a $.05 per mile raise so at least it will go against the gas costs to travel to the farms. I mean, we have been paying it for the last year.... but not going to turn it down even though it is a little "late".... but yeah, I am thinking more and more...
Maybe if they find someone to take the herds that belonged to the girl that is quitting.... and believe me I don't think they are going to find someone to replace her with the "help wanted" signs everywhere and better wages and working conditions than they will find in a cow barn.... but if there was someone that they did hire, and maybe wanted a few more herds, I could cut back and just keep a few that I LIKE to test....
Dream on....

The crazy cows won't get sold for a couple weeks until there is another bred cow sale..... so they will just stay and eat and hopefully not get any worse....

Didn't go to the barn to help DS... GF was helping and he called to get some info since I had the clipboard here.... Plus the truck got stuck on the ice here in the driveway.... and so he said he would stop and help me get it off as it slid and got the concrete block wedged under it.... It only needed a slight tug for about 8-10 feet to get it off the block and ice... but I was steamed that it had gotten hung up. One of those days....

I am not sure how much I actually do anymore in the farm enterprise..... he treats me like I can't do anything physical now....and he has all the patience of JOB with her and definitely not with me. It just is amazing how he never says a cross word to her, never cusses or yells....and it doesn't matter how long she takes to do things for him.... and turns around and treats me so opposite.... we just seem to be getting a bigger and bigger gulf between us. Some days, I just have alot of different thoughts about the future operation.

Oh well... it got up to 37 and hit 43 right when the sun was on the recording thermometer... but the snow didn't melt much or get very soft. It is already back down to 24 at 7 p.m. Supposed to get really cold tonight.

 

[Mini Horses]

Sounds like you need to snap back and give him an angry momma tongue lashing when he does that! Don't back down...tell him you are not taking it!!! Just no reason for it. Hey I've got a DS that gets some tough love, often. They respond, slide in a while, need another dose!