Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[Mini Horses]

I just started getting some light icy rain. Guess it's my turn. 35 here now.

Since I wasn't sure when or what to expect, I fed a little early. Topped all water, checked things out, loaded hay racks so everyone could munch out in morning if I didn't get out early. Cooked a huge dinner, enough for a couple days. Plus made a big pan of biscuits...breakfast goodies. . Fed DS and leftovers, too.

Glad you are enjoying your snow! I still don't want any.

 

[farmerjan]

We wound up with probably 5-6 inches total. It started to get colder by 3 and has dropped since. Down to 25 at 7 p.m.. Going to be colder than I thought tonight. NO MELTING that's for sure. Oh well....

Got the cupboard cleaned out; all that I can reach... need to get it upright so that I can get in the half where the doors are shut... it is on it's side so hard to hold them up to clean it but I got it all vacuumed out and ready to put upright. As soon as I get that situated, I am going to move some stuff in the DR that is going in the "yard sale" pile of boxes.

Going in to warm up some of the chinese food. Got the stuff ready for tomorrow to go test. All except the extra meters, I forgot to put them in the truck yesterday so will have to get them tomorrow. Going to leave here by 1 to stop and pick up the other farmers 3-5 samples and his info and get milk. If the forecast is right, it will stay just fine in the bucket for the afternoon. We are not supposed to get up to 38 tomorrow... it will be getting colder as the afternoon advances anyway.

I am tired this evening for some reason... haven't done "much" all day. ankle has been really swelling again... seems the more water I drink, that PT wants me to drink to keep my system "circulating" the more that the ankle swells. Also, they think that I may be depleting my magnesium and potassium with drinking more and more trips to the bathroom...so rather than just using the foam on the right knee muscles and all, I am starting supplements. Maybe that will help. Can't hurt at this point. I probably ought to go in and have a complete blood panel of vit and min levels done up. I am sure not losing any weight either.....It is aggravating.

Maybe I ought to say THW IT and start drinking?????.

Going to be a b#@$h of a week with all the farms to test.

Hope the "TEXAS " crowd has a good visit/work out.....

 

[Ridgetop]

Sounds like you are retaining fluid in the bad ankle. Can you find one of those copper infused ankle braces or stockings? Might help with the swelling. Or just go out and wade in the snow! You know, "icing" the ankle! LOL

You are still recuperating from the surgery so losing weight probably won't happen too fast. Also, it is too cold to do much outside - gardening, etc. - you will see more weight loss in the summer when you can do more in your garden.

 

[Mini Horses]

I think we lose more easily in summer with longer hours to do things, heat to sweat, and we eat less and lighter.

Weather....I got only a little, light icy rain drops. . Lucky. The systems moved around me and very light wintery stuff north, like eastern shore. THANKS!!! It's a heavy work week and I sure didn't need ice or snow. Warm and rain Thu & Fri. It's a chilly 26 this morning tho. Brrrrr

 

[Baymule]

Saturday it snowed on son and me from Commerce (1 1/2 hours north of Lindale) to Elkhart, where it started turning to rain slush. Yesterday it was sunny, cold, but sunny. Today it's sunny, 36F with a high of 70F. Perfect packing day! LOL

 

[farmerjan]

Not going to be perfect anything here this morning except perfect FROSTBITE.... It got down to 16 last night. I was thinking maybe high 20's. UGH....
Needless to say, none of the snow went anywhere last night.
It is part sun out there, clouds and blue sky inbetween. But it is still COLD. Going to have to go out and scrape off the truck and get the extra meters put in there and the tote with the short hoses for this afternoon's farm. Might have to run by the car wash and "wash off" all the snow on the meters that are in there, just so I can deal with them once I get to the farm.

Have to take some hot water out to the chickens to thaw the water too. Luckily the sun hits the greenhouse/shelter, so they will warm up inside some.

Got the sample bottles ready to take out the door and put in the truck. Oh, I really am not ready to go out in the cold after last weeks temps in the 60's....
Going to have to get serious about a new computer. The screen on this one will go through fading in and out and I am afraid it is going to just up and quit. Anyone have any suggestions? I hate dealing with these electronic devices.

Had the farm 125 miles away call me to test. I thought maybe the cows were gone by now but he is still milking. Had to put him off to next week as I have every day scheduled this week. Of course he wants Tuesday, the only day I have PT in the pool.... . Well, I just called him back and he said no problem we are going to do it Monday unless his wife has a dr appt or something. Thank goodness. I hate cancelling PT.

So, I am going to eat some "breakfast" and head out the door to get the truck cleaned off and the stuff in the back. Maybe it will "thaw out" a little before I have to leave around 12:30.

 

[farmerjan]

Monday night. 8:30 or so. It actually warmed up to a "balmy" 38 on the recording thermometer... but it was just a plain old COLD day out there. Even the farmer and her daughter said it was just cold out there today.

Got the truck cleaned off so it could melt a little and all the stuff loaded. Went and picked up the 3 samples at the farm and got my milk. Sure didn't hurt it to sit in the back of the truck this afternoon; it stayed plenty cold.
I waited til I got to the farm and then used hot water in the hose inside the milk house to melt all the snow off the meters. Got set up and testing went fine.

It is already down to 20 here. Samples are in the house and I will get them packed this evening so I can drop them off tomorrow on my way to PT. Will take everything I need for testing in the afternoon. I will go from PT, through town, and stop and do a little "computer shopping/comparing" on my way to the herd. I will get out about 1:30 and have to be at the farm around 4... no set up, and they start milking 4:15-4:30. So, I will have at least 1-1 1/2 hours to do some looking/comparing.

Been cold all afternoon so just ate a bowl of soup. Finally warmed me up. I will get a good hot shower later.

Need to check on the status of the new front tires for the truck and while down there check on the status of the car's transmission. Guess I will do that Wed since I have to go just down the road from there to drop off the meters for the 2x herd I will do Wed eve/Thurs morning. Trying to save trips.

Heard on the radio that if this supposed "invasion" into the Ukraine happens, our gas prices will go up more, again. I saw gas mostly for 3.29 this evening on the way home, but 3.35 at 2 stations. I will be down by the Shell station on Wed also, so will refill . Friday's herd is well over an hour away so will use more gas then, and Sunday's, is over an hour south, and Monday's is over 2 hours north again. Sunday I will stop on the way home and go to the Goodwill down there... I try to go in whenever I am down that way (usually every other month to test). The gas is usually cheaper down that way too, so I will try to make sure I have less than a 1/2 tank when I go that way. Going to be a couple of fill ups this week. .

 

[Baymule]

All these trips I’m making is killing my $$$$. I got diesel for $3.34 last fill up, saw price and turned around and went back. I’ve seen it as high as $3.99 looks like price gouging to me. There can be as much as a 60 cent spread in the same small town. Most places it’s $3.59 a gallon. It costs me $80 to fill up my truck. Pulling a trailer, I get 14 MPG, no trailer, driving slow and not putting my foot in it, I can get up to 20 MPG. Am I angry? You bet’cher boots I am. I’d better stop here or I’ll get a note from support.

I’ll be car shopping when I get moved and settled in. My old car had electrical problems and I didn’t trust it anymore. It got 22 MPG. I’ll be 30 miles to town, so I’m gonna be looking hard at a Toyota hybrid. Hope I can even find one. All these stupid shortages are a bunch of stupid crap. Yeah, still pissed off.

 

[farmerjan]

I hear you @Baymule . Can you imagine what we are spending on the diesel trucks with the "bale beds" hauling hay to the places... even the ones close by? Most of the farm "work trucks" get in the 12-15 mpg range on a good day. We get about 11-12 pulling the trailer with cattle. I put over $40 in my ranger pickup the other day. 23-25 mpg average.
When DS goes to the dr in Blacksburg, he takes cans on the back of the truck because he usually can find diesel there for $.10 to .30 gallon less than here. Even filling 2-5 cans saves 1.00-5.00 per can.
Our local Southern States station has non-ethanol gas. The diesel is also 50 cetane. We get 1-3 mpg more on that. When you get diesel look for the cetane rating. 40 is average... if you get 50 it will run better, burn cleaner, and is better for the engine. We always fill up there if we go to town and come back. It is usually pretty close in cost, to what any other diesel is costing and the trucks run better on it. The thing is we do not go out of our way to get it so sometimes we don't go to town (north) that often. And when we do, most all the trucks have 2 tanks so it is in the $100-140 price tag to fill up now.

The shortages are going to continue to get worse. There has been a course set in this country that will take years to reverse...if we are lucky enough to do it.

COLD again this morning. Weather station said we would get down in the low 20's ??? WRONG.... it was 15 this morning so colder than yesterday. Sun is out and it is supposed to go up into the 40's.... Still going to take some time to warm up. Then 60's on Thursday with anywhere from 1/2 to 2 inches of RAIN ???? That is going to make a mess...

So I am going in to get my clothes ready to take with me when I go to PT since today is in the pool. I take a shower there after to wash off the chlorine water and then get dressed for whatever errands I am going to do. Wear my swim trunks and all to go there so I don't have to change twice. Got to put the racks of sample bottles in the truck and the packed samples to drop off at the place for UPS pickup later. No set up at this farm so hope that most all the snow will melt off the back of the truck and then I can load the rest of the meters tomorrow for drop off to set up at the herd just south of here. Have to take off the tote of the short hoses and load the rest of the longer hoses for that herd. And change back all the brackets that I had for yesterday... they can be repositioned for the different herds to accommodate where the farms installed the hanger brackets on the pipelines.... it will be a PITA this week.... because the herd I did yesterday needed them halfway on the back of the meter; farm tomorrow needs them at the top of the meter... and sadly the farm Friday needs them halfway on the back of the meter. That is why it would have worked out nice if I had been able to do that herd last Sat then the one yesterday... wouldn't have had to change them all inbetween.... and the farm tomorrow uses all 24 and the one Friday also uses all 24...
Just another of the little things that you deal with. It is not hard but takes extra time... 15 minutes here, half an hour there adds up. OH WELL, been doing it for over 30 years.....

I splurged a little bit the other day. Ordered a couple of African violets from a place in NY.... they will get shipped next week. Special shipping that costs too, but I don't want to wait for spring when I will be busy with cows/calves and then hay making. These are small plants that will grow bigger... starter plants I guess you can say. They will ship better if small and I get that. Shouldn't have, they are not cheap... but there are so many pretty colors and around here you can only find mostly just single colors, not the varigated or ruffled ones. Guess that was my Valentine's present to me. The plants I have acquired here, mostly discounts from Lowes and Walmarts, when they have finished blooming, and some look ragged/overwatered and such, and they sell them for $1 and $2 instead of the $4.98 and up prices.... are mostly all starting to look really nice. Lost 2, one was the pretty white with green edging that really bothered me... but a couple of other plants have really come along that I thought might not make it. My mom had african violets and I always liked them. Just makes me smile a little when they do come into bloom. Not many places get them in and they are usually some plain ones.... they come in with all pretty blooms and then the flowers fade and they plants get overwatered and they get pretty sorry looking. It is my little splurge. I have so many of the spider plant babies from the plant that was rescued from my parents place in CT before they moved to NH... planted a bunch in cheap hanging planters from the dollar store last year. They sell for like 10.99 to 15.99 even in Walmart... Hoping to maybe sell a few at the yard sale this spring... got a bunch of baby plants hanging off the big plant to get potted. Might sell a few of these rescued african violets if I can get them blooming...if I have duplicate colors and such. Don't want to be a nursery or greenhouse or anything, but maybe help make them a "net zero" cost thing so I can get a few new/different ones on occasion. I am a closet african violet lover .

Well, time to get things together and get going so I can be at PT at noon. Ate some scrambled eggs earlier... Put some more dishes in to soak from out of another box.... storage bowls and such... will try to get them scrubbed up this evening. Still need to catch DS to get that other cupboard upright.

 

[Mini Horses]

The shortages are going to continue to get worse.

Yeah, for everything! Prices aren't coming down again either!

Some things we can "get around" by our garden, canning, cooking, butchering etc. But gasoline? No. I can't get into making it or a substitute.

I'm going to retag, add to insurance and all on this car I do not like...but is paid for and gets 25-27 a gal, and drive it again. Truck gets only 18-20. I will casually keeps eyes open for another, smaller, not new, car of some type. Then sell this car. It's a 4dr sedan, '03 and just turned 100k. Stable, dependable....just not my type. Was mom's. I stopped using almost 2 yrs ago...save $ on as I wasn't using...but have started it, driven couple miles on my road, etc. Now.....will use again. Will save $, by just driving to work. That's my goal for March.

Hey, when's the chicken swap/yard sale thing in Richmond??