Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

Wednesday morning. Temps only down to 45 last night and up over 60 already at 10. Partly sunny, but some clouds. Supposed to get cloudier and then some rain coming in with temps not supposed to drop much below 45-50 tonight.
I am going to go out and bring the clothes in while it is still partly sunny out. Going to put my several hanging pots of spider plants outside on the deck again. The rain will do them good too.
I found a source of smaller hanging pots so I can pot up some of them separately. I was checking out prices in Lowes and some other stores and the real nice nursery/greenhouse not far from where I have PT. They are alot more expensive than I thought so if I pot mine up and get them growing; I would be able to sell them for less than the stores and still make some money and get some gone. There are sooo many ... this one plant I rescued from my parents house in CT years ago is sooooo productive. I have gotten covered up with indoor plants here. Of course adding more violets doesn't help... but these spider plants are just taking over. They look real good too. Last year I hung them under the maple tree on the low branches and they did good.

DS called a little bit ago and said that gas had dropped down to 3.99 at the local stations. I had not filled up yesterday although it was getting down to 1/4 tank and I had been keeping it filled with the constant increasing prices... I hadn't heard the current barrel price but yesterday it dropped under $100......here's hoping it will come down a little more. Never thought I would be excited to pay 3.99 a gallon when we were paying 2.89 not too long ago.... . Diesel is still 5.05 here, but he got it for 4.89 on Monday when he went to the stockyard south of here and bought those bull calves. He said he was looking at them and they really are nice... wished there had been 20 there...he got 6.... that was all there were.
I am going to go out and get the clothes in and make sure everything is under cover for the rain... I think there is a bag of feed in the back of the truck. I have been taking a bucket of feed with me to go feed the cows at the pasture and they are coming right in the pen. Need to take feed up to the nurse cow pasture and feed in the barn for the calves to come in the creep feeder. I think I will go up where we were getting the hay... he had a couple of good bales and some fell off one of them so I can pick it up and put some hay in the barn for them too. No sense in leaving it lay. There is some crappy stuff too I am going to get to use in the garden.

Time to get productive. Been kinda lazy this morning...

 

[farmerjan]

Came in before and ate a sandwich. Brought the clothes in off the line so I wouldn't be rushing. Then I made sure everything I needed to put under the carport was done. Took the broom and swept off the little bit of the porch that is not covered with boxes. Took the clipper/shears and cut back all the "snowball plants", around the front porch, that should have been done last fall but not much got done with the knees and all. Still have the ones around the deck to work on.

Then I went down and paid for the outback. The battery I took down won't work, terminals not in the right place for the car, the truck is different. But it will hold a good charge. So tomorrow I hope to take the car down and get a new battery... they will jump me at the garage and then they can put a new one in at the battery place. We have a local place that does starters and alternators and has batteries also. I will put the battery back in the 4x4 because they are going to come and get that and get it running, once I get the outback home; since I am not going to bother DS anymore about it. I am accomplishing nothing by having it sit here. I would prefer to drive it to the pastures here close anyway. Then everything will actually be running...
Also took a couple bags to the dumpster while I was close. But got home and realized I forgot to fill the car.

Then will be my mom's new (to me) vehicle in NH, once all that gets to that point; to make a decision about. I already found out that I can get the loan for it and I will finance it until I decide which vehicle I will sell, but think probably the outback. Since my mom's only has 75,000 on it (2012) it would be better to keep it if I like driving it... but who knows, I might not like it. For future consideration.....

We are getting a few sprinkles... looks like it is coming this way. I have a bit of a headache, must be the change in the atmospheric pressure.

Going to eat some chicken tonight that I cooked the other day. Maybe make some broccoli to go with it... I also need to make some more mashed potatoes... a few are getting a little soft.
I will keep some for planting since there are some sprouts coming... and will try to cook up the rest that are good. I also am going to order some more of the specialty ones to plant this year. Want to have some to keep through the winter if possible. Time to think about starting the old seeds and see what comes up. Maybe I will fill the starter tray and let the rain/showers get them wet for planting. It is so dry in the bag and I know that is for shipping purposes and all. The rain will have a little more nitrogen than if I wet it from the faucet.

Going to put the chickens in early so I don't have to go out in the rain later.
Did any one hear that the senate has passed a bill to make daylight savings time permanent and no changing back and forth? I really hate it. Let's make it REAL TIME and leave it at that. Changing the clock to match people's schedule is somehow just wrong.

 

[Mike CHS]

I also heard some discussion about leaving the decision about the time change up to the states and I don't care for that.

 

[Bruce]

Hawaii and most of Arizona don't do DST. Doesn't that make it up to the states currently? I think VT has something that says they can change if any of the abutting states change. That also makes it seem like it is currently up to the states.

I will again say I think we should go with the scheme DD1 told me about a few years ago. ONE (military time) world time zone, set it at the current UTC. Everyone can decide what time they open their businesses, stores, etc on their clocks. Yeah it would be weird for some time, sun coming up at 1000 and the work day starting at 1200 or whatever but we could get used to it. Easiest for those in western Europe of course since they are already on that clock.

 

[farmerjan]

Had a decent day. Went to PT, pool session. Really worked at the exercises on the right knee/leg. Then I came back and filled the car up. Glad that I waited an extra day since it came down to 3.94 at the Shell and then I have a rewards card so got it for 3.89. At that price I still put $51.00 in the car... yeah, it was empty. WOW....less than 15 gallons. I used to fill it for under $30.00.
Then I came home. I had let the chickens out earlier. They were happily scratching everything up with the rain bringing all the bugs out I guess.
It got down to 42 with the rain overnight but got up to 69 today, but it was a cool, damp, day. The sun finally came out late this afternoon but it wasn't warm... just comfortable. I think it is supposed to get a little cooler tonight.. sun tomorrow for awhile then more rain coming in. It is spring... showers and all that.
Daffodils in the yard are blooming. Snow bent over a bunch of them so they won't be standing up as well.

Went out and locked chickens in a little while ago. Then I made some supper. Did the dishes in the sink and got another box of stuff emptied. Not a very exciting day. I dug up some of the tiny holly trees that are coming up in the yard. Want to see if I can get them to grow as the previous owners said they could not transplant any and have them grow up at their house. We'll see. They just get mowed off when the lawn gets mowed so thought I would try. They are only like 4 leaves. There is one that is about a foot tall that is in that bush that has the tiny white flowers in the spring that I want to move. I will try to move it when I get the bush dug up and moved. Also got a few more things clipped in the yard to try to make things a little less unruly. I did not go down to get the car, decided to do it tomorrow morning.
Seems like I can't get anything moved here. Wanted to get the forsythia moved and this bush with the tiny white flowers and a few other things, before this spring growth. Guess it will happen. I need a small tractor with a bucket/backhoe type thing to dig them up and get them moved. And of course my fruit trees didn't get moved either. I cannot dig with a shovel very well. I have been trying and it still doesn't work very good with the knees.

Oh, and I read in one of the threads about kneeling on the replacements. I was told no kneeling, for the first few months. I have found that I can kneel on them somewhat on the bed... but the skin across the mechanical knee cap is a little painful. I am going to see if I can do it as I work on losing weight. My girlfriend in CT said she cannot kneel on her replacements. But I talked to another person that said they could kneel on theirs. I have heard that it is difficult. I think some of mine is the weight also. I will find out when the cows start to calve and I try to ear tag some of them as I often straddle them and sometimes when they are laying on the ground so I am kneeling straddling them. I will have to see if I can do it. If you have only 1 done then you could mostly kneel on the good one, and then work on the replaced one getting used to taking more weight. I could kneel on mine before, it was the standing and walking that was so painful; and getting up was nearly impossible.

 

[Ridgetop]

Maybe using some good knee pads would help too. Have to see. Thanks for the info.

 

[farmerjan]

Started out foggy, now sun and really nice looking. Warm already, upper 60's. Feels good. Chickens let out, going to go up and help DS feed silage in a bit.
He said GF is really really sore, and not supposed to put any stress on the 3 small incisions from the surgery. He is going to do feeding and then go back. Said she cannot barely stand up on her own. There is another friend staying with her right now. Da#@ I needed to do things differently with my knees to get all that kind of attention... It was all I could do to get up and down with them to just get to the bathroom...
Done and over... if only this hamstring would quit with the sharp pains and all.....rolling over in bed and then getting up is enough to make me bite my tongue for the language I mutter... and the tears that I get in my eyes... why could it not just do what the left knee did... and JUST BE FINE ????? The magnesium rub is not helping much now... it is just sooo painful in certain movements....

Plants are out on the deck, going to put shoes on and head in that direction in a few minutes. Need to eat something first... I forgot and now stomach is growling...

 

[farmerjan]

Friday eve... helped DS at the farm with the silage as we were finishing up one bag. Weather was nice but then later this afternoon it got cloudy and this evening it is a bit windy. Only 20% chance of possible showers now.
I had to go down to pick up some strawberries that I ordered through one of the FFA groups... they are not the greatest looking, a couple are moldy which I am not real happy about, but the girl said that all the flats had a couple of bad ones. I did it to help out the FFA but doubt I will do it again. I am going to work them up and freeze them for now.
Stopped at the Goodwill down near there on the way home and got 2 pr of jeans. They are now $6.99 at this Goodwill...used to be 4.99. Their book prices have come down though. $.50 for paperbacks and 1.00 for hard backs. Used to be $1 & 2....

Got the chickens locked in. Dumped the little bit of water and will take out fresh tomorrow.

Not much else going on. Tomorrow he wants to castrate those bull calves he got and give the shots.
Talking about cattle. A couple of the guys on the cattle forum I frequent, are talking about the extremely high prices we are getting for cull cows. Some in the 90's and over 1.00 per lb. One guy usually buys old pregnant cows, gets them calved out, runs them for the summer and then both the calves and the cows get sold in the fall. Last year he was averaging 6-700 per cow in cost. These are what we call "broken or smooth mouth"... in other words, nubs or no teeth. OLD COWS. He just got 4 and they averaged $1060... which by their weight was $.87/lb, which is way high. What this is meaning is that there will be fewer and fewer head of cattle around because he said that the killer buyers were buying up all the 4-5 month breds; even cows that were not old... this is taking that many more out of the "cow herd" numbers... less bred cows, less calves for the next year. Beef is going to go up.... and it is going to be less available.
On top of that, there is also a very widespread drought in the mid-west, west and plains states. You can go on the internet and look up the US Drought Monitor... This is serious. Drought means no grass, so grazing is worse, NO HAY... and the ranchers are selling down their herds to their core breeding stock. And no dryland wheat to harvest... flour will be in short supply too.

I also heard on the radio today that one of the reservoir lakes in Utah is at such low levels that they don't know if there will be enough water to supply the cities and all that are dependent on it this year. I didn't catch which one....

Just wanted to give you all a heads up.... we sold most all our 450-500 lb heifer calves this spring.... prices were too good to keep any but the very best. But I think that we will be keeping most all the heifers that get born this spring, if the replacement bred heifers get high... these will be breedable in fall of 2023 @ 18 months old... calving in 2024..... I didn't get to the sale today but am going to have to keep my eyes open and try to pick up a few more oddball cows that have calves with them, or bred and ready to calve, kind.

If anyone gets a beef or a half, you had better make sure that you have one scheduled to buy...or a kill date for your own.... because at the prices they are selling cull cows for, beef is going to be high if it is available.

 

[farmerjan]

Found the article on the water in Utah... It is Fox news 13... Salt Lake City... The lake they were referring to is Lake Powell... and it could very well get to dangerous low levels for generating electricity by July of 2022... that is this year...
Something to think about.

 

[Baymule]

This is going to hit people with families hard. It is already hitting people hard, it's only going to get worse. My DD was complaining that her weekly grocery bill is running $250 and that's not buying meat. She still has meat in the freezer from dear ol' Mom. Mom isn't raising meat this year. She says hurry up and find a farm. LOL LOL I still have plenty in my freezers, I can keep them supplied for awhile, but I NEED to find my farm!

There are plenty of cattle around here, so I'll be able to raise another steer when I find my farm. I might have to pay top dollar for one, but there are plenty available and I know enough people with cattle, that a feeder steer won't be a problem.