Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

@Baymule ... agree that if son's friends can come and get it done that would be good. Get that initial "field" area fenced to get them moved... then worry with the rest. And let's face it, 3 younger healthy guys can do it faster than 1 of us "older" less agile ADULTS.....
All you might want to do before they come is mark the T-posts with some orange paint or something to make sure they keep them...
and that will be less cost than for someone to come and bulldoze the line of fence.... maybe his buddies need the work too...

And you may skip in but you will not be wheelchaired out... they will expect you to walk out ... with a walker or just crutches or a cane.... and with only 1 knee, you ought to at least be able to walk out... he// they brought me to the curb in the wheelchair as per their policy... then I walked without any help to the car... both Deb and I forgot about bringing crutches for that....

 

[Baymule]

They wheelchair everyone out, I fully expect to walk from there. Then hitch a ride on the nursing home rehab express to Lufkin for torture and alternating boredom for 2 weeks.

 

[Mini Horses]

And....Jan, you did those impromptu fence repairs, on the steep, with new knees!!! What improvement! . Everything feel ok? Last year that would not happen. That's how far you've come. Even when you think you haven't come along fast, you have. . It's gotta be worth the pain and aggravation of surgery -- uncomfortable as it was. Our "poster child".

 

[Baymule]

And....Jan, you did those impromptu fence repairs, on the steep, with new knees!!! What improvement! . Everything feel ok? Last year that would not happen. That's how far you've come. Even when you think you haven't come along fast, you have. . It's gotta be worth the pain and aggravation of surgery -- uncomfortable as it was. Our "poster child".

What awesome encouragement!

 

[farmerjan]

Thanks, @Mini Horses ... and @Baymule for being my "cheerleaders". Yep, except for being careful where I was putting my feet, I didn't have any real problem. The knees are still so stiff that it frustrates me... I really expected that they would not feel so awkward. But some of that might be the "in the house inactivity" with the winter weather... and the tightness of the right ham string & tendons and muscles. Anyway... I am not going to be jumping any ditches anytime soon... but I did make it work.

So much for that though. One of the dam#*d calves was out and DS got 3 calls about it today. Didn't get out seen until after about 2... I had just met him and we were on the way to the stockyard as they had some bulls there (breeding size) and a decent run of cattle (for there). That was a long afternoon.... but he got a call after we finally got back around 8:30 ... that there was a calf standing in the middle of the road. SO, I had been helping him with some silage feeding at the barn... and he had bought a bull for another friend, so he was going to take the bull and I said I would go check out the calf. Couldn't find it anywhere... but as I pulled in the small "catch lot" there it was. It had come all the way up the dirt road and around the corner into the catch lot where he keeps the gate open.... Went in, shut the gate... opened the gate into the field about a foot wide so the calf could slide in and the cows hopefully wouldn't see it. Calf came all the way up along the fence, started through and a cow shoved it back and forced her way through so now I had a cow and calf in the catch field... At this point DS called and I told him what was what and he came and tried to get them to walk the fence to another gate in the other end... and they practically ran him over when he opened that gate into the field... so he he got P.O.ed and shut it, came to the gate to the road.. and said screw it, they can stay in there tonight and if the calf gets wanting it's , too bad... and the cow is not the momma so she has a calf on the other side of the fence and she can go without her calf for the night. He was tired and getting very short tempered and so ... whatever. I probably should have just shut the gate and left the calf in the lot for the night... but he had started through the slightly opened gate when that bully b#*@h cow shoved him back and pushed her way in... By tomorrow they will want to get into the other field... the calf already was trying to get in there... but then followed the stupid cow... I checked the places I fixed and did not see where the calf had gotten through anywhere...

 

[farmerjan]

Anyway, before I went with DS to the sale, I had gone down with the forester... traded vehicles, got the outback, and the battery that didn't fit, out of the 4x4, to bring back home. Took the outback up to the guy who does alternators and such... got a new battery for the car and he put it in. Then I noticed that the inspection sticker ran out in Dec.. so will have to take car in to get inspected. Maybe early in the morning???

DS is getting a friend to come and help band the calves from a week ago... give shots and sort into the fields he wants them in... tomorrow at noon. DS's schedule got changed around as his dr appt on wed got cancelled, so he could go get the truck if necessary... But in the meantime, that friend said he found another guy who is supposed to get it on Tues (tomorrow)... which suits DS fine he said... so now he is going to take off a 1/2 day tomorrow (Tues) ... work the calves, and sort them and whatever, do a few things at the barn, then we can leave to go to test without him rushing and he can be all fed up, so that he doesn't have to do it in the rain Wed morning. He will work Wed instead of being off.... Therefore, I am going to do my schedule as planned. I didn't call the owner sampler farm so will do that in the morning and see what might suit him for me to leave the meters...
The rain is not supposed to start until later on Tuesday... I will load the stuff in the car tomorrow....Got to clean out the passenger seat and floor from some newspapers and stuff so he has a place to sit... I will do that after we work the calves; when he is doing what feeding he needs to do, I can come home and get everything I need to go if I don't get it done in the morning. Will see about getting it inspected first thing I think...

So he did buy some bull calves (5 wts) today along with a nice steer that weighed over 1,000 that will be a nice beef... he has a couple he wants to sell that are not putting weight on like they should... also the bull for the friend, and a small jersey steer that another guy was looking for. Came home with a trailer full pretty much. We were unloading and putting out feed when he got the call about the calf, and he went to deliver the bull.... just a couple miles away....

So, that has been my day. I will go along the fence tomorrow and see if there is another spot I can see where the calf came out...
I'm tired and I can be down there @ 8 to see if they can inspect the car, so I think I will get a shower and go to bed. It is after midnight already.

 

[Baymule]

I hope today was better than yesterday.

 

[farmerjan]

Today started out decent and fell apart after that. Calves still getting out where I fixed the spot with the cedar post and all... pushing up and going under the wire now. It needs a piece of woven wire fence..... Let the cow and calf back into the big field so the cow could find her own calf, and the PITA calf could go find his own mother.

Took car down and got it inspected. That was fine. Got a phone call from some close friends... and one of the daughters' husband passed away on Sunday.... It was devastating in as much as he was such a good guy. She is going to be lost after the shock wears off. He was a welder and wound up with thyroid cancer as they often do,....had surgery last week after having been through radiation and chemo and all sorts of crap... did fine after the surgery and then went downhill in a free fall Sat eve and lost him on Sunday. Family night will be Thurs and services on Friday. So my schedule will get totally changed around for a couple of days. Have to cancel the Thursday test and then see... luckily I had not talked to the owner sampler farm yet... so will obviously not be scheduling him for the next few days. I am just so sad over this.
Went to the barn @ noon and we worked some calves and DS and his friend were moving some around to different fields when I left to come to the house and get things ready. Stopped at Subway and got subs since I knew DS hadn't eaten lunch... so we had "lunch" on the way to the farm and then "supper" about 8:30 p.m. They are up to 539 cows this month, going through the parlor to milk.... counting dry cows they are around 575.... milking went smoothly this eve so that was good.
Left around 10 and came home and got here 10:45 or so...

It started to rain finally this evening... around 6 or so... after all day of clouds. It warmed up a bit to the mid 60's and is not supposed to cool off too much tonight... clouds and showers in the morning, then just clouds then maybe more showers the next few days off and on. Temps tomorrow near 70 and then dropping to the low 60's and nights back to mid 30's by Friday. We got a good rain with a few short breaks inbetween... steady and soaking... not much breeze which is good. Not a downpour or a gully washer either....

Samples are in the car, I will get the boxes out, in the morning & try to get packed. Going to figure out something to keep the stupid calves in tomorrow until DS can get a short piece of woven wire up to stop this total stupidity. Want to leave at 10 so I can do the computer update they are needing before testing. DS is not going to get the truck for the friend... So that is fine.

I ache and am going to bed. Tomorrow will be busy but I should get home around 6 or so... That will be good. Then deal with the rest after that.

 

[Mini Horses]

It's so discouraging to "have to" repair/fix/attend....and still "have to" schedule and be at work. The emotional pull to do both is exhausting, as much as the work. Like you, some days I'm so ready to quit.

 

[Bruce]

How the HE// am I going to keep them out of the fruit trees???? GRRRR

How big an area? Could you put up a 5' fence close enough to the trees that they won't dare jump in? Or the double 4' close enough they won't jump between them since they can't jump back out? I have only 1 crummy little apple tree which actually had a good quantity on it last year. I put up a temporary fence with 4 T posts and some spare fencing.