Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[Baymule]

@Mini Horses you gotta take pictures!

 

[murphysranch]

PLEASE! I've never been to one so I'll have to live via the photos! (Altho its 11:12 p.m. your time when I'm typing this)

 

[farmerjan]

Weeelllll.... No pictures. Honestly, I just plain forgot... @Mini Horses got there and called me.... I saw it about 10 minutes later as I was looking at something before she got there... and then she couldn't answer the phone when I called her back... took a bit before we actually talked so we could meet. It was about 8:45-9:00 when we actually "met up"... and we started just walking and talking and catching up.... Looked at ALOT of stuff. The weather was PERFECT that early on, not too hot... Chickens, alot of goats that @Mini Horses asked one guy in particular about... she is looking for some Boer females....
Looked over a lot of chickens. I wound up buying a pair of Buff Leghorns.... wound up being the son of a member of our poultry club that was there so we got to talking... these are out of bloodlines of a very good, and dearly departed, friend that had more of many breeds of GOOD birds than most anyone here on the east coast. We talked chickens for a little bit... it looks like the Va Poultry Breeders club will be having their fall show as usual. Closed down due to covid crap in 20 and last fall I was 3 weeks out of surgery for the knee replacements and totally unable to even consider going.... so I am looking forward to this fall's show. Even told @Mini Horses she ought to come if nothing pressing going on in her life... so will keep everyone posted.....
Did get the names of 2 people that got the bloodlines of Tommy's New Hampshires... so I am going to get in contact if I can and maybe be able to get some birds at the show... poultry fanciers will often carry birds to a show for a seller if they are going and there is a buyer there.... So, I may be able to find some like I want.
In the meantime, I am going to fool with these buff Leghorns a bit.
I also bought some NICE Daylily plants... both @Mini and I were impressed with the size of the roots and all.... The lady had them all nicely marked with the variety and pictures of them... Looking forward to some nice blooms next year.
Added a "fuzzy" leaved Tradescantia... Wandering Jew ... that is not "politically correct" to call it by the common name anymore.... I have several other varieties... the traditional "zebrina", striped purple and green; and a green variety; a much more variegated one; a green with small lighter stripes....and a variegated one that has mini sized leaves... I think it is a variety of wandering jew anyway.... Actually got 2 varieties from leaves that had been broken off and were on the floor and I picked them up and brought them home and stuck in pots and now they are rooted and growing.
Like I need more house plants... and have to find a place to put them all here, very soon....

We ate hot dogs and had a soda and sat and talked some more... her goats, soap making from the goat's milk, her son and my son and how we would like to knock heads... shortages and how shelves are going to look in the future with the food supplies continuing to shrink....work... you name we talked about it. @Mini Horses also mentioned that she had heard just recently that the "La nina" weather pattern was going to continue for another year... meaning milder winter, and LESS snow out west so continuing drought..... translate into higher food and feed costs and shorter supplies.... I hadn't heard that so I want to do some research as I had been reading that they thought it was going to shift to an "el nino" pattern....
I am so out of touch with meat prices in general.... Hot dogs were $5... and they were nice ones not short skinny ones I will say that... hamburgers were $8..... and BBQ was $9....for a sandwich. No wonder I don't eat out much anymore.... and I don't keep up with prices....
We decided that we had seen all we wanted at that point... walked back to get my 2 birds that were paid for and they were holding... then we went to our vehicles and I moved over a row and then unloaded the beef and chickens into her cooler bags in her truck... She brought me 4 cartons of eggs also since I don't have anyone laying at this point....
And then we hugged goodbye and headed to our respective homes in opposite directions.

I got home and went and got the air tank, went and pumped up the tire on the rake, and went and raked the hay in the field that DS had cut in the subdivision there... It is a good sized field (9 acres or so) and ROUGH ground so I go fairly slow... took about 3 hours from tire air to parking it back . I will take the air tank tomorrow too... this is the tire that I had the flat on a week or so ago... needs replacing, but it will last when you fill it with air... paininthebutt but at least I can rake. I don't know if DS has a spare for it... he can figure it out when he gets back.
The friend STILL had not cut the centers of the 2 other fields that DS had down the harder outside couple of rounds... It should have been done yesterday, or at least by today, so it will dry. I can't rake the outside rows until the rest is cut or he will be running through the windrows and negate the raking...
There is now a 20% chance of showers Mon eve into Tuesday... and then again another chance Thursday... I think he planned on sq baling the better part of these 2 fields that are not cut in the center part.... it is not going to have enough time to get dry I am afraid....
I don't think that the field that I raked today will get much done as square bales; it had alot of green underneath that I turned up and it ought to dry pretty good for baling on Monday....
Again trying to not "run across the field" any more times than we have to... so didn't do any tedding... but might have to tedd these "center sections" of the 2 fields at Debs now....
in order to get it dry enough to bale if it looks like the showers are going to come in. What I saw looks like it will stay further south... remnants of that hurricane passing along the atlantic side of the islands ... but you never know....

One farm got back to me and wants to wait for the first week of Oct... they are about done filling silos and cows are transitioning over to the new silage they put in a couple weeks ago....no answer from the other one....

I am tired from all the "fresh air" and walking.... going to get a shower and go to bed soon.

 

[Mini Horses]

No pics...can barely answer this phone!!!

Can read a text to me, can't figure how to type a reply...keyboard doesn't appear...one day.

We had a great visit . My freezers are so full!! Took ears of corn out to fit more meat. Sent some goat meat...a hip and leg of, to DD for dog food. Will have canner of corn to can today from the frozen ears. AND one chicken wouldn't fit anywhere so that will be cooked today. Frig full of milk and eggs everywhere -- will bless neighbors with some eggs. I am blessed. Need to cook and eat a lot all winter to use it up. Eat and sleep all winter?

 

[farmerjan]

Put the chicken in the fridge for a few days, it is supposed to be down to the 40's at night the end of this week... 90's Wed and down to low 70's for Friday !!!! Fall is coming....
Thank you so much for the eggs too.

 

[Baymule]

That sounds like a perfect day! What fun, to go to a chicken swap AND have a BYH'er to go too! I guess I'll forgive y'all for no pictures.......... THIS time! Better sharpen up those smart phone skills!

 

[Ridgetop]

DS1 just told us that our I-phones will not work after January 1. They are too old and Apple is discontinuing service to them. We will have to get new ones. That means that we will have to learn a whole new phone operation!

 

[Mike CHS]

I'm in the same boat. Before I retired, I worked in a building that had extremely tight security measures in place and the only phones that were allowed were the no frills (no camera, or any function that could record anything) and that's what I still have.

 

[farmerjan]

Sunday eve. It started at 57 and got up to 83 and was a little more humid today but still a nice day. Sun and all...
DS sent a text and said that the friend was not going to be able to get the mowing done... I am not surprised. But his text said it is supposed to be nice all week so he would do it when he got home this afternoon. They would be coming home later this afternoon. Don't know what weather he is looking at... everyone I see says 20% chance of stray showers on Mon/Tues and again the end of the week...

Yep, a whole lot later... I called Deb since I was gone Sat... she knew I would be gone... although I did come home earlier than I thought... but you don't want to schedule things too "tight".... and a nice weekend like this I knew she was going to try to get some mowing done and other outside cleanup.... Anyway... I asked her if she could run me back up to my car if I brought the tractor & rake down there as I didn't think I could climb her long driveway and walk down the road with the knees.... I can do flatter ground and all much better... and that I would do it at her convenience since I was not going to rake any and I had to go get the air tank filled and do the tire... It isn't that far but didn't want her to feel like she had to stop in the middle of anything since it was not one of those "essential" things.
So, she had had trouble with the tractor and bush hog she has there... thinks it might be the gas being old since it seldom gets used.... and she was doing some little stuff so anytime would work. She was going to leave and go back to northern Va where her other house is and work..... so she was flexible. So I said it would be about an hour. I went and got the air tank as the tire was flat again... it is going to have to get changed pretty soon... and went down. She ran me back up to the car and said she was not going to be out here next weekend as there is an "event" with the jousting club, and she was going to go if the entries were open. Her horse is stabled a bit of a distance from where she lives up there, but there are more tournaments and events up that way. I think she is getting back into riding a bit more finally. There was someone else that was riding/using the horse also so it was not totally left out to get stale.
And no, I went by there on the way home from doing the cow... getting close to dark, and he did not get home to mow it.....

So, that was it. I went up to the pasture and did the cow and calves. The one older hol X cow is getting a big udder so I expect her to calve here shortly. This will be her last calf I think. Her attitude has been pretty "mean" and would not take other calves the last time and it took her quite awhile to get bred back. Her udder is such that she has lost one quarter from the calf not getting her milked out the last time around... it is just time. Big and teats are getting very fat. Plus, it looks like these cull cow prices are going to stay up for months to come... so she can raise up this next calf and then get shipped when it is time.
801 that has the 3 calves on her now, that has had an attitude in the barn this time around, is doing fine with them out in the field as long as her calf goes on her... so that is okay. I think she is bred back from before we took the bull out... I hope so. Both her and the Longhorn I hope are bred back. The calves all look fantastic because there is alot of grass there that they are not eating... Not near enough animals in there. I thought DS was going to move the heifers there, that were weaned at the barn... but he hasn't said anything and I am not going to worry about it.

I am going to keep the buff Leghorns I got at the swap, in a small crate at night and hand put them in a small outside pen during the day so they are getting handled some. They are quite flighty... Yes, I know they are leghorns, and they tend to be flighty... but I want them to be a bit more people oriented... and handling helps most. I had a bunch that were really pretty tame...

Got the daylily plants into some pots as the place I want to put them is full of weeds... this way they will not dry out and then I can get them planted when I get to the fall weeding and cleanout of the flower bed.
Planted the fuzzy wandering jew plant in a small hanging pot and hung out with the rest of the plants. They might have to come in the end of the week if the temp dips like they are saying. The spider plants will be fine as long as they don't get frost or anything but the wandering jews are more tender.

Did all the dishes and put a bunch of stuff out of a box from my parents in the sink to do as soon as I put away the dry dishes. Also put out a gallon of tea to steep and just remembered it so it might be a little strong... but I didn't put it out til 3, it'll be fine.
Little piddly stuff today. Could have done more but the knees were aching a bit... which is good... they weren't "hurting" just achey...
Progress....
We'll see what tomorrow brings...I need to run the vacuum in the house... And probably water the outside plants since it has been nearly a week... need to check them. Have to get the one big old spider plant that was directly from the one in Conn, at my parents years ago, repotted as the pot has cracks and a busted place in the bottom... I will split it into individual plants and repot. The others look so good... really getting good color and growing... even with having to dump them when they got so much rain and the bottom saucers were staying full.... I am going to dump several of the $1 hanging pots/plants that I got... plants are done and I want to use a couple of the pots anyway. Some still look good... the Gerbera Daisies all look real nice since they are getting watered and taken care of but the ones with the petunias in them are just junk now. That's okay...

 

[farmerjan]

I am with you all about the phones... I am still thinking I will go with another flip phone... yes they make them and there are ones that are waterproof... they can take pictures... because I just don't want to worry about breaking it all the time. Plus the smart phones are all much bigger than I want to have in my pocket...I get that you have to be able to see them for all the "connection stuff".... I can use the computer... and @Mini Horses was telling me about her tablet... might look into one of them and then will have something smaller than the computer, that is more mobile... just have to have a "hot spot".... I could use it in the bedroom or sitting in a recliner... not have to sit at the desk. But sitting at the desk makes me sit up straighter also... helps my back/shoulders/neck... bad for the ankle and the knees with some swelling....
I heard about a company called "Patriot Mobile" on the Glen Beck show... much more geared to conservative principles.... going to look into it. I know DS has the Verizon tower and he gets a check every month... but they also support some things I am not real happy with... might be a good time to get "unhooked " from DS's plan, too, that I have been on for years...and most all of these other companies rent/lease/use towers that Verizon and other big companies put up so the service areas are all about the same now.... don't know about the costs... Verizon is expensive... But I want unlimited talk and text... will have to see what prices are for some of these things. It is cheaper to be on his plan.... but some are not so terrible like T-mobile...Do not want to pay 4-5-600 or more for a phone I will not use many of the features.
With everyone talking about all these phones, I need to do some serious comparing here... only a couple of months to make a move....