Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

Monday aft. It has been a "bright cloudy day".. some sun through the clouds and a decent breeze. Down to 27 last night, hit 47 today; breezy and so chilly.. I am going out to bring the clothes in off the line in a few minutes, before it gets colder as the sun goes down. They ought to be mostly dried so that turned out to be good timing on my part to get them washed and dried. I was lucky to hit it right.

Calling for showers and rain the rest of the week... not constant but enough to make it wet, and crummy out.

Went and got the sample from the farm and packed in with the rest.. In the car ready to go drop off as soon as I get the clothes in and then go feed at the nurse cow pasture...
Then spent over an hour and a half on the phone and on the computers, trying to get things moved from the old computer into the new one before the old one just quits. It gets to making all the noises and then locks up... We got most everything done but then it locked up again.... Time to just be done with it. I can do a few of the things myself now that the bulk of the testing stuff is in the newer one. I just want to be able to make a list of all the farms I used to test... just for my own info/records. One farm that didn't test for years and went back on here a few months ago, is a reason to keep the info ....in case....I can go back and get addresses and such without any trouble.
That time on the phone is a real pain... they are good at computer support... but I just don't like being so stuck in here doing that....

Time to go out and get the clothes and go to the pasture....

 

[farmerjan]

Tuesday morning. Cloudy, rainy, wet and damp. Same as @Mini Horses is getting... it is traveling from west to east and there are several days of it in intermittent showers type of stuff.
It is foggy here, got down to 36 overnight and only 40 now.

Clothes were nice and dry yesterday when I got them in. Of course they are all still semi-folded in the baskets, I will get to them later or tomorrow. Dropped samples off and went and fed at the nurse cow pasture. Was making a list of all the heifers there... there are more there than I had any idea of when you start writing numbers down. Fed grain to the calves in the barn and then fed a bunch in the "outside feeders", not in the catch pen; for all the cows and heifers to come up get a little. Then surprise, DS came in with 2 rolls of hay for them. He was trying to get some extra hay feeding done before we got this rainy stuff as the pastures will be soggy and some places going in and out are slick. Talked to him as he was leaving since he was trying to get done before dark... and he said he wanted me to come get him as he wanted to take the truck and trailer to Deb's barn to park it in there. He needs to take a load of hay across the mountain to the hay customers over there and didn't want the bed of the flat bed trailer to be wet. I think he plans to go on Sat... this rainy wet stuff is supposed to get done on Friday I think. So he called me a little bit later and said he was going to Deb's and then I went and picked him up, took him back to the barn and came back home.

I got to listen to most of the program that @The Old Ram-Australia does on the radio in Australia. NEAT that I could get on computer and pull it up and listen. He gave a "shout out" to his friends in USA and mentioned CA, and TX, and VA, and northwest VT.... I hope that @Bruce and @Baymule and @Ridgetop got to listen to him. Unfortunately DS called for the ride during the interview in the second half of the 1/2 hr program, so I missed a little of it, he was doing with the couple that had settled there in Braidwood about 12 years ago... but I have already written it on the calendar for next month.... You have to listen close to some of the words and phrases when those "Aussies" talk... it was fun. I cannot believe he is the age he said he was on the program... talking about buying an American made log splitter because he was getting too old to be doing it all by hand....he talks and sounds like someone in their 60's....

Yesterday I put all the boxes needed for testing this afternoon, in the car. Got 3 bags of stuff to go to the county dumpster also in there. Going to run a couple of closeby errands today and be ready as DS is going to get off work at 2:30 so he can make a stop at the county office to turn in the land use papers for the different people we rent from so they can get their land use tax rates. It is on the way to the farm to test. There was a new assessment here this year and DS said that his and GF and GF parents and GF sister's assessments all went up... like 30-60,000 on the different places/houses. I haven't seen mine yet... but when the guy came around I just happened to be here and he asked some questions and had to take off a shed that was listed but isn't here, and then asked about the house and what kind of heat...and I told him that there isn't any central heat since it had rusted out in the 8 years the house had been empty, it needed to be replaced and redone.....and he asked about the number of bathrooms and bedrooms and I told him that the upstairs was unlivable due to the ceilings coming down from the water leaks and that I hoped to have them taken all the way down and redone but could not find anyone to do them... so I was living on one floor... Which is all TOTALLY TRUE..... so it will be interesting to see what the reassessment is... It might be at the post office box... I haven't gotten the mail in several days there...

I am going to get going and get things done, so I am ready for DS to get here as soon as he gets off work. Make his stop at the county office for the land use for the landowners..... We have to be at the farm no later than 4 to set up the samplers on their lines.... they are milking over 500 and they start as soon as they can, close to 4:30 or before... because it takes close to 5 hours now. I will get some subway sandwiches for us to eat at like 7 or so whenever we get hungry.... and have drinks and some snacks in the car already that I try to keep for late drives home and such.

 

[CLSranch]

The stock market today is more of a gamble than it used to be. It always comes back up. Some go under but as a whole, it comes back. With Obama and Biden both, I wish I had thousands to gamble with. Throw 5k into dow, or whatever 12 years ago, or last year. I don't have that so I'll just stick to the occasional power ball

I had moved a good percentage into a very safe "stable value fund"... makes 2% interest... but not tied to the stock market.... But some of the contributions out of my paycheck, that I make, were going into some of the more aggressive choices.

Safe for now, so that's good. Yet currently Bidenflation is 4xs higher than the interest. Any savings, CD, or other low interest right now is worth less after saving for a year.

 

[farmerjan]

@CLSranch ; I agree that the current inflation rate is way higher than the return on the stable market fund. However, with the choices we have in investing, I have never had a MINUS ( - ) from it, on any month compared to what else I have invested. This last year the minuses have been BIG ones... and at this age, I am really not interested in losing alot of money at it anymore. I let the SS check keep up with the inflation (pun intended)... and this stable value fund just slowly adds a little every month.
I also do a little investing on the side... just a few thousand dollars from money from my parents estate so "found money".... the stocks have dropped in price a little.... but one that I have very little invested in also pays dividends... not alot.. but averages 6% a year now. I only have a few shares in that one, and get right about 2.00 month....not a huge payout... but consistent... so plan to put a little more into it. Another one I am hoping to put a little money in next year, once I get some things paid off and hopefully the Explorer sold soon.... is averaging 8% dividend payments. It costs quite a bit more per share, but has been very stable...

And if anyone is wondering I will share info on PM from anyone. I am not advising... I wish I had been this much smarter years ago... but some things are a gamble... the one LNG stock was on advice of a friend who knew someone who knew the gas industry... I am hoping it will preform the way other similar ones have in the past..... as if it does, I will be well set in 5-10 years... I have over 500 shares in it..... But there is enough potential there that if it doesn't do what I want, it could get bought out by another group, or I would still be able to sell it and recoup my money with no loss or a little increase. Better than watching the different ones that I have invested through work have quarter after quarter of negative returns. Yes, there have been years of very good returns, 20% a few times on a couple of them... but in 2008 I lost half of what I had in the retirement account, and it took til nearly 2018 to get back to where it had been... and that is when I moved a bunch of it around... 2% return is better than the bottom falling out again. And better than putting it under the mattress, where I won't "lose anything" BUT WON'T GAIN A THING EITHER....and yes it won't keep up with inflation...
I am just too old to ride the ups and downs anymore.... I don't have years to wait for it to come back if it drops like a rock again.... and if this country doesn't get it's SH!T together then there might be more of a Venezuela repeat than anyone realizes. If so, we are in for a totally different life for the foreseeable future. I am trying to "hedge my bets" and be a little better prepared for it.

 

[farmerjan]

Wed morning. Went out to the chickens and they are set. It is warmer than yesterday. The high for the day yesterday 46, was the low for the night. It was actually warmer when we came out of the barn at 10 p.m., from testing, than when we went in at 4.
It is still raining... had some heavy rain here at the house but less at the farm where we were 50 miles north. I didn't have the rain gauge out yesterday so am not sure how much but in the buckets it looks like at least a half inch. I put the gauge back out. The forecast is for more rain the next couple of days. Today it is supposed to pass east and then clear off a little, then cloud up again and more precip. At least it is not miserable cold.

Testing went good, they are up to over 540 cows which is about their max. But it went smooth and we were out of there and home at 10:30.

Just got the boxes of samples out of the car and will pack them here shortly.

Not much new except that yesterdays run off in Georgia was a real blow for the conservative cause. I really think that enough people just don't get what is happening to this country and that if we continue this path of spending, we are going to be in so deep there will be no getting out.
On top of that Russia is talking about nuclear weapons again. How they will only be used for "defense"...???? Like invading the Ukraine was for "defense".....so they say.
I am getting really concerned...

 

[Bruce]

I hope that @Bruce and @Baymule and @Ridgetop got to listen to him.

I'm afraid I did not. Hopefully someone will highlight it just before the next one and I can try to get it.

 

[SageHill]

I really think that enough people just don't get what is happening to this country

You're not alone in that. Many were raised in the "do-over" mentality. don't get something right, you get to do it over and try again. No repercussions for poor decisions. When all is said and done they'll be saying "sorry" - but by then it's too late and no "do-overs".

 

[murphysranch]

I like dividend stocks nowadays, being on SS.
8%!! That's a good rate of return for quarterly income. None of mine come into that range on an annualized basis.

 

[farmerjan]

Friday morning. Fog and wet, misty stuff out there... AGAIN.... You don't like to complain about moisture because it is really much better than being dried up.... to a point. Everything is soggy out there now. The bigger problem about getting so much moisture this time of year is the ground is cold, nothing is growing, so it takes alot longer to permeate down into the soil and is not used up by anything in the process. So it "sits there" so to speak. Have not been to the nurse cow pasture since the other night as I will get stuck on the flat area where I usually drive up near the barn and where it is sloped would probably slide down... if I can't get close enough to the gate to get through with the buckets I get a little concerned because I DO NOT need the cows to come up and get pushy and knock me down or anything like that. I don't keep grain up there anymore because the ground hogs will get the lids off the metal cans sometimes, even with weight (hay bales) on top and since I am not in there daily like when the nurse cow had small calves on her dependent on my feeding her grain every day, I don't need someone to get a panel loose and get in the "feed area" ... which they did last year and made a mess of the hay stored in there.... smooshed the metal cans and just tore things up. The barn needs some major work and since we don't know how much longer we might actually have it since the son and d-i-l seem to fall in and out of favor (she was out of favor but now have been told that the parents want to see about doing some crossfencing to keep the cow manure off the driveway and away from the house area...so must be back in favor again.....) and this has to be done to accommodate their driving in and making their circle to come back out and all this hog wash which will make the fencing twice as much because we will not be able to come off existing fencing around the house but have to put up more that is like 20 ft off what is there....
This is why DS went in debt over 600,000 for doug's farm so that we do not have to keep dealing with constant BS from landowners.... and in part why he is transitioning to more steers so that we do not get in a position to have to cut more brood cows if we lose a place.

We will lose about 5 acres of this place because of what has been hinted at and we will have to do alot of fencing... we will be doing "temporary" electric fencing... much as he and I hate high tensile wire... it is the only thing that will stretch well with few posts. He is going to tell them that they HAVE to allow us to put a fence charge off the electric at the house because of the number of deer in there they will run through the fences (hence the hi-tensile so it will not get torn down as much) but also so that it will have a hotter charge to keep the cattle off and away from it.
Since the son and d-i-l come up about 2 times a year... because there is nothing there that they actually like to do, except when the family has a get together... this is a total bunch of bs and waste. We will put in alot of effort for very little benefit for anyone... just to shut up the d-i-l 's constant complaining about some cow manure on her car once a year. I wish they would sell it but it belonged to the grandfather and it will never be sold. Too bad the daughter and s-i-l wouldn't buy out the son as she is more practical and sensible and they would maybe only come down from PA for a little bit in the summer and cows are not a big deal to her...
Oh well, if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.

Going out to let the chickens out in a few minutes. Nasty dreary day out there. Might clear off a bit tomorrow but now more again on Sunday... then a couple clear days and rain again mid next week????

 

[Mini Horses]

Is there a written lease? If so, would there be anything that might make this situation easier for y'all? Space, fence location, useages, etc....

Ya know, why visit the farm if you don't like animals that you KNOW are there by lease? In a rental "quiet enjoyment" would limit their demands on you, normally. Just a thought.