Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[Mini Horses]

Dang, I'm glad to still have all original parts!!

The older I get, the colder I get. I wear leggings, long johns, under pants all winter...even the lined jeans. The silkier tight ones, like a second skin, work well and are less bulky.

 

[farmerjan]

After 11 p.m..... home and stuff in the house. It feels like all I have done is drive and run errands, and shop and drive and ... rinse and repeat. Loaded the car with the packed samples this morning after I got home from the run to the bank and a stop at Walmart right near the bank....Let the chickens out of the crate and there was ice in the waterer but I got the pieces out and there was enough for it to seep out for them to drink. Then I hung the load of clothes since it really was alot nicer today than yesterday. Changed all the brackets on the meters already in the car for today's herd and put the rest of the short hoses in there. Got the tray of bottles and a list of things I wanted to look at/pick up. Left, dropped off the samples and the return package for UPS, and went to the farm that I get my milk from and got his 3 samples and milk for me... went to the other farm that has been sending in a tank sample and got their sample.
Left there and headed for town on the way to the farm to test this afternoon... stopped at TSC to look at a few things and got DS a gift certificate for there as I know he will use it. Granted it will be for "farm stuff" but even for chicken feed for his chickens or dog food it will help.
Then went on to the farm. Set up and we started milking about 4 and got done at 6. I had to do the computer stuff and put in some things they did not get in the computer yet... then wash line cycles finally finished and left there about 7:30....
They gave me the breasts out of a couple of turkeys they had butchered that were too crippled and would not make it til the "house goes out" end of next week... They are huge !!!! They don't keep the legs on the ones that are so crippled like that... I sure would have and made "turkey salad" or just put it all in to cook down for broth or something.... but when they look at as many as these farmers do, they keep the breast meat and toss the rest..... there is alot of waste.... goes against my "grain" but it is what it is.... I offered to take the whole bird but they had already just skinned out the breasts from several and discarded the rest. They are nice looking.... so I am grateful for that. Sure I have plenty of chicken in the freezer, and these will get cleaned up and frozen for future cooking... I like turkey too....
Left there and wanted to go to the grocery store for a few things... but wound up at the Walmart coming down through town to make it easier... I got several kinds of cheese and some crackers and will make up a little gift bag for Deb for Christmas..... sure, I will probably benefit from some of it... get together and have some cheese and crackers and I got some pepperoni and summer sausage to slice up to have with it too....and a couple packages of hot cocoa to put in it and a set of kitchen towels that were marked down (Christmas themed )..... just a little something for her... I also went by there today on my way out and checked the freezer and heater in the tack room after last night's cold... everything was good.

I did score at Walmart.... I was wandering up and down isles... not many people in there tonight... and noticed some alfredo sauce for spaghetti... my preferred type over tomato type spaghetti sauce... and there were a couple different brands... and some Neuman"s Own.... I like it but it is often more costly by .10 or .20 .... Most of them were 2.39 and 2.49 and N. O. brand said .91.... there was a girl there working and I asked her if she could check it... it had to be a mistake... so she pulled it up on her phone and said ," yes, that's right, it is being discontinued".... so I said thanks... and promptly got all 12 jars that were on the shelf... That's like 1/3 the price..... It is good until Feb/ 23 so you know it will be good for another year or more after that....
Made up for my taking the time to go up and down the aisles... There were next to no people in there...
And there were all sorts of empty shelves too... I cannot believe that the shelves are so spotty.... There were pallets of stuff that the night crew were starting to put out... but there were really alot of empty spots and things haphazardly on shelves.... The only good thing about going in there is that I could not believe how few people were in there; so I could actually walk up and down and be able to look without any rush.

So I finally got done and came on home. Locked in the chickens, got all the stuff in the house except the milk and the turkey breasts in the small styrofoam cooler... they are outside for the night. It is down to 29 already so they will keep very well until I get to them in the morning....Samples are ready to pack and I have to get bottles for tomorrow into the racks to take with me yet.....

Just looked at the local forecast and tomorrow should be much like today, and the same for Wed morning... more sun than clouds and low 40's. Today was alot nicer than yesterday. Should be good to get the clothes off the line Wed after the sun comes up for a bit. I will have to pack the 250+/- samples from tomorrow and then I will get samples Wed eve from that farm since they are now calling for some snow to come in on Wed night into Thursday morning... LUCKILY this herd is the closest one I have now... about 6-7 miles away... so hope I won't have any problems getting there in the morning... BUT.... I want to already have the samples here wed eve just in case something goes wrong.... I do not want to have to go back and retest them for any reason if I can't get back Thursday morning.... Although I normally do this herd as a "2x" herd... meaning I go 2 consecutive milkings.... if need be I can convert them to a 1x should I not be able to get back in the morning.... But being this close... should not be a problem. There are no big "accumulation" numbers... so I ought to be able to get them done and the samples packed and sent and then STAY HOME..... Plus it is supposed to change over to a cold rain and then temps are supposed to drop and the wind get bad....

So, I am headed to bed.... might pack the samples tonight.... won't take too long... only 80 to pack.... one less thing to do tomorrow morning...

 

[Baymule]

I’m low, cold, temperatures, I can see why this job gets less and less attractive. But it’s only a few months out of the year, trying to look on the bright side, with a cloud of gloom hanging over everything. Get these last ones done, then hunker down for the super cold and torment that it brings.

 

[farmerjan]

Cold again, 22 and the sun is trying to come up over the hill across from me. It looks to be a decent day again and forecast is still the same although more rain and less ice/snow maybe.

When I came home last night I saw that the truck/trailer with the load of hay was gone from DS barn... and about a half hour after I was home I saw lights across the road and DS was in there getting 2 rolls of hay... he takes them with him when he goes to GF house and feeds at the one farm down near her. So he must've just gotten home from taking the sq bales across the mountain to deliver last evening.

Samples are packed to go out UPS and I ate a bowl of Cream of Wheat. Going to get dressed and go out and get the boxes of sample bottles, to put in the racks for today's herd...Milk and turkey breasts to do something with. Then after it has warmed up a little more, and the sun hits the greenhouse/shelter, I will go out to let the chickens out of the crate and take them some more water. Maybe an hour or less. Then I will take out the rest of the gatorade for DS and put in the other car.... and get the rest of the meters in the outback and make sure I have the rest of the medium hoses for testing there, get the racks of bottles, and drop the packed samples from last night and head out to work again.

Would like to take these farmers a couple chickens as they don't raise them, but this time of year their freezers are full of venison and any beef that they have butchered... Might take them one for now... I gave them 3 or 4 last year in the spring and they said they liked them. It's the parents and 2 of the 3 kids at home (adults actually they are like 30 and 24... the other boy is married with 2 kids now and live just a 1/2 mile from the farm since he works there full time too). But that is typical of many Mennonites... the kids usually stay at home until they marry.

Time to get going here... Hope everyone in the "cold" manages okay....

 

[canesisters]

Dang, I'm glad to still have all original parts!!

The older I get, the colder I get. I wear leggings, long johns, under pants all winter...even the lined jeans. The silkier tight ones, like a second skin, work well and are less bulky.

... I wear leggings and underpants year-round.... winter or not

 

[SageHill]

but when they look at as many as these farmers do, they keep the breast meat and toss the rest.

Ah - I know that method well. As a kid I had to clean all the pheasant my parents shot -- they never missed and the dogs never lost a bird. They'd dump the birds in the garage and go in, I'd go out with my knife and filet the breasts off the bird - toss the rest. Though there's not much else on a pheasant - the legs are full of tendons and not much to eat.

 

[farmerjan]

... I wear leggings and underpants year-round.... winter or not

HA HA
I think she meant that she wears leggings and long john's under HER PANTS , not "under pants"... which I really don't know if she wears or not .

 

[farmerjan]

It's after 9 pm. Home from the farm, chickens locked in and I ate a sandwich and had a glass of milk. I am tired.
It was a pretty decent day after all. Mostly sun and hit mid 40's. Sure hope tomorrow is nice too until I get the laundry in, get the samples packed and sent... get the meters set up in the morning for the farm to test wed eve... and for moving some of the cows tomorrow from pasture before I go to work.

It is down to 28 already, another night of low 20's... oh well.

Got another call about the explorer from a local person.... unless someone comes by with cash in hand tomorrow, they will call me right after Christmas and I will take them up and let them drive it... They wanted some info on it and I was glad to talk to them about it.
Person from NY didn't call back...but I got a 2nd text from the auto buying group about it... might be able to get a little more out of it after the holidays... especially if we get some crappy roads and people want the 4WD benefits. I am not going to panic over it.... wanted to get it sold, and still do, but it seems with the holidays and all, people are too focused on everything they need to get done for that... so going to "chill out" and not get too bent out of shape.... It'll happen when it is supposed to.

Going to hit the shower and go to bed. Alot to do tomorrow and I need to get up and get going....

 

[farmerjan]

Sunny and cold but it is warming. Chickens out, samples packed and in the car to drop off. Went to change brackets on the meters and they are still "frozen"... so waiting for the car to warm up a little in the sun. Won't take much as the sun is warming it up nicely right now. Can hardly believe we have such cold coming with as nice as it is out there. Sun all day they say.
Had quite a bit of frost so waiting for the clothes to get dried off and then will get them in later.
Had a mouse in the bedroom in the bureau drawers... I emptied them a week or so ago... and pulled open the drawer and it jumped out and across the floor. This morning I heard it again and I got up and it had run across the floor and got caught on a sticky trap ....YAY..... maybe that will be it for awhile...
With all this wet and cold weather coming I will have a couple days to actually stay in and do some overdue stuff...
Going out to see if I can get the meter brackets changed and go set up and then head for the barn and get the cows moved.

 

[Mini Horses]

We started at 23 but it was 47 by 10:30! Cold but dry this morning, so no windshield to clean

Staying "warm" tonight with rain coming for most of tomorrow. Don't need that but .....grrr. Dental at 8am for a crown prep. Loving the thought--NOT! so numb until noon