Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

Monday morning. Had a long day yesterday. Tested then went to the barn on the way home because DS needed to treat some of the calves for snotty noses and not feeling good. Not a good scene with DS.

Got done and got home to house about 11 and then brought samples in house and then went out to figure out tying down the 1/2 greenhouse on the porch since I can't get through the boards because they are so closely spaced but not quite touching. Got it secured to the 2 steps into the kitchen door and the railing on the other end and think it will do okay. Have a cinder block inside on one corner of the frame on the floor... Need to find another one for the other end to make it more "solid" . But it worked because after I got home from the bridal shower for Geneva, I wound up moving the plants inside and zipping the end doors closed just as it started to rain.... I would have left them out for the rain watering, but it was getting windier and temps were supposed to drop and I wanted to be in for the night. The wind really picked up and blew for awhile and it was still intact....

The temps dropped as the recording thermometer was down to 40 this morning. Plants look okay... but I will probably put some sort of little heater in there if it is forecast to drop much more. I do have to find something to put on the "floor" , as the wind comes up through the cracks in the deck boards. I think I might have some big pieces of cardboard to just put down as a temp floor to stop the wind. At least it is against the side of the house to help protect it from the worst of the wind and on the south side so any sun will warm it up if it is windy and chilly out. I think it will serve the purpose quite well considering it is not exactly the rigid poly carbonate one I had preferred, but also not near the cost. And although a pain, it could be taken apart and stored or moved with me if it comes to that sometime too. There was 1 extra of each of the different connectors included in the kit in case one got split or something.... and I will keep the instructions with them.

It is cloudy and windy.. supposed to have alot of wind for the next 2 days....

Samples need to be packed and I will work inside today as it is very chilly out there. 50 but feels colder. Have farms scheduled for Wed and Thurs and another just texted me to see if I had Wed so I texted him back and said I had Tues and Fri left this week. Not wanting to go out this afternoon. Plus I would have to load meters and all in the car and just not feeling like it today.
Farm just texted me back and wants Tues... so I will get sample bottles in the racks later, and get the meters and hoses loaded in the car probably in the morning. I have a couple bags of stuff to take to the dumpster in the back of the car first.... and some plastic for the recycling center too.... it's only a couple of miles down the road so might do that later.

When I got home last night noticed that the gas had gone up at the one station from 3.29 to 3.39 and the other 2 were still at 3.27.... so I filled the explorer, which I drove for it's once every couple of weeks use, and then came home and got the outback and then the forester and took them down to top off the tanks since they were below 1/2 full.... It's only 3 miles or so to the interstate/gas stations, so worth it. I noticed gas was up to 3.59 up near where I went to the shower.... It is creeping back up although diesel has come down a bit more....

 

[Mini Horses]

Yep. Gas going back up. It's at $3.37-$3.59 here. Diesel $3.89 mostly. But sure both will go higher...summer, travel, ya know, screw us over some more.

Gas, feed and groceries -- rent & utilities....all slamming upward. And we are victims. A lot is corp greed. Economy is bad but we're also being taken by big business. Look at their profits.

 

[Bruce]

Gas here is running $3.59, diesel never dropped anywhere near $4

 

[farmerjan]

Thursday morning... temps only got down to 58 so warm... Sun is out and we may hit 90.... WHAT ?????? Ususally only hit a 90 in mid to late May..... Rain forecast for Sat afternoon and then next week temps will drop 20 degrees with possible frost forecast for a few nights....

Went and tested the farm last evening.... that has the walk through "stanchion" type barn... pain to set up but not too bad once you get that done. It is about 1 1/2 hours north... and they start late.... said 6, so I was there 5:20 to set up, takes 20 min-half hour or so.... and then they didn't start until 6:30 or so.... It was 10 min to 12 (MIDNIGHT) when I got home.... .

I got a text from the farm I had scheduled for today, Thurs..... that they went to enter stuff in their computer and it said the program had expired... so were going to call the computer support and see what was up .....BUT.... did I have something next week? Now understand, this farm has a "problem/some sort of drama" every single time they are scheduled to test..... aaaaaaaaaAND..... they picked this date over 10 days ago..... the text came through at like 10:30 or so and I did not see it until I got home.... so I just answered it, this morning, and said that I had farms and a dentist appt next week so it would have to be the following week. Totally TRUE except the dentist appt is on Tues 11 a.m. and I am going to a farm that afternoon with shopping scheduled inbetween since I will be half way there, already, in town.... so only have 3 afternoons scheduled.... but I do not want to have 4 straight..... one of my other farms had texted me back earlier and apologized for not getting right back to me and said that she would like Thurs (next week) if it was still available... I had given her 3 days choice once I had already gotten 2 scheduled....and unless they have a major problem, they never change or cancel.....so, I was fine with scheduling them; for 3 straight afternoons....but I am just not going to RE-schedule them too.

It is already up to 72 at nearly 9 a.m. Crazy warm.

I will get the last bit of poly wire untangled and rewound on a stick so we can put it up at the nurse cow pasture.... I just ran out of time yesterday. Got most all of it done, just a little bit left but there are 2 different sizes wound together and lots of knots where they tied it together and I have had to cut some of the knots out and will have to tie some back together... plus the small wires that runs through it have some spots that they are frayed so some of it might not work right... I am trying to get it cut and put together so it will work right. DS has run one plain wire so this is going to be the second one... and is for visibility as well as for being charged....

Going out to get some things done... will also open some car windows since it is going to be so warm.

 

[Mini Horses]

Poly tape...... I'm not a big fan BUT visibility is good!!!! That said, I have a lot of it. From a buy I did several years ago, private owner. One roll still had wrapper and was $17.97, currently over $50 , so ya know it's been a while. Used some this past week for newly fenced area. It's good for ME to see, also I've tested a few strips in my time!

Speaking of fence -- better get out and work some!

 

[farmerjan]

Yeah, @Mini Horses the poly tape isn't the greatest... the little wire breaks... DS has already run one strand of just wire... this is going to be the 2nd strand more for the visibility... going to put charge on it.... he has the other hooked to a plug in charger so they ought to get a good jolt... This was in something I think he got for nothing or at an auction onetime.... one of those $1.00 boxes of "stuff" mixed together...

It hit 85 today... it is still 70 at 10:30.... tomorrow warm again, then some showers Fri eve and rain on Sat and temps dropping into the 40's Sat night... think it is part of the storm that is coming through from Texas and OK and where they had those tornados.

I have decided that I will not buy the other greenhouse that is the plastic over the hoops... anything that is not rigid just does not hold up under this wind. The 1/2 one against the house got buffeted around quite a bit... didn't break or tear or anything... but a couple of the thin metal rods came out of the plastic connectors... got them popped back in.. but the wind really works on it. I do need to do a little more for tiedowns to hold it a little more securely, although it didn't move but about a foot in all that rough wind we had Monday and Tuesday...
If I do anything, I will get the replacement cover from Shelter Logic and put it over the big framed one I have, in the fall... But, the best way to go here is with something rigid so that the wind cannot work on it so much. The big one's cover used to really rub against the metal frame even with it being pretty tight... and they do not last very long with the sun on them either, like a rigid one will, with the poly carbonate panels. But, the big one served the purpose for the meat chickens and all for a couple of years.... and another cover will give me several more years use.... and time to maybe find a "better, heavier" poly carbonate one.... Have been tossing around getting the deck 1/2 closed in, into a greenhouse/sun room..... leaving just a bit for an entrance into the kitchen... something to toss around. I don't spend any time out on the deck per se, and it is too hot in the sun anyway... but a "sun room" would be nice... give me the greenhouse advantages...
Thoughts to ponder.

Talked to the farmer and got the test rescheduled for Mon, May 1st... 2 weeks... as she is going away for a few days on the 3-7th.... Not going to cram it in next week. This gives her time to get a hold of the computer support center and get it figured out on her computer...

Going to hit the shower and get some sleep.

 

[farmerjan]

Friday eve. It was another warm day. Sunny with a breeze and hit 84. Nice out. Sadly, my allergies have gone into overdrive the last 2 days... itchy, watery eyes, runny nose, blowing it constantly. Allergy pills haven't hardly touched it. Will be glad to get the rain to take some of the pollen out of the air. BUT,,,, the funniest thing is once I went outside, they let up... maybe a combination of the OTC meds kicking in but the breeze seemed to make it better.

Got the polywire up at the nurse cow pasture. The cows must have already gotten a good shock or 2 from the wire, because they stayed about 10 ft from it the whole time I worked on it. Didn't have my tester with me so will go back up and check it out. Good thing I told DS that there wouldn't be near enough and he ran one strand of just wire... I still didn't have enough to do the whole length of what had the insulators on it. I do have some of the real thin stuff so might just use that to finish it up.... don't think they are going to bother it at all. That's good.

I had ordered 2 hanging plant shelf units for the "1/2 greenhouse" and they came. I will try to get them put together tomorrow since it is going to get alot colder Sat night after the rain. The plants have been just outside the last 2 days and nights but I will move them back in tomorrow evening, after they get a good rain. Still calling for mid-low 30's with possible frost... It is still too early for tender plants... mid to late May.... is the last frost date here... and I never push it before Memorial day for most stuff... another reason to get the garden re-tilled....it was really too early when he did it for the way I don't push to plant it. Onion plants are still not in yet either...

I am going to see if I can get the guy to come back up and till the garden one more time since I have not gotten anything in it yet. There is still alot of rough spots; since it had alot of real tall grass from last year, it would chop it up more, smooth it out a little better. Some of it has started to decay but it has still been a little cool for much earthworm activity up in the top of the soil.... I have 2 old partial rolls of hay from a pasture he did not spray to use for mulch I brought home last year. Won't have any from there this year since it was sold and the owner used electric to make paddocks for all his horses... said we could cut it but there was nothing to cut... REALLY????.....glad I got the rolls out of there last year when I was moving hay.

Have the potatoes ready to go in, but have not gotten the ordered ones yet.

Going Tuesday, after the dentist, to the greenhouse I normally go to, and see about getting some tomato plants... I can get all sorts of different varieties and just get a 4 pack of each of what I want... They will be more than last year I am sure but last year they were 2.99 for a 4 pack I think.... nothing like what some of you are talking. There will be lots of plants at the poultry swap coming up the first Sat in May also.... Not going to plant as many this year.... will put in more of the Roma types for sauce and canning... I like them for stewed tomatoes, too. Going to go through the seeds here that I haven't found time to do yet, and see if there is much I need/want that I don't already have. Trying to use up some of the old seeds because they just get to the point where they are too old... I plant short rows in the garden and if they come up then just transplant...

Then I will go to work later in the afternoon.... No set up so just have to show up on time and test. Will have to put the real long hoses in the car for Wed aft test and already have the real short ones in there for the Thursday test. I have to change all the brackets for Thursday test. Oh well, part of it....

Time to quit for the night I think. Ate a hamburger steak, so bun, and some sauteed mushrooms as I need to cook them. Now am too full....Tomorrow I want to get the shelves put together so I can get those plants inside and be able to hang some of them... might be a good thing to do inside the greenhouse while it is raining outside...

 

[Baymule]

I’ve been walking my pastures, looking at the wide variety of forbs. Som are not so desirable. I pulled up Hemlock and put in the trash. There are thistles, silver leaf nightshade , some spiny plant that looks bad, and a few others I don’t want. If I use Grazon to spot spray, then the sheep will eat the grass, it will go through them, pass out in their droppings and the Grazon will kill forbs that I want to keep. I’m having a tough decision. Round up will kill everything but if I spot spray, I can better control it. Is there any other product that I could spot spray with, and not come back in the manure?

 

[farmerjan]

@Baymule found my booklet that talks about the various weeds and the sprays...
What you need to stay AWAY from.... the class of herbicides : PYRIDINES.... the specific ones most used in herbicide mixtures are : Picloram, Aminopyralid, Clopyralid.
These are mostly found in products with the names: Milestone, GrazonNext HL, Grazon P+D, Chaparral, Surmont, DuraCor.

Most weeds listed in the guide will respond to spot spraying with a 2,4,D as the basis... Also anything with Dicamba and Triclopyr.
Banvel, Crossbow, PastureGard HL, Remedy Ultra.... The results will not be as good as with some of the top ones but will not have the long lasting residues.....

Best times to spray is early bud... when the plant is sending the sugars back to the roots and there is plenty of plant leaf surface and late fall when it is sending sugars to the roots to store for the following year.

 

[farmerjan]

Also, @Baymule some of these are only available to a person with an herbicide applicators license. DS has to go take the class yearly even though we use very few herbicides... but he does use Grazon and I paid for it with a roll of hay that I used around my cucumbers and melons last year.... Yep, killed the plants. The ones that are listed first will break down in ultraviolet light after about 18 months.....but.....

It was cloudy and grey and then started raining about 9....radar looks like it will last until maybe noon then some spotty stuff and then out by 2-3 and temps dropping. Going to go out and see about getting those plant stands put together and see if they will work in the 1/2 greenhouse for the hanging plants. Would like to not have to drag them all inside for the nights with temps forecast in the low 30's....will put a small heater out there and see how it does.