Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

In for some late lunch since I ate a late breakfast. Been cloudy, not too bad temp... low 70's... no rain on the radar but see lots of clouds ... none actually forecast until tomorrow afternoon...
Grass is still wet. I got all the spider plants moved out of the greenhouse so they can get a good soaking the next rain... and I am debating hanging them on the chain under the maple tree branches ... something tells me we just might get another cold snap... but nothing I see in the 30 day forecast.
Got a load of jeans/work clothes in the machine to soak... might get them hung in the morning.
Not overly motivated today, sun comes out for a little then hides behind the clouds again. If it would dry out more I would not mind getting out there to do some other things but grass is just wet.
We only got .6 total inches of rain from yesterday and today.... Wish it was more but it is a help. Looks like @Mini Horses is in for some more serious stuff on the eastern side of the state.

I am going to get the dahlia bulbs planted in the planters I have, and there are more small asparagus spears in the first tub from the bunch I bought at the farm bureau, coming up... So, that is really good... Hope the purple ones I got the other day come up good... They got planted and I watered with a full 2 gal bucket of water on them after I got them planted... and then they got a good soft rain so hopefully will be settled in good and start to grow.

Time to eat and go outside while it is not doing anything and get something positive accomplished.

I didn't make a amaretto hot chocolate last night... instead went "whole hog" and had a toasted almond... amaretto, kahlua and cream... I was craving something cold and after drinking some more water, decided WHY NOT.... I slept like a baby.... woke up a little after 5 a.m. and made a trip to the bathroom, and went back to bed for a bit since it was still dark from the clouds and little bit of showers lingering...

 

[Mini Horses]

Glad you slept well !!! Repeat tonight.

Ended with closer to an inch last night after checking today...and we've had two batches of scattereds today. Another good dousing at each! Don't even care how much it's wet & I see puddles in places. Yep, the weather is reportedly staying this way thru Thur.

Last week farmers were slamming in the fields -- dust everywhere . Some had planted the week before and I see a few fields with corn up a couple inches. This week will be welcomed by those crops. Won't be much planting this week. The grass is wild

 

[murphysranch]

You day together sounded wonderful. Such a nice respite from work work work.

 

[Baymule]

I’m glad y’all are getting some rain. I should go get some of that flood water and sell it by the drop as a powerful drought buster. Even better, keep it for myself!

 

[Mini Horses]

@Baymule Certainly your ponds are full!!! Saving it.

 

[farmerjan]

Monday..... 3 pm. Been an interesting and productive day.

Got the clothes out on the line this morning... partly cloudy but some sun and a very slight breeze. Figured they would be able to get mostly dry at least. DS said if I was out that maybe I could go to P.O. so I went to the P.O. and picked up mail for both me and DS (separate P.O. boxes) and the check still hadn't come from the cows/calves 2+ weeks ago... so glad I went and got the replacement check on Saturday. The check did come for the bull and I texted him. He said open it and see.... Well the damaged bull weighed 1600 lbs, was in good flesh but not too fat... and he brought 1.35/lb!!!!!!.... which after commissions was over $2100... About what we paid for him so at least we did not lose any money on him and we will have some calves out of him as a bonus since he was "working a bit" even with the problem. So that is good....

Stopped and filled the 5 buckets in the back of the forester to take to feed at the calves later... will last me 3 days approx... figured I would do that while it wasn't raining too.

I finally gave the new mower a good work out. I had tried it out a little; mostly to get used to the different procedures... Today, I mowed quite a bit of lawn and out to the garden area... around the deck and the clothesline, made 2 passes around the outside of the garden.... It was slow going since it was very thick/overgrown etc. But I was very impressed with it. Granted the blades are new and very sharp. The strange but rather nice thing is the "gas pedal" / accelerator is kinda nice... I could easily slow down in the real thick stuff... and it moves right along when you push it down... and it just stops if you take your foot off it, blades will continue to turn,; So you don't have to "pick a speed" and stay at that... but they do have a "cruise" button that can move it along at a constant speed... I did not use it because I was too much on and off to take care of all the thick grass and the brushy stuff I was mowing off....

I ran the 6 batteries out in about 2 1/2 hours I guess... getting used to having to push down the brake to turn off the blades and switch to reverse... a little lever on the panel... and you HAVE to push down on the brake to engage the blades with the pull/push button to engage the PTO for the blades... so it was a bit of a trial and error to remember the steps... but overall... it really went pretty good.

I had taken some allergy pills earlier so at least I was not suffering from that. I got about done as far as I wanted when the PTO would not engage the blades... and then looked and there was less than 12% left... enough to be able to drive it to a normal place to stop (like the garage or something)...

So I am impressed so far. I mowed with the blades at the HIGHEST setting because of the amount of overgrown from last year"s dead grass, and this years growth and all... Hopefully I will keep up with it better.
BUT, I still don't like mowing the grass..... But.. this will get it done better and faster... and then I can go along the porch and tighter places with the smaller self-propelled one/ and or the weed eater. There are things that I see I need to pick up and move and some branches that came down out of the grey birches that need to go to the garden... but now I can "find things" without tripping through all the tall grass...

So I just brought the batteries in to start charging... and started to feel a few sprinkles... went out and got the clothes off the line and they feel pretty dry... I will make sure the jeans are spread out in the house to get all the seams dry if they aren't. I wasn't going to fiddle with them, right at that minute. We are getting a little bit of a shower, and radar looks like it will keep up for several hours with heavier rain later this afternoon.

I also got some more bulbs planted in another planter... several bags of papers to burn in the car to take out to the garden since the batteries need charging on the tractor so can't pull the wagon right now. That's okay...

Hoping/planning to try burning the brush this evening... Ought to be enough dampness/rain to keep it from going anywhere...
I have the hose all hooked up and have plenty of length for it... Got 2 more big feed bags of junk mail/paper waste to take out to burn it too...
Then I can get the garden plowed... have a couple piles of small rocks in the garden that I want to pick up before they plow/till it... he should be able to just go through and till it since it will be burnt off of most all the trash and dead stuff... I see a bunch of potato plants sprouted along the edge where I had those last left over potatoes last year that I stuck down the one side and just covered with mulch.... and couldn't find them all to get them dug. Will probably just leave them and then try to do a better job this fall to get them dug.

So, pretty productive day I think. I hear a few rumbles of thunder, which they said we might have... and radar is showing some heavier rain coming this way in the next 2-3 hours.

Just ate a sandwich and took another allergy pill since I am getting a runny nose and itchy eyes... Will go up to the calves early and feed the bottles then I can be home to burn this brush.

 

[farmerjan]

Okay, I guess that I will write off "fire bug" as a future profession.... I have not been able to get the brush pile fire to keep burning... gasoline and all.... finally gave up as it is smoldering out... I will watch it more, but it would get to burning a patch and then just die down to nothing.... and I am not real thrilled with using gas, but it would flare up and burn real good and then just fizzle down to next to nothing. I did not want to be out there in the dark and maybe trip or fall with a cup of gas in my hand either... I put gas on several spots and it got going and flared up high and then didn't last. The pile is a little spread out... and alot of "air" under the branches and such...
Mentioned to DS about burning it and he said maybe he could help me tonight... well, that "fizzled" before it even happened... so I tried starting it with some 50 lb feed bags of paper and stuff from the house and they burned some, but not like I thought. Got a section to burn some and thought it might catch and go on... but it just went to smoldering, and then with the gas, it would flare way up and then die right back down... the pile is not "dense" enough.. so will need me to really keep after it I guess.
It was getting too dark and some more sprinkles... not really "raining" by any means... no wind... perfect night to do it.
I guess in the morning, I will see how much might have smoldered/burned overnight... and go from there... I was so afraid of a HUGE Bonfire type thing... and most of what I got was a flare and then smoke.... I will go out and check it again... but honestly not thinking it will do anything with no wind. .

So I am in... going to do up the dishes and go to bed after I go out and check it one more time. Can't believe I couldn't get a better fire than that... and Yes, I was a girl scout and had no problem with fires on camp outs and such. Got the hose and everything out there and all ready for any problems...

Oh well... I see that @Ridgetop has been looking at and liking posts... but no posts of her own on the trip and the sheep getting there.. hope it went okay...

 

[farmerjan]

No fire overnight... pile still most all right there.... UGH...

Headed up to do calves and then back to house. It is cloudy, grey, dreary... Forecast is saying some clearing off with possible more showers this aft/eve....

 

[canesisters]

Okay, I guess that I will write off "fire bug" as a future profession.... I have not been able to get the brush pile fire to keep burning... gasoline and all.... finally gave up as it is smoldering out... I will watch it more, but it would get to burning a patch and then just die down to nothing.... and I am not real thrilled with using gas, but it would flare up and burn real good and then just fizzle down to next to nothing. I did not want to be out there in the dark and maybe trip or fall with a cup of gas in my hand either... I put gas on several spots and it got going and flared up high and then didn't last. The pile is a little spread out... and alot of "air" under the branches and such...
Mentioned to DS about burning it and he said maybe he could help me tonight... well, that "fizzled" before it even happened... so I tried starting it with some 50 lb feed bags of paper and stuff from the house and they burned some, but not like I thought. Got a section to burn some and thought it might catch and go on... but it just went to smoldering, and then with the gas, it would flare way up and then die right back down... the pile is not "dense" enough.. so will need me to really keep after it I guess.
It was getting too dark and some more sprinkles... not really "raining" by any means... no wind... perfect night to do it.
I guess in the morning, I will see how much might have smoldered/burned overnight... and go from there... I was so afraid of a HUGE Bonfire type thing... and most of what I got was a flare and then smoke.... I will go out and check it again... but honestly not thinking it will do anything with no wind. .

So I am in... going to do up the dishes and go to bed after I go out and check it one more time. Can't believe I couldn't get a better fire than that... and Yes, I was a girl scout and had no problem with fires on camp outs and such. Got the hose and everything out there and all ready for any problems...

Oh well... I see that @Ridgetop has been looking at and liking posts... but no posts of her own on the trip and the sheep getting there.. hope it went okay...

Was it just too wet????
Maybe try again after we haven't had several days of showers. I burned my year old pile & had to keep hosing down the back half to slow it down (it got BIG fast & scared me!).
Or maybe it knew you weren't properly prepared with hotdogs & smores???

 

[farmerjan]

. Thank you @canesisters . That must have been the reason... no hot dogs, no s'mores... just me and the hose and all prepared to keep it to a dull roar...

Did calves and came on back and my allergies are kicking up a fuss.... didn't think they would be bad this morning with the rain, but they are, so must be more pollen in the air than I thought. Just took something so will have to wait for about 20 min-half hour for them to calm down.

Eating some lunch and have some things that I ought to do. I just realized that the outback needs inspection....hide last month)... so need to get that done soon before I get stopped, and the explorer is in May so need to do that.
It is clouds and sun out and the temps are a comfortable 76. I like that temp range...

We only got .1 inch rain out of that yesterday aft and evening... so not much. Going to go out and water down the planters I put in yesterday since they need more than that to barely wet the soil. At least the plants out of the greenhouse got their leaves washed off of the dust...

The after 4 p.m. burn ban is off so I might go out and see if I can get the pile started again. As soon as my eyes stop itching...