Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[CntryBoy777]

I'd probably cut a round from a sheet of plywood or 2 and then paint a smiley face on it and erect it on her side of the tower so she could enjoy the "view" even more....something like this.... ....

Glad ya have the $$ in the bank and everything can proceed forward....ya can breathe when ya get a closing date and hope ya get notified Soon....

 

[farmerjan]

Yeah, this waiting is ...... no news is good news for me though, as far as the house goes.

Today was muggy, some sun then clouds then some sprinkles. I did the cow, did not get the water hauled, then had to leave to go see about chickens. He texted me and said there were some nice ones in the one house.... but they had a disaster in the other house. Lost a whole bunch as they went crazy when they raised the feed line up and the stupid chickens flew against the side of the building and started to pile up. They suffocate themselves..... anyway, nothing I could do except to look at all the wasted dead birds. So I caught up the one house and went into the other house and found a bunch of small ones that were laying amongst the dead ones, hard to find them. Got all I could see/find.. Spent some time just sitting and watching and all of a sudden one would put it's head up... then would find 2 or 3 there in their little spot like they were hiding. All told I think that I took 53 off the truck. A couple they missed as they were nearly killing size so will be huge when the rest are ready to do.....a couple don't look so good out in the light so will probably lose some like normal. But overall, for the most part they look decent.
Took nearly 2 hours to catch them all up, and I stopped for a few bags of feed before I went there, so was gone about 4+ hours total. Got them unloaded, then took the feed up and put in the cans at the barn.
I am hoping that the poultry swap will be this Sept that I go to, so I can sell a bunch of them live. It will be about 6 weeks from now , so they ought to have some good size. Got to catch up with the other guy in mid Aug.....as I think they will be going out around the 2nd week of Sept maybe. All depends on how soon they put birds back in the one house, after that virus they had and the house spraying/cleaning/sanitizing....
It rained pretty good while in the one house... luckily it only sprinkled here and he finished baling the one field that he didn't get done in the dark last night. It was pretty nice and only had a sprinkle on it. The trash field got wetter, but I don't care.... I would just as soon go over it with the bush hog and be done. He can do what he wants with it as I don't want all those weed seeds in the pastures and the briars and junk.
Tomorrow I will haul a load of water up the hill when I go to do the cow, then come back to get cleaned up for PT at 11:15. Then all according to what it is like out. will go to town, go to Walmart for a few things..... and one of the paint chip colors I really liked is walmarts, so might just get the paint made up. It will keep, but then I will have it. Going to get white for all the ceilings, think I can get it cheaper at Rural King in a 5 gal bucket.... the more I look at these paint chip papers, the worse it gets..... the one room that is going to be the bedroom downstairs, is purple/lavender.... probably going to take 2 coats of paint to cover it.... I want a pale blue for it.... a soft yellow for the kitchen, maybe a soft green or a tan for the living room. Might do the kitchen and bathroom in the same yellow.... get semi gloss for easier wiping down.
Haven't been to look at the bathtubs he has yet.... the one is not a clawfoot but an older (deeper) regular bathtub.... but I can't remember which side the drain is on in the bathroom.... has to be the right side for the solid part of the tub to be "out" ..... maybe tomorrow I will try to look at them....

Calling for 40-50-60% chance of rain right through the 24th..... don't think we will be doing any more hay for a week. Of Course, they change the forecast regularly..... Got a farm to test on Sat that son is going to help. Then next tues have meter calibration and they have to all be taken apart and made sure they are clean inside around the little O rings....can do about 4 per hour if I do them right....have 26 so at least 5-6 hours work sun, & mon,..... another reason to retire and stop all that aggravation..... Gotta get the house bought first....and a few things done.... before I do anything to decrease my income.
I am giving some thought to putting in a small raspberry patch and maybe having them to sell for a little extra income. One of those things that will require a little work to start, then some upkeep.... but raspberries are expensive, and it is a short season so wouldn't have to deal with the public for a long period of time. There are several varieties, and I love red raspberries...... could have red, black, and the gold ones. Can always freeze them if they don't sell.... I like raspberries better than blackberries and they both grow wild around here lots of places, but the raspberries are not as available and the wild ones are small as a rule.
Just one of those things that has been going through my mind. I stink from being in the chicken houses... so am headed for the shower now that I am in for the night.
Notice that it seems to be getting darker a little earlier already....more than half the year is gone....

 

[farmerjan]

You know, I got to thinking when I was getting them off the truck..... if I get an average 20 out of each house..... that's 40 every 2 months....that's 240 a year. So say I only get 20 every 2 months that live and get to butcher size. That's still over 100 (120) a year. And I don't get them in the cold weather as they are used to heat and I am not going to be putting heat on them.... at least not this year with the possible knee replacements. So say I get and raise 60-70 a year.... think of how many are "wasted" in the hundreds of houses just in this area.....
Like I said, the friend here close said there were over 200 left the time before and they were pretty nice.... I will definitely be on the list as I am thinking that there could be alot of things like hot dogs that the meat can get mixed into, and I can quietly let friends have hot dogs and stuff from the ground chicken..... Doesn't cost all that much to feed them with them going outside. Going to set up the hog panels so they can go out into the somewhat wooded areas during the day.... there are too many to be in this pen for more than a week or so, all the time, until they get oriented to where the feed and water is. And so I can see if there is any of the foxes or anything else around. They will still get locked in at night.

But that is alot of chickens that could get utilized..... not killed and wasted. Sure some aren't worth keeping, luckily they seem to die within a week or 2 with the change... but still.... already past the brooder/heat stage, basically half grown.... we waste alot in this country.

 

[farmerjan]

I'd probably cut a round from a sheet of plywood or 2 and then paint a smiley face on it and erect it on her side of the tower so she could enjoy the "view" even more....something like this.... ....

Glad ya have the $$ in the bank and everything can proceed forward....ya can breathe when ya get a closing date and hope ya get notified Soon....

My son wants to paint a confederate flag on the roof of his barn that faces her house when this all gets done.... remember we are transplanted Yankees, but her comment about how " all you southerners just hate us Yankees that come here because we have more money to spend and you can't afford to buy up surrounding land......and you want to try to overcharge us to do work for us and things like make our hay....." they were trying to get us to lower the price we wanted to charge to bale her hay several years ago.....they had already had 3 different people to make their hay and no one would go back in there a second year.....So a Smiley just would be too nice for that witch......

 

[CntryBoy777]

Just switch from a thumb to another fanger.... ....nothin' else is more southern than that....I was born, bred, and raised southern, so have sperience on that issue....

 

[Mini Horses]

I'd make one with it's tongue sticking out.....Just to aggravate her and her good Yankee $$$. Yep, even a big old roll of hay....paint it on there!

 

[Mini Horses]

But that is alot of chickens that could get utilized..... not killed and wasted. Sure some aren't worth keeping, luckily they seem to die within a week or 2 with the change... but still.... already past the brooder/heat stage, basically half grown.... we waste alot in this country.

AMEN to that !!

When I went to FL each month (25 yrs back) the crop farmers there would let people go in an scrounge the fields once harvest was done.
So a lot of the green tomatoes left had begun to turn....smaller potatoes, etc. were available for good use. Some actually pulled these veggies to a front lot for people to get. Nice gesture.

Geesh -- a LONG time ago. I must be aging? I used to scrap corn fields for my chickens but the new equipment doesn't miss enough!!

 

[farmerjan]

I will bet she is having a conniption fit with the road/drive going in, and all the work done to remove that grove of trees. The guys have piled all the brush and crappy trees in a huge pile on top of where they cleared to be burnt. Then they will put the good topsoil they take off the roadway on top of it to spread it out and finish.... instead of piling the top soil then moving it again to cover and finish this spot. There is a couple of pieces of ledge that we will have to mow around but gives back nearly all that they are "taking" for the road. They cut off and piled all the "good wood".... logs and such, from the clearing in a nice sized pile of logs to be cut in the future.... so if I get a wood burning furnace outside, I will be able to buy the wood from my son, cut up into the size I need. He had them pile the useable stuff so he could sell it in the future. So I can buy it, just as easy. Don't expect him to give it to me for nothing when I haven't done any of the work and it will have to be worked into useable lengths anyway.

Yeah, @Mini Horses , I used to go around and pick up ears of corn for the chickens and the hogs from a few of my farmers fields too. You could get several 5 gal buckets in no time. Partly because the old machines were pulled behind the tractors and they would run over a row or so going around corners. It was accepted that there would be some loss. Today, most everyone here has someone come in custom and they use a harvestor that is "self-propelled" with the driver/farmer sitting right on top of the chopper basically.... so they are not offset and there is very little lost on the corners and such. Better for the farmer for sure. Most feel that it is worth having a custom harvester at least "open the field" as they call it, and then do their own chopping where they then have the outside rows gone so it makes turning and such so much easier. Today, so many are just paying to have their whole chopping and combining done custom.... a couple of days it is done, in the silo or the bags or the grain bins..... sure it is a cost, but the crews have enough people to do it all, you are not having to fit it inbetween normal farming chores, and you don't have all that expensive equipment sitting around for 8-10 months when you only use it for 2 or 3. That is why the crews travel so far.... different timing different places and different crops means they can operate this equipment for 6-12 months a year and it justifies the humongous payments that they make.
Neat that the farmers in Fla used to allow people to glean the surplus/small/missed things.

 

[farmerjan]

Hey, I made the offer on SS, our sister site, but if anyone is having trouble finding some of the things they need for canning, I will be glad to see if I can find it here and send it for just costs. The Walmarts are not having much of anything but the smaller stores here have many things still. I have not wanted to get anymore than necessary ahead due to the hopefully soon moving.... but I am stocking up a bit just to be safe. Just send me a PM and I will see if I can find it. Lids, rings and lids, pickling salt, stuff like that.

I saw a pickup truck with a PALLET of canning jars going down the road yesterday.... all wrapped in the plastic wrap they put around a pallet of stuff.... and strapped down tight. Must've ordered it and when it came in they came and got it to take to somewhere that needs it.
I do see that Rural King has a special on pint jars....7.99 a dozen. so they must have enough.

 

[Mini Horses]

Yeah, good for farmer! I do like that BUT -- sure miss the free corn. I'm looking at 12 acres right beside me -- unless they get a heavy rain shortly before harvest, won't get one 5 gal bucket there. I say rains because there is a really sizeable low area in one back corner of the field which cannot be driven thru then. Of course the crop is not as vibrant there, so combined issues and they leave about 1/2-3/4 acre untouched. On other side of me there's probably 75 acres of corn. They have similar lows...I'm in middle & high, these low areas are to the far corners of each of their acreages.. I'm sure fretting over the potential of free feed. Heck, I can take my mower and pull cart into both with ease.

Years (and years!) back they'd cut & then stop to pipe the kernels into a truck. If you got lucky, there would be a pile of just kernels at those site. Bonus!.

Ahhhh, memories!