Well after weeks and weeks of rain, it has finally been sunny for more than two days consecutively. Unfortunately that spells the end of my summer idleness (well, semi-idleness) and back to the salt mines. We managed to rake and bale 25 acres of hay yesterday, that has lain on the water logged ground for more than two weeks. It was surprisingly green underneath and looks like it might make decent feed. The confusing part of the whole day came when I arrived in the field to go to work and there sat my trusty old white tractor and chain baler....the ones I was feeling like I was cheating on...by coveting the new baler we bought last year and the new tractor that will arrive in a couple of weeks. hahahaha I didn't think I would have to run those two pieces of equipment again...they being demoted in leu of the new equipment, Robert would be running them, which was to be a huge step up from his old equipment...that he insisted on still using...
Roberts reason for us using these old machines, they are lighter, bigger floatation tires and field ready....so I spent the day clutching with my left leg (the one with the broken ankle that hasn't healed well) and my arthritic hand, that today is swollen to twice it's normal size from the strain I put on it yesterday while baling. I keep telling him I am used up and spit out but he turns a deaf ear and puts me to work...
so while I slaved away out there in that old equipment, here at home sat a year old baler with a ton of newer features that make baling way easier than the old baler...and a brand new loaner tractor that you can drive and not have to push the clutch 2000 times a day in.... it just didn't make sense to me...but what do I know....I'm just the dumb smuck that does what she's told....but he'll be sorry I think....when I do finally get to retire...I will be so crippled up that he will have to push me around in a wheel chair, and wipe my shitty ass.
More baling today, if the weather holds...it sounds like we will be getting a touch more rain this week...oh yay...Why the hell not...the ground is saturated now and it just pools in the low spots, we are having to drive around them..it is quite the mess...
Finally got my damn camera to work...
Splendor
July 18, 2011
July 14, 2011
Frustrated
I have been sporadically trying to get this new camera to work...I might have finally managed to figure out the picture quality issue but then couldn't get the pictures to show up on the computer grrrrrrr Thanks to my in family computer whiz...(Jen) I got that problem solved now to. So why don't I have pictures up on my blog... hahahhaah good question...it might have something to do with the shitty quality ....I am back to square one in that regard. Today I am going to do some radical experimentation with it and if that isn't the answer then it's going on ebay...or kijiji....ahhahaha I need to have a camera that takes awesome pictures...it is imperative to my phsyci....I see a lot of beautiful things about me and need to have pictures of them to later refer to when I want to turn that beautiful thing into a painting.
I dreamt about bats last night...my niece Kim got one in her hair and had to have her head shaved...and in support of her I had Robert shave my head...only he didn't do it right. WTF... how the hell can you screw up head shaving I don't know... but it turned out all funky and weird...and thankfully I woke up just as my fingers were closing around his throat...hahahahha just kidding... I wasn't trying to throttle him in my dreams...
I just glanced out the window and am shocked...I see blue sky and it's so bright out there my eyes are watering...I feel like a mole coming out of the ground for the first time in spring.the light is blinding.
I am not sure which of my outside projects I will tackle first... maybe just a walk about to begin with, assess the damage of 40+ days of rain.... I am seriously thinking about hoisting the old red canoe down from the rafters of the machine shed, evicting what ever has set up house in it and taking a turn about the lake south of the house...I want to take pictures of the baby ducks ....
So I am heading outside for a bit....the wind is even blowing...yahoooooo
![]()
that should thin the mosquito's down a bit
I dreamt about bats last night...my niece Kim got one in her hair and had to have her head shaved...and in support of her I had Robert shave my head...only he didn't do it right. WTF... how the hell can you screw up head shaving I don't know... but it turned out all funky and weird...and thankfully I woke up just as my fingers were closing around his throat...hahahahha just kidding... I wasn't trying to throttle him in my dreams...
I just glanced out the window and am shocked...I see blue sky and it's so bright out there my eyes are watering...I feel like a mole coming out of the ground for the first time in spring.the light is blinding.
I am not sure which of my outside projects I will tackle first... maybe just a walk about to begin with, assess the damage of 40+ days of rain.... I am seriously thinking about hoisting the old red canoe down from the rafters of the machine shed, evicting what ever has set up house in it and taking a turn about the lake south of the house...I want to take pictures of the baby ducks ....
So I am heading outside for a bit....the wind is even blowing...yahoooooo
July 13, 2011
INCREDIBLE
The weather we have had this past month and a half has been so polar opposite of the pattern we have been in previous years that we are somewhat baffled as to how to handle it. Our first inclination is to just wait it out, sooner or later the rain will cease and we can get to work but 42 days into the monsoon season and there is barely a glimmer of hope as to that happening. The moment it heats up and the sun comes out we can probably expect some severe storms, what with all the humidity now. It is 98 % outside and 89 % in the house, ya that's right ICKY and sticky. Rain hasn't actually fallen from the sky in nearly two days but water is seeping out of everywhere and the lawn is saturated...We had 6 inches of rain in June and so far in July nearly 7 inches more...and still half a month to go. Good Grief..
I quickly ran over the heavier parts of the lawn today, my mower gliding through standing water...but if I don't cut it while it's wet, and wait until it is dryer it will to be too tall for the mower to cut and that spells disaster..because anything bigger will make ruts on the lawn.
Some people may think I am a bit too anal about my yard..but to me it is a sanctuary of loveliness, a buffer between our house and the general ugliness of a functioning farm. So I like my yard to be immaculate, no junk lying about, no manure, no weeds or ruts from the tractor.
I picked a few tiny zucchini's and tomatoes from the garden today but I nearly had to call for help to get myself back out, the soil is so wet it sucked my feet in like quicksand. Ha, even the deer last night tried to walk across it and after only a few steps, thought better of it and turned back. Time to put the 8 ft fence up around the garden...or I will lose all my carrots to the deer again this year.
I am at my whits end as to what to do about Riley the chocolate lab, pulling all my flowers off the plants. He has especially been bothering the planters I have, that by the way are just gorgeous this year, flowers cascading over the rims of the pots and I come home to flowers and petals littering the sidewalk and a bald plant.. I am afraid to put Tabasco sauce or pepper on them for fear of attracting the other dog Owen, he eats anything that comes from the house...and so far he does Not bother my flowers...so I am thinking of getting some of that animal repellent... but for now as a last resort I have placed the planters on top of the big boulders by our house, where he will have to go quite a ways out of his way to get at them...it looks a bit ridiculous but so far it's doing the trick.
I am just now recovering from a real shock to my system, I got this morning when I went down to get my mower out of its shed...as I approached the sliding doors I could hear a squeaking noise and scratching so I looked around, thinking it was BATS. We have a family of bats that live here and help us with mosquito control...and I have not, as yet got around to building them a bat house...but it is next on my list of things to do. Any way, the bats sometimes roost, squeezed in between the two rolling doors of this shed. They like the snugness I guess, and I have on other occasions rolled the doors and had a bat or two fall out on the ground by my feet...some of them get injured and I always feel bad about hurting them...so I was leery about this noise and went back to the house to tell Robert about it...he was coming down to put gas in the mower anyway so he hopped onto a barrel inside the shed (gaining entry through the one door that was partially opened at the far end of the shed..) He said there was a birds nest up there...and that he could, HE THOUGHT, baby birds crawling along the soffit...HAHAHAHAHA so I am standing about ten feet away...and he comes back out, grabs the door that is closing off entry to my mower and rolls it open....WELLLLLLLLL... this big thing, flew out from between the two doors, heading right for me....I mean seriously, it flew right at me...I was, apparently, screaming in a deep gurgly voice (but that's another story) and it was no damned baby bird....it was an adult brown bat....big and fat. When it was about a foot away and still hadn't veered away I put my hand up to swat it away and just as it turned away, my hand brushed against it.....ewwwwww.... and it latched onto the sleeve of my shirt...so there I was, gurgling like a little girl with laryngitis, waving my arm in the air to dislodge the bat and jumping up and down... it was the most exercise I have gotten in a couple of weeks....Robert (it all happened so fast that he barely caught a glimpse of it) rushed out of the quad shed just in time to see me throw my hat into the brambles beside the shed.....I had used my other hand to grab my hat and brush the bat off my arm...and it grabbed a hold of my hat so the hat and the bat went sailing into the raspberry canes and tall grass...the last I saw of my hat it was resting on top of a raspberry cane and the bat was flying towards an old chicken house.....ewwwwwwwww. It took nearly an hour of steady mowing before my heart stopped beating so fast. I am not usually afraid of bats when I am prepared for encounters but that was just a bit too close for comfort.... Any way, I got a hug out of it, Robert was so amused at my reaction that he was still chuckling about it a while later when he drove out of the yard on his quad.
I am now going to print plans off the internet for a bat house....
I quickly ran over the heavier parts of the lawn today, my mower gliding through standing water...but if I don't cut it while it's wet, and wait until it is dryer it will to be too tall for the mower to cut and that spells disaster..because anything bigger will make ruts on the lawn.
Some people may think I am a bit too anal about my yard..but to me it is a sanctuary of loveliness, a buffer between our house and the general ugliness of a functioning farm. So I like my yard to be immaculate, no junk lying about, no manure, no weeds or ruts from the tractor.
I picked a few tiny zucchini's and tomatoes from the garden today but I nearly had to call for help to get myself back out, the soil is so wet it sucked my feet in like quicksand. Ha, even the deer last night tried to walk across it and after only a few steps, thought better of it and turned back. Time to put the 8 ft fence up around the garden...or I will lose all my carrots to the deer again this year.
I am at my whits end as to what to do about Riley the chocolate lab, pulling all my flowers off the plants. He has especially been bothering the planters I have, that by the way are just gorgeous this year, flowers cascading over the rims of the pots and I come home to flowers and petals littering the sidewalk and a bald plant.. I am afraid to put Tabasco sauce or pepper on them for fear of attracting the other dog Owen, he eats anything that comes from the house...and so far he does Not bother my flowers...so I am thinking of getting some of that animal repellent... but for now as a last resort I have placed the planters on top of the big boulders by our house, where he will have to go quite a ways out of his way to get at them...it looks a bit ridiculous but so far it's doing the trick.
I am just now recovering from a real shock to my system, I got this morning when I went down to get my mower out of its shed...as I approached the sliding doors I could hear a squeaking noise and scratching so I looked around, thinking it was BATS. We have a family of bats that live here and help us with mosquito control...and I have not, as yet got around to building them a bat house...but it is next on my list of things to do. Any way, the bats sometimes roost, squeezed in between the two rolling doors of this shed. They like the snugness I guess, and I have on other occasions rolled the doors and had a bat or two fall out on the ground by my feet...some of them get injured and I always feel bad about hurting them...so I was leery about this noise and went back to the house to tell Robert about it...he was coming down to put gas in the mower anyway so he hopped onto a barrel inside the shed (gaining entry through the one door that was partially opened at the far end of the shed..) He said there was a birds nest up there...and that he could, HE THOUGHT, baby birds crawling along the soffit...HAHAHAHAHA so I am standing about ten feet away...and he comes back out, grabs the door that is closing off entry to my mower and rolls it open....WELLLLLLLLL... this big thing, flew out from between the two doors, heading right for me....I mean seriously, it flew right at me...I was, apparently, screaming in a deep gurgly voice (but that's another story) and it was no damned baby bird....it was an adult brown bat....big and fat. When it was about a foot away and still hadn't veered away I put my hand up to swat it away and just as it turned away, my hand brushed against it.....ewwwwww.... and it latched onto the sleeve of my shirt...so there I was, gurgling like a little girl with laryngitis, waving my arm in the air to dislodge the bat and jumping up and down... it was the most exercise I have gotten in a couple of weeks....Robert (it all happened so fast that he barely caught a glimpse of it) rushed out of the quad shed just in time to see me throw my hat into the brambles beside the shed.....I had used my other hand to grab my hat and brush the bat off my arm...and it grabbed a hold of my hat so the hat and the bat went sailing into the raspberry canes and tall grass...the last I saw of my hat it was resting on top of a raspberry cane and the bat was flying towards an old chicken house.....ewwwwwwwww. It took nearly an hour of steady mowing before my heart stopped beating so fast. I am not usually afraid of bats when I am prepared for encounters but that was just a bit too close for comfort.... Any way, I got a hug out of it, Robert was so amused at my reaction that he was still chuckling about it a while later when he drove out of the yard on his quad.
I am now going to print plans off the internet for a bat house....
July 3, 2011
Oh, the Indignity
I have been working feverishly to get my projects done, with some success I must say. My Hydrant shed is complete except for the metal roofing which on order. Yesterday I painted my fake windows...another coat tomorrow and they should be complete as well, ready to be hung. The lawn growth has slowed a bit , giving me time to breath between mowing. I hoed the garden two days ago and need to go over it again to get control of the blasted chickweed. It is rampant this summer with all the rain. It is Roberts job to hill the potatoes but I will run the small cultivator up and down the rows to loosen the soil and make it easier for him..
I am in a bit of a fix, medically wise.. I went for blood tests last week and my specialist in the city phoned and left a message about the results...normally it should be the family doctor that does that but mine is semi-retired and only in the clinic 1 day per month...so the specialist is aghast at some of the numbers on these tests and after explaining how bad they are, tells me to see my family doctor and get these issues resolved....uhhhhhh there in lies the problem, I phone immediately after getting that message and the soonest I can see my Doctor is September 17. So I decided I need to change doctors, to one that isn't retired...I ask for an appointment two different doctors...with much the same results...Jly 29th was one opening or Aug 22 for the other...the earlier appointment was with a doctor new to Canada from south Africa, and is very hard to understand or he was the last time I was forced to see him, perhaps his accent has diminished since then....and the august appointment is with a lady doctor that I swore I would sooner gouged my eyes out with a tea spoon than ever go to again.... SO ya, spoiled for choice aren't I...
I would just ignore all the problems but two of them are or could become serious issues..and I, contrary to what I may bluster on about, am not ready to die or spend what's left of my life hooked up to a machine...
My thyroid is totally dead it would appear, the numbers so badly out of whack in spite my gargantuan dose of thyroid med....Robert wants me to see a thyroid specialist. At this point, what the hell, why not.
My blood sugar is just berserk...I have had two low blood sugar episodes in June alone...and numerous spikes where it is through the roof ...okay, I admit to not being religious about what I eat...but we don't eat crap, I take my meds. and get lots of outside activity...but where I struggle is to match the food intake to my activity level....when I eat smaller meals and go outside...I tend to be out longer than I should and work to hard....I start getting confused...my hands might get shaky and if I am stubborn and don't go in right that moment..my knees get weak and I get dizzy... when I do go in and test my blood it has been as low as 2.4 but I start to feel weird at about 4.0...
I suspect the gliclicide they have me on is responsible...and that I should be taking more than just that...Metformin nearly killed me when I took it, I had such a bad reaction but they must have a different drug that performs the same task....So I need to have a serious sit down and hash it out talk with my doctor and I think be referred to a diabetic specialist... I know that most of the responsibility falls on me to do what I need to....and I am struggling with making the changes to my lifestyle...like carrying a grocery store on my back..so that I am never far away from food...but I have been conditioned to thinking that eating that much food is what made me so fat...that I have a hard time with the whole snacking thing...and then there is the working thing...the work I do is very physically demanding....carrying, pushing, hammering, bending, lots of walking , so that the bowl of cereal I had for breakfast doesn't last that long...and then the next day...I might sit in the tractor all day and the most strenuous thing I do is climbing in the tractor...but on the days when I am active...Once I get started doing the work...I am reluctant to stop and go to the house for a snack....and once I have low blood sugar, and I have to eat, I have a hard time to feel satisfied..and I tend to over eat...which makes the blood sugar go through the roof...it is a roller coaster.
On different note, our friends Barb and Norm have moved away, they sold their farm and moved to Airdrie....closer to Calgary...to a mid unit Town house...BOY !!!! what a dramatic change... I know I would never make that kind of change in my life... I am all for selling the farm but I would prefer to move to an acreage closer to the city...so there is less driving time to get anywhere but still maintain some of our privacy and space...a yard to tinker in. Robert and I have plans for retirement that include, landscaping, and beautification of our large yard, walking trails through our property, a bit of travel if the budget allows, but a whole lot more free time to visit family.
He talks about it a bit now, like it is actually going to happen, he even puts a time frame on it...with in seven to ten years...and that is without me begging...I can see changes in him the past year, he is feeling a bit older...not as unflaggingly energetic...like he used to be...the winter bothers him the most.. The cold, since he is outside for 12hours a day, and the muck and mud in the spring.. carrying hundreds of pails of grain this spring just plain wore him out. He takes pain killers a lot more than he used to ...for his hip and back...
Well we will get to use our new tractor for a few years before we sell out...it should maintain a good resale value, being a John Deere...hahahahaha at least we hope so.
I just have to go off into a bit of a rant here for one second....how in the hell, when we have had 6 inches of rain in the month of June, can we have a grasshopper problem...I've said it before and I'll say it again, there is no GOD. I thought grasshoppers were only an issue when it was dry...but apparently NOT. because we have grasshoppers, thousands and thousands of the little creepy bastards in our hay fields and crop...just Jim fucking dandy.
I have a sore butt today....yesterday when I was in the barn with the big doors jammed open, painting my fake windows...the mosquito's were swarming me and I could hardly stand still they were biting me through my pants...which were over 12 years old and the material is paper thin...which is why I like them on a hot day, they are cool....but no protection from blood thirsty insects...so I rushed to the office part of the barn and grabbed a nearly empty can of bug repellent from by the door...It wasn't OFF or Muskol....it was some product called REPEL, our ex-friend Rick must have left here once...so I spray my legs and butt and shoulders with it...barely enough in the can to do the job...went back to painting and not even 15 minutes later my butt is on fire...so much so I can barely stand it...the other places I sprayed it, the material of my pants and shirt were thick enough that it didn't make contact with my skin...but on my butt, where the material is super thin from wear....I got a rash....and blisters...yup....super.... I endured until I finished my paint job but my ass was so inflamed by then I had to nearly crawl to the house...it was the longest 100 yards of my life it seemed....walking carefully with baby steps, so as not to pull the skin of my buttocks at all.... I hit the shower the moment I was inside...which burned like a son of a bitch...and left me gasping against the wall of the shower....but after it brought some small relief... I put on a sun dress. The most humiliating part came when I had to ask Robert to take a look and treat it with polysporin...I couldn't stay still...it stung and tickled all at the same time... Oh My God, how the hell does shit like this happen to me....
Robert went to the barn and got the can...read the label...it says can cause severe skin irritation in rare cases.....hahahahhahahahahahah figures... I would have been slightly happier if it had reacted to the skin on my leg rather than my butt. since it makes sitting an agony...and I am currently typing this post, standing up...hahahahahah
I am in a bit of a fix, medically wise.. I went for blood tests last week and my specialist in the city phoned and left a message about the results...normally it should be the family doctor that does that but mine is semi-retired and only in the clinic 1 day per month...so the specialist is aghast at some of the numbers on these tests and after explaining how bad they are, tells me to see my family doctor and get these issues resolved....uhhhhhh there in lies the problem, I phone immediately after getting that message and the soonest I can see my Doctor is September 17. So I decided I need to change doctors, to one that isn't retired...I ask for an appointment two different doctors...with much the same results...Jly 29th was one opening or Aug 22 for the other...the earlier appointment was with a doctor new to Canada from south Africa, and is very hard to understand or he was the last time I was forced to see him, perhaps his accent has diminished since then....and the august appointment is with a lady doctor that I swore I would sooner gouged my eyes out with a tea spoon than ever go to again.... SO ya, spoiled for choice aren't I...
I would just ignore all the problems but two of them are or could become serious issues..and I, contrary to what I may bluster on about, am not ready to die or spend what's left of my life hooked up to a machine...
My thyroid is totally dead it would appear, the numbers so badly out of whack in spite my gargantuan dose of thyroid med....Robert wants me to see a thyroid specialist. At this point, what the hell, why not.
My blood sugar is just berserk...I have had two low blood sugar episodes in June alone...and numerous spikes where it is through the roof ...okay, I admit to not being religious about what I eat...but we don't eat crap, I take my meds. and get lots of outside activity...but where I struggle is to match the food intake to my activity level....when I eat smaller meals and go outside...I tend to be out longer than I should and work to hard....I start getting confused...my hands might get shaky and if I am stubborn and don't go in right that moment..my knees get weak and I get dizzy... when I do go in and test my blood it has been as low as 2.4 but I start to feel weird at about 4.0...
I suspect the gliclicide they have me on is responsible...and that I should be taking more than just that...Metformin nearly killed me when I took it, I had such a bad reaction but they must have a different drug that performs the same task....So I need to have a serious sit down and hash it out talk with my doctor and I think be referred to a diabetic specialist... I know that most of the responsibility falls on me to do what I need to....and I am struggling with making the changes to my lifestyle...like carrying a grocery store on my back..so that I am never far away from food...but I have been conditioned to thinking that eating that much food is what made me so fat...that I have a hard time with the whole snacking thing...and then there is the working thing...the work I do is very physically demanding....carrying, pushing, hammering, bending, lots of walking , so that the bowl of cereal I had for breakfast doesn't last that long...and then the next day...I might sit in the tractor all day and the most strenuous thing I do is climbing in the tractor...but on the days when I am active...Once I get started doing the work...I am reluctant to stop and go to the house for a snack....and once I have low blood sugar, and I have to eat, I have a hard time to feel satisfied..and I tend to over eat...which makes the blood sugar go through the roof...it is a roller coaster.
On different note, our friends Barb and Norm have moved away, they sold their farm and moved to Airdrie....closer to Calgary...to a mid unit Town house...BOY !!!! what a dramatic change... I know I would never make that kind of change in my life... I am all for selling the farm but I would prefer to move to an acreage closer to the city...so there is less driving time to get anywhere but still maintain some of our privacy and space...a yard to tinker in. Robert and I have plans for retirement that include, landscaping, and beautification of our large yard, walking trails through our property, a bit of travel if the budget allows, but a whole lot more free time to visit family.
He talks about it a bit now, like it is actually going to happen, he even puts a time frame on it...with in seven to ten years...and that is without me begging...I can see changes in him the past year, he is feeling a bit older...not as unflaggingly energetic...like he used to be...the winter bothers him the most.. The cold, since he is outside for 12hours a day, and the muck and mud in the spring.. carrying hundreds of pails of grain this spring just plain wore him out. He takes pain killers a lot more than he used to ...for his hip and back...
Well we will get to use our new tractor for a few years before we sell out...it should maintain a good resale value, being a John Deere...hahahahaha at least we hope so.
I just have to go off into a bit of a rant here for one second....how in the hell, when we have had 6 inches of rain in the month of June, can we have a grasshopper problem...I've said it before and I'll say it again, there is no GOD. I thought grasshoppers were only an issue when it was dry...but apparently NOT. because we have grasshoppers, thousands and thousands of the little creepy bastards in our hay fields and crop...just Jim fucking dandy.
I have a sore butt today....yesterday when I was in the barn with the big doors jammed open, painting my fake windows...the mosquito's were swarming me and I could hardly stand still they were biting me through my pants...which were over 12 years old and the material is paper thin...which is why I like them on a hot day, they are cool....but no protection from blood thirsty insects...so I rushed to the office part of the barn and grabbed a nearly empty can of bug repellent from by the door...It wasn't OFF or Muskol....it was some product called REPEL, our ex-friend Rick must have left here once...so I spray my legs and butt and shoulders with it...barely enough in the can to do the job...went back to painting and not even 15 minutes later my butt is on fire...so much so I can barely stand it...the other places I sprayed it, the material of my pants and shirt were thick enough that it didn't make contact with my skin...but on my butt, where the material is super thin from wear....I got a rash....and blisters...yup....super.... I endured until I finished my paint job but my ass was so inflamed by then I had to nearly crawl to the house...it was the longest 100 yards of my life it seemed....walking carefully with baby steps, so as not to pull the skin of my buttocks at all.... I hit the shower the moment I was inside...which burned like a son of a bitch...and left me gasping against the wall of the shower....but after it brought some small relief... I put on a sun dress. The most humiliating part came when I had to ask Robert to take a look and treat it with polysporin...I couldn't stay still...it stung and tickled all at the same time... Oh My God, how the hell does shit like this happen to me....
Robert went to the barn and got the can...read the label...it says can cause severe skin irritation in rare cases.....hahahahhahahahahahah figures... I would have been slightly happier if it had reacted to the skin on my leg rather than my butt. since it makes sitting an agony...and I am currently typing this post, standing up...hahahahahah
June 27, 2011
Never Say Never
A gentle word of advice from a long in the tooth student of human nature.
Never say never, you are just setting yourself up for crow eating.
A few years ago, after several years of drought and near drought conditions Robert and I both vowed that we would never complain about getting too much rain again in our lives.
After 5 1/2 inches of rain in the month of June alone we are sitting down to a fine meal of crow and complaining about the bloody rain.. There is water sitting in every field, the dug outs have spilled thier banks, the creek is running high, I have mushrooms growing all over my lawn and things in the garden are turning yellow from too much moisture and a lack of sun. Just last night while towelling off after a soothing soak, I swore I felt the beginnings of web between my toes for Christ's sake.
Robert is in a foul mood, being behind in your work by a month or two would do that to anyone.
I have to mow the grass every three days so that it doesn't get too long and clog up the mower discharge. MY main concern is that is smarten up for July so that we can get some haying done..especially now that we have put our selves into the poor house buying a new tractor and discbine.
That's right, you read it here first folks. Cathy and Robert actually bought a BRAND SPANKING NEW piece of farm equipment instead of farm sale cast offs. and not just one new piece but TWO...pieces of new equipment.
It was a very traumatic experience for us both...having never done it before...Robert had to throw a hissy fit with the bank to get the terms we wanted...and to spare the boring details...we are now in hock with the bank for the next ten years...Life as we previously knew it has ceased to exist...we are paupers now...having to scrape every dime to make next years payments...But to quote Robert..." it was either we do something drastic, like buy a new tractor or we get out of farming"...... All our tractors are at least 30 years old or older and on their last legs...Robert is not mechanical enough to fix them on his own he says...but I think he has done an awesome job keeping them going this long...
Anyway its done and all that's left is the paying....we get the disbine next week along with a loaned tractor since our new one won't come until the end of July....
The whole ordeal turned into quite a pissing match between the two sales men...John Deere and Case IH dealers. It is amazing the mark up they have on that equipment and the gobs of money they can knock off when they want to. The cost of our tractor went from $ 140,000.oo to in the end$ 112,000.oo and I bet they still made buckets of money on the tractor.
So in a month they will deliver our new tractor and a guy to spend the day with us and show us all the computer stuff...and how to run it. It was funny but after we signed the deal and headed into the city for groceries...rather be ecstatically happy we were both nearly barfing out the windows...
that works out to a shit load of money.
112,000.oo for the tractor
16,000.oo for the loader for the tractor
29,000.oo for the discbine
__________
157,000.oo quite the sticker shock for two old farmers who have never bought new stuff. It was a very steep learning curve. Very steep.
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Never say never, you are just setting yourself up for crow eating.
A few years ago, after several years of drought and near drought conditions Robert and I both vowed that we would never complain about getting too much rain again in our lives.
After 5 1/2 inches of rain in the month of June alone we are sitting down to a fine meal of crow and complaining about the bloody rain.. There is water sitting in every field, the dug outs have spilled thier banks, the creek is running high, I have mushrooms growing all over my lawn and things in the garden are turning yellow from too much moisture and a lack of sun. Just last night while towelling off after a soothing soak, I swore I felt the beginnings of web between my toes for Christ's sake.
Robert is in a foul mood, being behind in your work by a month or two would do that to anyone.
I have to mow the grass every three days so that it doesn't get too long and clog up the mower discharge. MY main concern is that is smarten up for July so that we can get some haying done..especially now that we have put our selves into the poor house buying a new tractor and discbine.
That's right, you read it here first folks. Cathy and Robert actually bought a BRAND SPANKING NEW piece of farm equipment instead of farm sale cast offs. and not just one new piece but TWO...pieces of new equipment.
It was a very traumatic experience for us both...having never done it before...Robert had to throw a hissy fit with the bank to get the terms we wanted...and to spare the boring details...we are now in hock with the bank for the next ten years...Life as we previously knew it has ceased to exist...we are paupers now...having to scrape every dime to make next years payments...But to quote Robert..." it was either we do something drastic, like buy a new tractor or we get out of farming"...... All our tractors are at least 30 years old or older and on their last legs...Robert is not mechanical enough to fix them on his own he says...but I think he has done an awesome job keeping them going this long...
Anyway its done and all that's left is the paying....we get the disbine next week along with a loaned tractor since our new one won't come until the end of July....
The whole ordeal turned into quite a pissing match between the two sales men...John Deere and Case IH dealers. It is amazing the mark up they have on that equipment and the gobs of money they can knock off when they want to. The cost of our tractor went from $ 140,000.oo to in the end$ 112,000.oo and I bet they still made buckets of money on the tractor.
So in a month they will deliver our new tractor and a guy to spend the day with us and show us all the computer stuff...and how to run it. It was funny but after we signed the deal and headed into the city for groceries...rather be ecstatically happy we were both nearly barfing out the windows...
that works out to a shit load of money.
112,000.oo for the tractor
16,000.oo for the loader for the tractor
29,000.oo for the discbine
__________
157,000.oo quite the sticker shock for two old farmers who have never bought new stuff. It was a very steep learning curve. Very steep.
June 15, 2011
Gone on Holidays, NOT
Hahahaha It's been so long since I wrote a posting, Blogger wanted my password...
things have been a bit crazy here, my hose shed is nearly complete, as is my fake window project, in between mowing the lawn every three days. Robert is miffed because it has been raining all week and he is going to miss the cut off deadline for having all the crop seeded in able to insure it...oh well...if it grows good we wouldn't have got any pay out anyway...
The Rev. Can audit thing is in mid swing...they came on monday to take ALL my paper work and will, I hope, return in late this week. Then it's all over but the crying and begging...it could take a month to find out just how much of that we will have to do. so we wait...and wait... (insert elevator music here)
In the mean time...while I am trying to answer her multitude of questions without my books to consult, need I remind you, Robert decides to drop a bombshell in my lap....no he doesn't want a divorce, but I could hardly blame him if he did with the mood I have been in lately, but he does want to buy a tractor...TOMORROW..... now we are talking about not a 5,000 dollar lawn mower but a full blown farm tractor with all the bells and whistles...to the tune of $100,000. or more....that's right....so I have been a little stressed...and short of patience...I have even developed that annoying twitch below my left eye, I haven't been plagued with that since my son lived with us and was stealing money and tools from us to support a drug habit...hahahah
Tomorrow is the big day...and I am trying very hard not to spazz out on him and go phsyco....where's the liguid benedryl, that stuff acts like a sedative on me...just stand me in the corner of the dealership and tuck a paper towel under my chin to catch the drool....
I will keep you posted how it goes...but if you receive an email with my name attached as a charity donation don't delete it....I may have to sell my body to science....of course if I drop dead of a stress related stroke, Roberts tractor would be paid for in full with our credit line insurance...hahahahaha he could farm in style completely debt free....with a younger healthier wife to help to boot....
Lucky him....
things have been a bit crazy here, my hose shed is nearly complete, as is my fake window project, in between mowing the lawn every three days. Robert is miffed because it has been raining all week and he is going to miss the cut off deadline for having all the crop seeded in able to insure it...oh well...if it grows good we wouldn't have got any pay out anyway...
The Rev. Can audit thing is in mid swing...they came on monday to take ALL my paper work and will, I hope, return in late this week. Then it's all over but the crying and begging...it could take a month to find out just how much of that we will have to do. so we wait...and wait... (insert elevator music here)
In the mean time...while I am trying to answer her multitude of questions without my books to consult, need I remind you, Robert decides to drop a bombshell in my lap....no he doesn't want a divorce, but I could hardly blame him if he did with the mood I have been in lately, but he does want to buy a tractor...TOMORROW..... now we are talking about not a 5,000 dollar lawn mower but a full blown farm tractor with all the bells and whistles...to the tune of $100,000. or more....that's right....so I have been a little stressed...and short of patience...I have even developed that annoying twitch below my left eye, I haven't been plagued with that since my son lived with us and was stealing money and tools from us to support a drug habit...hahahah
Tomorrow is the big day...and I am trying very hard not to spazz out on him and go phsyco....where's the liguid benedryl, that stuff acts like a sedative on me...just stand me in the corner of the dealership and tuck a paper towel under my chin to catch the drool....
I will keep you posted how it goes...but if you receive an email with my name attached as a charity donation don't delete it....I may have to sell my body to science....of course if I drop dead of a stress related stroke, Roberts tractor would be paid for in full with our credit line insurance...hahahahaha he could farm in style completely debt free....with a younger healthier wife to help to boot....
Lucky him....
June 2, 2011
Zing... Didn't see this Coming
I named the kitten....he is sure to get run over by a car or abducted by an owl...now for sure..that's what always happens I name them, get invested and then Poof...gonzo... Trouble...that's what I named him...T R O U B L E
Here comes trouble... yah like that... he's still here though...so so much for that theory... damn....
Had a so so birthday, stayed home a worked for the most part and then around 6pm headed into the village to friends place for a light supper...it was good.
Tuesday was suppose to be the day we celebrated but R and I were both so tired that by the time we made it to the Doctors in the afternoon and did a costco shop we were beat..I stopped at home depot to grab some 2x4 and we went home...no special dinner out, no movie, no art museum...like I remember being promised....hmph....boy are we stuck in a rut....It's oddly, no big deal this year...I am getting to hate birthdays anyway...
The doctor was probably the problem...we were both so surprised when we walked out of there that I think we were in a bit of a daze the rest of the day. Mulling over what was said...
I am to go back on all my meds...until further notice...I am going for another MRI, a total body one this time..and I will have to ask for a sedative...cause there is no way I will be able to lay in that tube and not move for over an hour with out embarassing myself by begging to be let out...claustrophobia big time here baby...since a kid..foster care time out....hahahaha
Any way... not happy about going back on the meds but if it lessens the pain, well then, okay...I'll do it. It is not good when upon waking you sit on t he side of the bed and take a deep breath, and brace yourself for the day...when all I want to do is stay in bed with the covers over my head.
I am building fake windows...I will distress them and sand some of the white paint away to make them look weathered...mullions and black plywood back...they don't look too bad so far...I am hanging them on the garage wall to break up the huge expanse of yellow siding...they should look not to bad...I mitred the corners and everything...
After that project is through I am building a small shed over my water hydrant to provide a place to hang my garden hoses other than laying them on the ground and have to move them everytime I mow....
So I am keeping busy... tomatoes going in the garden this weekend. and then the greenhouse will be empty...yahooo... shrubs are all doing great.
We lost a cow on pasture yesteray...she was, I noticed as I followed her up the road last week, moving very slowly, like she was ill...I told Robert and he chose to do nothing...she would either get better or die...well she died... Son of a Bitch... there goes another $1,000. that is the second cow this spring that has died... we can go years without one dying and then bam...2 in one spring...
I think Robert is burned out....but he says his reasons for not retiring are financial...granted we aren't in the best of situations but it could be worse...
well my toasted sandwich is now cold...and cold drink is warm...so I am ending this for today. Thanks for all the birthday wishes....and heads up Fern whose BD is tomorrow, and Kim the day after... all the best you two.
Here comes trouble... yah like that... he's still here though...so so much for that theory... damn....
Had a so so birthday, stayed home a worked for the most part and then around 6pm headed into the village to friends place for a light supper...it was good.
Tuesday was suppose to be the day we celebrated but R and I were both so tired that by the time we made it to the Doctors in the afternoon and did a costco shop we were beat..I stopped at home depot to grab some 2x4 and we went home...no special dinner out, no movie, no art museum...like I remember being promised....hmph....boy are we stuck in a rut....It's oddly, no big deal this year...I am getting to hate birthdays anyway...
The doctor was probably the problem...we were both so surprised when we walked out of there that I think we were in a bit of a daze the rest of the day. Mulling over what was said...
I am to go back on all my meds...until further notice...I am going for another MRI, a total body one this time..and I will have to ask for a sedative...cause there is no way I will be able to lay in that tube and not move for over an hour with out embarassing myself by begging to be let out...claustrophobia big time here baby...since a kid..foster care time out....hahahaha
Any way... not happy about going back on the meds but if it lessens the pain, well then, okay...I'll do it. It is not good when upon waking you sit on t he side of the bed and take a deep breath, and brace yourself for the day...when all I want to do is stay in bed with the covers over my head.
I am building fake windows...I will distress them and sand some of the white paint away to make them look weathered...mullions and black plywood back...they don't look too bad so far...I am hanging them on the garage wall to break up the huge expanse of yellow siding...they should look not to bad...I mitred the corners and everything...
After that project is through I am building a small shed over my water hydrant to provide a place to hang my garden hoses other than laying them on the ground and have to move them everytime I mow....
So I am keeping busy... tomatoes going in the garden this weekend. and then the greenhouse will be empty...yahooo... shrubs are all doing great.
We lost a cow on pasture yesteray...she was, I noticed as I followed her up the road last week, moving very slowly, like she was ill...I told Robert and he chose to do nothing...she would either get better or die...well she died... Son of a Bitch... there goes another $1,000. that is the second cow this spring that has died... we can go years without one dying and then bam...2 in one spring...
I think Robert is burned out....but he says his reasons for not retiring are financial...granted we aren't in the best of situations but it could be worse...
well my toasted sandwich is now cold...and cold drink is warm...so I am ending this for today. Thanks for all the birthday wishes....and heads up Fern whose BD is tomorrow, and Kim the day after... all the best you two.
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