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Tuesday, September 7, 2010

I hate alfalfa, I hate rain, but my daughter loves school...

It is raining and I did not get the alfalfa baled. It was only 20 acres but it has taken me three days. I baled the first field at 18-20 percent moisture and perhaps a little more. I checked the stacks this morning and they are all still under 22 percent so I should be ok.

But, the second field will not dry down. I used the strange Lely fluffer to get the windrows off the ground and I waited for the sun to come out.
As soon as the windrows dried on top I flipped them over with the rake. I had the moisture down to 24 percent and it started raining. All I needed was another half an hour of sun...

In other news S. started a new school today. The word was that she was getting a bad teacher at the public school and that she would be in a 3rd-4th split classroom. She wanted to attend the Christian school with her cousins and so we said yes. She needs more Christian programming anyway. If you understand the most influential book in Western Civilization then you miss out of a huge amount of historical and cultural understanding. So, she is wearing a uniform and she says she can deal with it. Clothes are not that important. She came home today and said she loved school and she is learning things. Can't argue with that. I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. And it is going to take a lot more of my time than the public school. And I can't make fun of the teacher or the uniforms or encourage sarcasm or bad behavior, I have to be supportive. I can't tell her to disbelieve what her teacher tells her. How is she going to grow up to be properly cynical if she has a good experience with authority figures?

5 comments:

  1. I've never seen a fluffer like the one behind the MM, do the tines turn with the direction of travel or against? Looks like it might work pretty well. I can't believe that we will be faced with the public vs. christian school dilemma in less than 3 years ourselves. I can't get very excited about driving to Philomath or Junction City twice everyday, but then knowing what I know about the local public school district I'm not really impressed with that option either.

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  2. Hi Orin,
    That is a fluffer a friend bought at an auction. It is a Lely and I've never seen another one. It actually works quite well. It just lifts the windrow and sets it back down gently.
    The christian school dilemma is pretty frustrating. I should be working ground but instead I'm going to take all the kids to school. We have a perfectly good bus system. We have a school system that was once the best in the world and I am paying money and time to put my daughter in an alternative school system? I suppose our school system reflects or society. Idiots running a bureaucracy. The daughter said she couldn't sing Joan Jett songs at her new school, but then added that she could not sing christian songs at her old school either. So, apparently she got shut down when belting out, "this little light of mine." I just asked her to confirm this and she hollered from the bathroom, "I never got caught."
    Putting all the program our kids with our belief system aside, I don't think she was really getting that good an education. She was getting bored. And I know, I was not that good a student and neither was my wife, so is our child really all that smart or is the competition just not that great?
    I wonder if I could buy a Short Bus at an auction somewhere. We have four kids on this farm and could start our own bus line...

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  3. Lie about her age and giver the keys to a V-8 Commander.

    Sent from my smarty-pants phone in Missoula

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  4. I know it's a pain, but you'll end up being glad that you sent Sadie to the new school.

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  5. Collieguy, well she can drive pretty well...
    Gorges, she really loves it and actually enjoys the memory work so I guess it will be a good thing. I think learning to memorize stuff at a young age is pretty important. All this BS about needing to know where to find info instead of knowing the info is a rationalization for teacher incompetence. Your brain is a really fast computer and if you have the info memorized you don't need to look it up.
    Orin, the tines do not turn against the windrow, they just turn a little slower. It doesn't really through the hay around much.

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