the lazy farmer
I am out standing in my field. If you take things I say seriously you are an idiot.
The Useful Duck!
Contribute to my Vacation, please...
Sunday, January 19, 2025
Wednesday, January 1, 2025
A rambling discussion of New Year events
I ended 2024 properly. I spilled hot soup on my phone and ended the year with the rainbow screen of death.
It was a fitting end to a depressing year.
I feel worse about the soup than I do the phone.
I have been regressing on iPhones. Every time I kill one I find an older one somewhere. No sense in throwing good money after bad.
I say 2025 will be better. Or at least that is what I said in the spirited lecture I gave my daughter and her friend she invited to the farm for New Years eve. I need to work on a ceremonial prayer. I just tried to mention things that were important and relevant. They seemed to appreciate my effort.
I cooked a couple steaks on the gas grill and the lovely and gracious wife made the rest. It was a nice dinner.
I asked my daughter why in the world her friend would want to come to the farm and spend New Year's with old folks. She said explosives and vinyl records were the draw. I am well versed in both those areas.
Her friend had just bought a newer stereo and wanted to set it up. It was new enough that I knew nothing about it. It was a modern Marantz amp and Bowers and Wilkins speakers. He seems to feel I am an expert which is a myth I hate to dispel.
He also had a box of LP records he wanted to clean. I have a SpinClean record cleaner which does a good job. I loaned it to him last year but I used warm water and it warped his records. This seems odd to me but i am not going to try it myself after hearing his story.
We hooked his amp first to my Technics SL-J2 Linear tracking turntable. It is pretty neat as you can skip songs or repeat sides and it is fun to play with.
No sound on one channel. I didn't mess a lot with it as I had my old Dual 1019 set up to play Christmas Music and it was easy to hook up. (The Dual has a Shure HiTrack, I think it is an old V15. I splurged and put a JICO stylus on it. (However, they were not $300 15 years ago) I think it is nice sounding cart. The Dual is pretty quit although grounding is always an issue.)
The guy is currently into 1960-70's prog rock which is not a genre I really appreciate. But it was fun.
I was a little disappointed with the Bowers and Wilkins speakers. They are the modern style bookshelf speakers that are narrow and deep. Simple design with woofer and tweeter. The were very clear and I would say accurate sounding. But I didn't find them very musical. They sounded really good in the midrange. But I am probably not a good judge. I really prefer warm sounding audio and "warm sounding," is essentially distortion.
I am listening to the same album (Dire Straits) that I used to set up his stereo on same turntable using an early 1980's Yamaha amp, DCM Timeframe 100 speakers, and it sounds brighter with more depth on the low range. Of course we are talking a serious difference in size of speaker so it doesn't directly compare. It is just an interesting difference in sound. Not sure which is "Correct."
Later, we blasted a whole series of mortars shots into the heavens greatly distressing all the pets in a mile square and including our own. I had to spend a half hour with Rosco but he seems to have forgiven me by this morning.
Today my wife and daughter went somewhere to watch something with her sister.
I put together an old table. One of her sisters borrowed our "dining room" table and we have been sitting around the living room eating like Philistines off our laps. I think maybe spilling soup on the me, my phone, and the floor might have inspired a directive for me to dig another table out of storage.
It is a 100 year old piece of crap but thank the Lord no one has painted it grey or black. It was taken apart for storage. I tried to set it up yesterday evening but I couldn't find proper screws. Last night I woke up from a sound sleep with the idea to wedge match sticks in the old holes and use modern phillips head deck screws. It actually worked.
So that is the first day of 2025. Not an adventurous start but probably adequate...
Tuesday, December 24, 2024
An interesting Christmas
I wish a Happy Christmas to my thirteen faithful readers. It has been an interesting year.
I haven't been posting as I had a major change in my life and haven't really had the opportunity or perhaps the motivation.
My daughter moved home from the big city and most of my time has been spent with her. This is a good thing.
I am thankful for a lot of things. Most of all I am so glad to be away from a job/institution that seemed to be draining my very soul.
I am thankful I am working with my nephews.
I am thankful I can walk.
I am thankful I sold a ton of hay and one bottle of hemp tonic yesterday.
I am thankful I didn't go broke this year.
I am thankful for friends who supported me when I was injured.
This morning Rosco the dog was waiting at the door. He isn't my dog but seems to like me.
I suppose this should have been a New Years post but Christmas is more of a time for Thanksgiving I think.
Honestly, I have been a bit down. It has been an interesting year. I picked the wrong year to go back to farming. However, this last month I have been thankful to be unemployed.
I have developed a lot of even stronger opinions than I had last year. These involve the utter pathetic uselessness of a liberal arts education, therapists, liberals in general, and fake positive reviews on Amazon. I also have found out that many of my observations made on this blog were pretty dang accurate regarding my former employer.
So, I hope you all have a great Christmas. I am not sure I have confidence in the New Year but life is one step in front of the other...
Sunday, November 24, 2024
I deliver hay and do farm stuff
Friday, November 15, 2024
A link to an interesting perspective on the Future Farmers of America
Thursday, November 14, 2024
I go to an Agricultural Show
Monday, November 11, 2024
How much I ended up charging to plant a hayfield/pasture
This is what it cost to plant a 12 acre pasture. This does not include the price of glyphosate or application of aforementioned evil poison...
100lbs Fawn Fescue $175
100lbs Orchardgrass $275
100lbs Climax Timothy $155
Recharge seed inoculant $116
129 gallons 10-34 liquid fertilizer $496.65
No-Till planting for 12 acres which was two directions at $30 per acre $660
(or I could have charged 5.5 hrs @ $120/hr which actually came out to the same price)
Total price was $1877.65
I think that is a lot of money for a 12 acre pasture. But I am not really making a lot of money on the job. I ended up getting the seed and fertilizer and it took forever. Plus, I paid for it all.
I was hesitant about charging for the second pass but it took a lot of time to do the first pass at an angle in this field. Second pass in a circle took a little over an hour. But the price I charge for planting reflects a high maintenance and expensive grain drill, a 180hp tractor, diesel, tires, and since it is a 1980's White tractor-the hydraulic oil I leak per acre.
I really feel that the cost in seed and fertilizer is pretty telling in relation to farming today. I know I am selling a service but I would have worked the ground. That would have doubled or tripled the farming cost but there would be a much better seed bed and better weed control.
Seed and fertilizer was $100 per acre and I assume Glyphosate was another $35 per acre.
Not a lot of room for error anymore...
I think it if fails I will replant for free or a substantial discount. Sort of feel guilty about charging so much...
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