Last field of hay- July 27th? Whatever..As the young folks tend to exclaim!

As I am quite confidant everyone is putting aside their worries about rain and soybean failure to wait with nervous anticipation for the next installment of the Budd E. Shepherd Hay Company's next misadventure, here is the news: I'm done, finished, over-with, completed, finis, no more hay, other than some alfalfa that we have planted next to the Buckwheat field.
The Last Field, (located at Gopher Valley.)

The Last Stack

This is not the best hay I have ever made. There are some weeds. Somehow I have to get it home...
My landlady's stepson is obsessed about closing the gate. I closed the gates. He cruised slowly by in his Land Rover. I have no idea why he doesn't stop. I've got to go see my landlady and her stepson. She is nice but he seems to think I am going to bite him. And there is that lingering resentment that I don't shut the gates. I had a nice chat with him this spring but who knows.
The neighbor girl is afraid of him-sort of. She won't go visit the nice lady as she says the stepson creeps her out. I suggested that he is probably an ax murderer  so that she would get all giggly and animated. Then I implied that she was younger and cuter than she actually is and tried to get her to bring me cookies. I like cookies. And chocolate cake with fresh cherries.
What I need to do is get her to run the rake for me. I helped her brother bale his hay and the deal was that she was supposed to come and rake at Muddy Valley. Instead her brother sent his weird little minion who crapped in the field and Bill got the blame.
But, I digress.
I got a call from a chicken feed customer that he had 30 bags of raw soy curls. So I zipped a few miles down Hwy 18 to Hebo Road and picked them up. Who would have thought there was a soy curl factor a few miles past the old Indian School. It is in the middle of nowhere!
Then I made chicken feed.

I have a new tractor. It is an 806 IH, WITH A TURBO! We can't figure out if this was a factory add on or stolen off an other IH or if it is an M&W. It seems to have a lot of power. No gauges and the wiring is very messed up. Most of the hard to find sheet metal is missing. Employees on the previous owner tweeked it all away for scrap. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, other than leave it on the feed mill. After I add temp and oil pressure gauges. I think the clutch slips a bit. I have a loader to fit it and perhaps a hay grapple. It was a very good price. I don't see cash exchanging hands on this one.
However, I also can't sell it for a respectable amount of time. I'd say 2-3 years.
I had no intentions of becoming an IH collector but the collection grows.
(Note: the entire feed grinding operation consists of equipment that should have been scrapped-and was free or almost free)
Pathetic or resourceful?
You don't need to answer that one!

I have no friends but my dog, business truisms I've learned at Gopher Valley

I used to be a farmer. I had a farm at Gopher Valley.
It is a little pocket in the foothills of the Coast Range. You get there from a little road off of Highway 18 just outside of Sheridan, OR.
General Sheridan carried his campaign of rape and pillage from the Shenandoah Valley on to the hills of Oregon. The old guys tell of trails though the woods that Sheridan cut to haul artillery to use against the Indians.
Boycotting Phil Sheridan Days is about the only thing in which I find any solidarity with the Casino Indians, but then again...
I digress...
I started cutting hay at Gopher Valley in something like 1980 for the family farm. When I started my own farm it was at Gopher Valley. It was the only place you could get ground on a very low budget.
Since then I have lost a lot of money and made a little money. I will say that Gopher Valley hay bought my mower, baler, and various rakes.
However, it is a long way from home and everything goes wrong for me up there.
Lately it is been discovered by other hay farmers. Discovered is a loose term. Actually, it has been absorbed by people I have hired to haul hay for me.
It is kind of amusing. I drove up the valley a bit yesterday and found several "undiscovered" fields. Of course I have not been cutting hay off them and so they look pretty sad. The big guys are not interested in those fields.
The one thing that makes me a little bitter is my old farm on Thompson Mill Road. I put a huge amount of work into that farm. I didn't fight with the family of the elderly lady who I used to rent from when the grand kids wanted to try hay farming. Of course they didn't call me when they decided to rent it out this year. They called my neighbor.
I gave up another 20 acres this year. The fellow who got it is a friend who I've been helping get started doing hay. He got behind and I raked, baled, and stacked the field. Something I swore I would not do.
I found out yesterday that he sold it to the fellow who has been buying hay from me and who bought hay up there last year. He didn't try to sell my hay right next door.
When I questioned my hay guy who helps me sell to these fellows he said, "I have no friends but my dog..."
Had to think just how true that statement is!

Minneapolis-Moline Forklift

Will someone with lots of money buy me this forklift?

"For sale is a White Mobilift forklift, lift capacity is 5,000lbs, the model number is: MY50, the serial number is:20100913. Runs and drives great!!Don't miss this great buy!!"


On the tag it says Minneapolis-Moline. I think it is the real deal!


On the way back you could bring me a nice White 2-110 to pull the mower.

The biggest 60 acre field of my life...Balehenge has been hauled away!

I could go into detail but shall we say, problems occurred, weather happened, tires went flat, the field is done, only 20 acres to go...

 7.5 semi-loads of hay, 3,780 bales, 415,800lbs, 207 tonnes, $3000 to get it hauled away...
There were two flat tires. Had to use the non-air conditioned tractor on the baler for the last ten acres, but my helper is a trouper!

Shopping for tires. $1200 each? They didn't give us a price on Saturday.

I think this tire was new enough I will not have to buy the new one. It was defective.

Muddy Valley invited me in for coffee and a very delicious chocolate cake, which had fresh-from-the-tree cherries cooked into it by the lovely and gracious Mrs. MuddyValley. I told my helper Muddy was probably going to raise my rent or force me to drink Scotch. I said nary a word about chocolate cake. It is always best not to lord it over the help.

Wildflowers

I thought these were called "blue-eyed ...." but after doing a quick search online this morning I don't think they are what I though they were.  I found this site but my internet through OnlineNorthWest (wine country internet-of course) is so slow I can't really do a search.

They are certainly pretty. They grow in low moist and shaded areas. They grow close to the ground but I can't remember if they were on vines or individual stems.
For those interested in the progress of "Balehenge" we made progress yesterday despite all sorts of silly little breakdowns. Tractors not starting, bolts falling out of the baler header, a thunderstorm with no rain and a dog fight.
Muddy Valley saved the day with a special aircraft bolt and sleeve that he used to replace the allenhead bolt that had broken twice in one day, exhausting our supply of spares. I was amazed at the amount of spare parts my trusty assstro-naught  helper carries with me.

 In exchange for his loyal efforts I fixed his air conditioning. I was pretty amazed to see the Carquest delivery girl zipping across our hay field in her little white car, bringing cans or R-134. She is pretty good with directions, and we did set an orange cone by the road entrance.

UPDATE: Thanks to MuddyValley who provided me with the name. It is of course Perriwinkle. I feel a bit dimwitted.
Here is the skinny...
Lobelia  An Annual.
Common Name:    Periwinkle
Over 300 lobelia species are found over a range of 10 hardiness zones. Some cultivars survive in temperatures over 90 degrees Fahrenheit, while others survive temperatures as low as 45 degrees below zero. Perennial varieties will survive through winter.

And...To be taken with a grain of salt:  pun intended
LOBELIA - NATIVE AMERICAN WONDER HERB

Lobelia (also known as Indian Tobacco) grows wild in many parts of the country. Dairy and cattle ranchers have known about it for the last 200 + years and have made it available to their livestock so that their animals could self medicate themselves with it! Native American Indians knew of it's useful properties long before the white man came to the North American continent. Often it was featured in their "smoke" mixtures.

Lobelia is best known as an antispasmodic. Taken in massive doses, it will act as a very effective purgative for every eliminative channel in the body. It is used as a safe herb to control seizures, fits, convulsions, asthma and bronchial conditions. Lobelia is so free from any destructive side effect that it can also be used successfully on newborn children. Lobelia will also benefit someone with cramps, nervousness, sleeplessness and general restlessness.

Southern Botanicals prepares this herb in two forms; tincture/concentrate and tea form. The tincture is made from the seeds and seed pods of the plant in a base of distilled water, apple cider vinegar and a small amount of pure grain alcohol. This preparation is far stronger than any you will find in a health food store, or elsewhere, for that matter.

Asthma - Folks suffering from this ailment can take 2 - 5 droppersfull, four times daily and see definite results in a matter of weeks.

Lobelia contains over a dozen alkaloids, one of the strongest bio-chemicals found in plants.

When in doubt as to what to do, you will see improvement with lobelia even if it doesn't seem to fit the case. One natural healer used it to save folks from heart attacks even when no cayenne was available. An infant was saved when the mothers cervix would not dilate properly and the child was about to suffocate. After 38 hours in labor, she delivered within 20 minutes of receiving lobelia. It has been used to save a girl from kidney failure who was too weak to undergo transplant surgery. When you don't know what to do, when nothing else works, try lobelia.

A famous herbalist of the 19th century named Samuel Thompson, primarily used two herbs. These herbs were cayenne and lobelia and he used them to help an estimated 3 million people recover from all manner of illnesses. Cayenne, he explained, stimulated the circulation and lobelia mildly sedated and relaxed the body.

He used them back and forth; purge them with Lobelia, and then give them Cayenne to bring them full flush with the world. Combined, these two herbs can pull of natural healing miracles in short order. Consider the mainstream medical option of cutting and drilling a four-inch hole through your rib cage and inserting a probe to tap your lungs to drain the fluid out. My preference is for lobelia and cayenne.

Dr. Christopher reintroduced lobelia for asthma and other terminal conditions, in modern times . He used large doses to cure really sick people.

Lung problems can usually be traced to the use of dairy in the diet. Milk, cheese, etc., constrict the broncials. Many people on dairy regularly, notice their nose and sinuses are congested, or they have a wheeze or can't breath as easily. Every asthmatic has to first get off dairy to help their condition.To prove the effectiveness of this wisdom regarding dairy and lung deterioration, try keeping away from all dairy products for seven straight days. Note the improvement in ones condition from such a change alone.  Substitutes can be used such as  almond milk or rice milk. Next, in order to fully effect a recovery, to get one breathing normally and keep one breathing, is the use of lobelia and cayenne. Two and three year olds come off all dairy, use lobelia, and see their lives restored to normal.

 
  (Note: I don't know where this text came from so I can't provide a link to the source, but I find lots of other people copied the text as well. I think it comes from here.)

Moon over Muddy Valley

It was a full moon...

Aphids

We have a couple Aphids in the barley. As in a couple thousand Aphids per plant.
The field man said it was nothing to worry about. I am not actually sure he knows where this field it. It is a little 15 acres tucked in the back of a neighbor's oat field.
What is completely amazing is the sheer number of Lady Bugs in the field. I would estimate one per square foot. Where do they come from?
I suppose there is no point in a chemical assault at this point. It is too close to harvest to use Lorsban and the other options are not as effective. A few leaves are already starting to turn a little brown. Perhaps the lady bugs will eat all the aphids before they suck all the moisture out of the plants.

I'm saving up for a VN15E stylus from JICO, it is better than thinking about the 40 percent chance of rain on my hay...

I now have four semi-loads of hay picked up. This would be 56-110lb bales to a stack around 3.3 tonnes per stack. The rest of it is on the ground in windrows waiting to be baled. The sky outside looks a little gray.
I should be on my way to stack more hay for a neighbor but as a somewhat lazy farmer I am setting in my easy chair drinking coffee.
I found an email this morning from JICO noting that their website had been redesigned and I may need a new password. I have had a replacement stylus for a shure Model V-51 Type II cartridge in my shopping cart at JICO for two years. In that time the price has doubled, which is a statement about the US dollar and not the price of a JICO stylus.
Vintage audio is somewhat of a subjective hobby. What sounds good to one person is considered garbage to another. I think that mostly people like to hang out on internet message boards and try to impress each other with their own cleverness.
However, I have discovered a certain type of sound which I enjoy. I find that my record collecting has come to the point of salvaging GoodWill bins for the odd country artist that no one has heard of. It seems as though no one listened to Jazz in my area. The rock selection is pretty much worn out BJ Thomas and Rod Stewart albums that must have been transferred from another thrift store.
I did find a whole treasure trove that had a few Allman brothers albums and the CCR Green River album.
I was really amazed at how good the old country rock albums and the old country albums sounded on my system. Much better than newer rock albums and a much warmer sound than a compact disk.
The system currently is a Dynaco PAS-2 pre amp, Dynaco stereo 120 main amp (sure go ahead and poo-poo it's transistor sound) an old Rek-o-Kut turntable with a Fairchild 282 tone arm and a Shure M-97 High Track cartridge. For speakers I have Dynaco A-24's and Baby Advents which I installed new drivers.
Which brings me to the JICO subject. I also have a Dual 1019 turntable which came with the Shure V-15 type two cartridge. This is connected to the Kenwood KA-3500 I bought in high school. The Dual is fully automatic and I have a bit more confidence in the system as I did not build any of it myself. I currently have a Stanton cartridge which was a backup to the AT-155LC that went away when we moved. I've never been really happy with it.  The stylus is broken on the Shure so I have never heard it.
I've found a number of cheap replacements for the Shure on ebay and even in my local record shop. However, when I research those I keep being directed back to the JICO replacement. Even though it is more money I have yet to hear a bad review of it.
So I have been saving my dimes and quarters and this winter I intend to put some odd pieces of old audio on ebay and I am going to buy the elusive VN15E stylus. 
Of course I will post my opinions here for other lazy farmers to read...
And now I am going to go do something related to hay...
Have a nice day!

I go to work

I am setting at the kitchen table eating Yogurt. Next I think I will have a banana. I tried a boiled egg for breakfast earlier this morning but I don't think I will have another.
I am writing this as I am sure everyone on the internet would like to know about my personal life in great detail.
It is taking a great force of will power to get me out the door.
I am scheduled to pick up 1,100 light three-tie bales of certified weed-free orchard grass hay. So, I have spent the morning blowing off and washing the stacker. I then attempted to weld a leaking hydraulic oil line. I failed. My brother came to my aid and made me a replacement out of hydraulic hose and an adapter to go from weird New Holland hydraulic fittings to normal hydraulic line.
I called the fellow who I was going to help bale. He was supposed to use my baler Sat. and Sun. to bale a field which I quit doing last year because it was so rough and the people were unhappy with me. I refused to stack it for him in small 2-tie bales as they bounce out of the load on a rough field.
He did not get my baler.
Today is cloudy.
I will have 80 acres of my own personal hay down by this evening.
There is a 30 percent chance of rain.
Of course there is also a 70 percent chance of non rain.
If the sun would come out we could bale 15 acres today and 40 acres tomorrow.
After the the orchard grass I have some 2,000 light 2-tie bales to do for another neighbor. His partner was supposed to stack them Sunday with our stacker. I'm not very thrilled about loaning the stacker but that didn't matter because the guy didn't show up.
Of course this means I'm going to attempt to do 3,000 plus crappy bales today. On a good day with good bales I can pick up 56 bales in 6-8 minutes, on a bad day with bad bales it drops to 56 bales in 20 minutes.
When I feel poorly I tend to communicate better.
This is not always a good thing.
I suppose my cell phone has charged by now and I shall go to work.
Have a nice day...

A sight you won't see again

Courtesy of our living history museum which we call a farm.
I a Vemeer irrigator and a vintage Minneapolis-Moline U tractor. The MM U is the ideal irrigation tractor as it has a hand clutch and a stand up type platform. You disengage the clutch, step off the back, and pick up a pipe. No climbing up on a tall tractor and putting it in gear before you can drive.

Otherwise, I've spent the last two days sick in bed with influenza. My little helper came in today and picked up several of the fields I wasn't able to stack Saturday.
My brain has hurt too much to look at the internet.

More stacking

I over-slept this morning. My identity is the lazy farmer so I guess that is to be expected.
I have been thinking about the nice folks from Florida who came to visit me with their short bus but that would turn into a long and rambling story. I think I will just post some photos. My brother is hard at work already and I think he swathed late last night. Or at least I saw lights on the river bottom when I got home with the stacker.
I suppose what frustrates me most with the stacking this year is that I've had two really good days where I made a lot of money, and then the rest has been small fields and long hauls or bad bales. I should probably charge differently.
I have been wanting to buy a combine from Orin but have been waiting for money to come in. Need to pay the fertilizer bill first. I texted him between stacker loads last night and he noted he had sold two of them. I added up the accounts due in my head and realized I could buy his whole fleet for what I am owed. (They are cheap inexpensive combines) I hate to be like the biblical character who was forgiven a debt and then went out and threw someone in jail who owed him money. It ended badly for that guy. Just the same, I need to be better at saying "no!"
I've been calling people and telling them they need to pay. They always say they will, one guy sent what he had and I said, "thank you very much!"
Some photos...
I swear the fields never end... This is how I started the day yesterday.

The bales kept popping out of the stacker. It was a rough field. After much investigation I discovered a very simple problem. A pulley had worn so bad that the cable on the hydraulic cylinder setup that keeps the bales from sliding clear to the back of the stacker had worn through the pulley and into the pin. I finally noticed the cable was frayed. I feel pretty stupid as it is something I've checked.
This was at 4:30 p.m. and there was not time to make it to a New Holland dealer by 5 p.m. We found a pulley in our bottomless scrap heap and with a welder and some extra cable (that we didn't throw away) I was going by 6:30.
I picked up the prettiest orchard grass hay I have ever seen. It was so bright it was almost blue. The hillside was so steep the bales would fall out when the second table went up unless I was pretty careful.
Then I went on to pick up a truck load of my own hay. Finally! Listened to Ground Zero and discovered the world is going to end. Listened to that talk show guy that does the impersonations. He wasn't very good last night so I went home and went to bed.
And that is the story of my life...

A short rant: I can hear my brother talking to my little helper outside. My little helper is working hard. My brother is completely occupied with irrigation and swathing and so is not helping us. I am stacking. My helper is mowing, raking, and baling. I am supervising remotely.
We did have brother's son helping but now we are off the farm and the logistics of taking someone with you who doesn't drive yet does not work out well.
So, yesterday the helper headed the rake tractor in to fill up the hay preservative and he left it. He very likely left the electric control box turned on that runs the rake. The tractor wouldn't start. He couldn't get to it with the booster cables, he can't walk very fast anymore. This would not have been a problem but he took his 10 a.m. coffee break before starting the tractor, and the rake needed to be in the field and raking at 10 a.m. not leaving the farm for the field five miles away at 11 a.m.
So... the field that I started stacking at 10 p.m. was not finished and will have to be turned which puts us behind today and we need to mow hay and I need the mower tractor to grind feed and I have to stack 10 miles away and will have to come back for two acres before tomorrow.
Meaning, I need to get my lazy arse out the door and to work!
I hate the logistics and management. I just want to make really straight rows and really pretty hay. I don't want to tell people how to do really obvious things...
Have a nice day!

My life to date-a short post for those who wonder.

I've been stacking hay.
Sometimes it is not very fun, sometimes I am just thankful for the air conditioning.
Some very nice people came to see me one day this week.
Nice conversation on the previous post.
Now I'm going back to stacking hay.
I wish this effort somehow translated into financial security...
Have a nice day...

A $1000 Hammer

For want of a nail the shoe was lost...
I've been stacking for my neighbor who broke her foot. The fields are pretty huge and the bales are good. I'm picking up loads of 56 bales and dumping in 8 minutes. I did 59 stacks/blocks yesterday. Plus, I took off for an hour and fixed another farmer's air conditioner.
My goal was 75 blocks but the pickup chain kept jamming up and I had no hammer. Someone robbed the hammer out of the stacker tool kit.
I had six rounds left in the field when I quit and went home.
It was after dark and I was listening to Ground Zero but I'm not sure of the time.
This morning my neighbor texted me and said she could handle the rest and I could do my other jobs. I don't want to do my other jobs. They are crappy jobs. I want to pick up bales in a big field. Plus, I already stacked all the hills in the field and it is just starting to go really good.
Back to crappy bales and crappy fields and people who think they are your only customer and they think they are heroes for giving you crappy fields to stack for the past five years...
Not so sound ungrateful...

A pointless petition

You know they shoot your dog on purpose... Same reason they wear blue rubber gloves, the same reason they scream at people to get them to surrender. It is dehumanizing. Its that idiotic psychological warfare BS.

Crank it to Houstin and Hammer Down

I sort of promised my neighbor I would stack for her this evening. I just can't bring myself to do it. I don't have the energy.
Here is how it all started.
It was  Friday morning. I was putting diesel in my transfer tank in my pickup. I had just got a call from a customer who needed me stack for him. He expected to have some 3,000 bales on Saturday for me to pick up.
The neighbor girl called me. She is neither a girl nor is she my neighbor any longer but she used to be and so will be forever young and riding her three wheeler which for some reason she named "Herbie."
She runs the baling crew on the her father's farm and she takes it all pretty seriously.
Her father is getting up in years and does not track quite as straight as he used to.
The story was that her father was at her house on the fourth. They had a bonfire and watched the local fireworks. Somehow he ran over her foot.
She tends to talk really fast and I can't quite follow what she says on the phone but it would seem he backed up on the lawn so he would not have to walk so far.
She was guiding him out so he would not run into any other cars.
She got him lined up and said, "Pa, hold it to Houston and back up, but You know Pa, he is always hammer down and I didn't get out of the way in time."
I think it was "hold it to Houston" but it might of been hang it to Houston and Hammer down," or crank it to Houston.
I don't really understand the expression. Which direction is Houston? Wouldn't it change if you are on the East Coast or West Coast? I did a search and came up with nothing. Perhaps I will inquire further on this issue.
The bottom line is that she has thousands of bales on the ground and an untrained stacker operator.
I was committed to a job on Saturday which turned out to be 3600 bales of Timothy hay. I started at 9:30 a.m. and finished up at 9:30 p.m. I had a quick supper and then picked up another 800 bales for her after dark.
I would have done more but the bales didn't want to go up the bale chute and it went pretty slow. I quit at 12:30 a.m.
At 7:30 am we heard a diesel pickup outside the house. I went out on the porch and was greeted by her niece. My wife had found her pads for her crutches and she had given my wife the wrong amount of money for the pads. Not wanting to owe anyone she brought us the difference at 7:30 a.m.
I walked back in the house and my wife said, "She gave us $5 too much..."
I did not call her back...
Today I did not answer my phone, I suppose tomorrow will give me plenty to do.

I think this is pretty funny

I found this link because I was checking out facebook. My college has a page for affirming gay people. There is a list of signatures of people who want to affirm. On it are all the annoying people I remember from college.
But there was also this link...
I find it hilarious in so many ways!
I think I will never fit into the Brave New World. I find the people on both sides of most public issues annoying...

(Note: The name in itself in funny! -Note the initials)

Fourth of July

The Fourth of July is not what is used to be. I don't feel real political this morning due to few days of swathing at night, doing had during the day, and letting myself get talked into camping with two 11-year old girls...
My daughter invited her friend over to spend the night on on the fourth of July. I took her to pick up her friend. The friend's house is as close as you would want to be to the professional fireworks display sponsored by the City. Apparently camping at the river and lighting sparklers is more fun that sitting under a huge fireworks show.
So I gave the kids $20 to buy a fireworks assortment.
My wife's family came out a picnic at noon and we had our local family picnic at 6 p.m. In between celebrations hay was baled.
The moisture came up at 9:30-10p.m. and I went to the river. My wife has a chipped bone in her foot so I said I would camp with the girls. They set off their fireworks while we listened to the explosions from really big displays in four towns in four different directions.
Then I fell asleep on the lawn chair.
I was awakened much later by anxious girls who were a bit disturbed by the coyotes. I said we are NOT going back home at this point. I pointed out we had Stanley the huge dog, a .22 with 40 rounds (if you can't shoot accurate-shoot often) and God was on our side.
And we went to bed.
I didn't sleep quite as well as one would hope. The ground is not as soft as it used to be...I forgot my coffee pot... My reel jammed up and I couldn't cast and so no fresh trout for breakfast...
But I was there.
Here is a photo to prove it. If you look past my feet you can see girls dancing with sparklers!

Note to JT: I will post a photo of a swather but I have not had the opportunity to run on in daylight yet...

Suddenly it is time to swath

My brother is swathing annual ryegrass this morning. The fields have not ripened evenly. The field that was hardest to see was the one which ripened first.
Sunday we discovered that the swathers were not really ready to go.
Getting the swathers ready has been the in between job. The thing you work on when other jobs are finished. Apparently I was not supervising this closely enough and while it appears the fluids were changed the sickles and sickle drives and those sorts of things were not checked. I guess I should have realized that our little helper "does not do that."
"I don't know how that stuff works, that is what you guys do," will be the response when I ask him this morning. So, even though he has been here ten years he has picked up no knowledge about swathers? Something we use every year?
The one swather that I was sure was ready had a stuck throttle cable. Mice had built a nest right over where the cable goes through the floor. It is one of those shielded Morse cables and the mouse pee ran down into the cable and totally jammed it up. Someone had taken the cover off the controls as the bolts were in a corner of the cab and one loose bolt was holding the cover on. I suspect that I will hear that he told me and I didn't do anything about it.
I think more and more about those robot tractors...
Perhaps I should go to work early today.

Sunday afternoon plans and ideas and music playlist

Today is July first. I am setting in my Lazy-Boy which I salvaged from my Uncle who was sending it to the dump. It don't look so good but then neither do I. I think the chair and I are about the same age...
My wife went to visit her friends in the big city (Portland makes me uptight but it is one of those friends from college outings..)
I listening to the Porter Wagoner albums which I found at GoodWill last night. It rained so took my lovely wife out to dinner and on a date to GoodWill last night. I'm a charmer, that is for sure!

Porter Wagoner seems a bit obsessed by wine. The songs or so depressing it is actually laughable. There are no credits on the album I'm listening to right now, "The Bottom of the Bottle." It sounds like the same guitar player who makes his guitar talk on Jeannie C. Riley's, "Mr. Harper."
I think this is Harold Bradley otherwise know as "Shot Jackson," but I have not looked it up. Which is sort of silly as I'm online and GoDuckGo is only a keystroke away...
The daughter is visiting friends and I'm not sure when she will return. I'm hanging out around the house waiting for her. I've been making lists of what I need to accomplish.

I tend to doodle a bit. I tend to wander from subject to subject until I find one random thing to obsess about.
Muddy Valley brought me a really large pressure gauge and a brass thing-a-ma-jigger which has a sprocket and several contacts. I want to turn this into a control panel for the kid's play house. Of course I also want to install a really cool slide which is in the bushes behind the shop. It is now solid enough to use my forklift but there is so much crap in the way I don't think I can reach it.
But, I digress...
I want to build a projection booth. I've missed the prime movie on the neighbor's hay shed season. The days are so long now that the kids end up staying up really late to watch movies. If we watch movies on Saturday night then it is hard to make it to a 9:30 a.m. church service on Sunday.
It has been too cold and rainy to watch movies during the shorter days early in June.
I want to build a simple structure to house the projectors and a few movies so I don't have to lug everything into the house after each showing. If you move the projectors too soon the bulbs fail.
I also worry about the evening dampness and its effect on 80 year-old movies.
The booth needs to have a base that I can pick up with a forklift. The forks are six foot long so there is plenty of room to work with. I want to base it on the simple outhouse design with a roof sloped one direction but I want over  hang around the roof. I would like to have the tall side fold up so it makes a shade and it allows the projectionist to still be part of the audience. This is not essential but it would be nice. The other plan is to also use the booth for selling water bottles at the Amity Tractor Pull which is in our field but which I never attend. A hot July Sunday, the choice is really loud tractors and lots of morons vs a cool river, the kids swimming, and a lawn chair in the shade...
Anyway, here is my design. I had a whole pile of 1"X12" rough cut boards but I gave them to the kids to build a fort. Perhaps I should re-claim them. I was going to build one a couple years ago but I donated the plywood to the daughter's playhouse... I just don't get stuff done...