I tend to go off topic at work

My work study student has developed an interest in the design of the internal combustion engine.

Four stroke vs two stroke, how mufflers work, exhaust pipes, I didn't get as far as the rotary engine.

Last week it was how a turbine engine works and how you can make it drive something.

I had to find a white board.

News vs News, what is up with Dakota Access Pipeline?

I have sort of followed the Dakota Access Pipeline news. I have a bit of a basis as I believe strongly in private property rights and I think the concept of Eminent Domain is no longer relative as the basic infrastructure of the United States has been established and it has been proven to be used to steal land from private individuals.
(Click here)
or
Here
or
Here to see how Donald Trump has used it to screw individuals like you and I...

It would appear that a Canadian Company is paying off politicians to use "eminent domain" to take land for the Dakota Access Pipeline but for some reason conservatives don't care.

Click here to go to NewsMax and then scroll down to read the comments. While reading this remember that being forced into a choice between Hillary the crook and Donald the crazy aligns one with people who don't want to be aligned with.

I checked on NewAgTalk and found a lot of mixed feelings. Local folks don't like protestors from out of state agitating. We saw that to some extent with our incident in Burns.

My opinion is pretty simple.
If they want to go though your land and you don't want them to go through your land than you should be able to say no. The only Eminent Domain theft I would even consider is if they people who were attempting to legally steal your personal property were required to pay you 1000 times fair market value.
Likewise I am opposed to designating large tracts of land as public parks or reserves when there are private property owners who will be affected.
There no longer is a "greater good..."
A faint promise of jobs and a possibility of cheaper oil is offset by a history of importing workers from outside the local area and the reality that shale oil is not cheap.
I see no difference between the issues faced by ranchers in the West and the Indian tribes opposing a pipeline though their reservation lands, or farmers who don't want to sell easements to a foreign company.
I think it is huge missed opportunity that conservative types are not coming out for private property rights.
This is also why I do not want to vote for Trump but I know Hillary is worse.
If I had a nickel for this simple phrase,
"If only Gary Johnson was not such an idiot"
If there was ever a time for a third party to win an election it was this year. If the Libertarians would have put a real candidate out I think they could have won.
If the race would have been between Bernie, Ron Paul, Trump, and the Crime Lord I wonder how it would have gone...

A strange mushroom

My fellow groundskeeper says you can pick the little white spots off and brew hallucinogenic tea.

I'm not going to be the first to try it, or second or third or actually anywhere on the list.

Madonna is for Trump! Threatens Hillary supporters with a Monica. Ironic Comparison Missed Comedians Across the Country

The threat of assault by the Crypt Keeper should swing the male vote to Trump.
Click her for a reputable source
I really hope that she doesn't take the position that NOT voting for Trump is automatically a vote for Hillary cause I'm worried it would be the end of MuddyValley.

My view of the tropical storms

I'm leaf-blowing in the rain and sweating. Too cold to just get wet too warm for my Oregon rain wear.

Not saying I want cold weather just kind of bemused.

Farming at night 21st century

I hope you all realize this is not particularly up to date technology...

It is Lazy Farmer home brew technology.

Oh I like that term. It's what I should do with that left over ton of slightly moldy rye. Lazy Farmer Home Brew. The mold would be a hallucigenic addition. Whoop! Whoop!

I'm a little disappointed in Donald

I don't find is surprising that Mr. Trump has had women accusing of unwelcome sexual advances. I was surprised it didn't happen sooner. I suppose that timing is everything.
That video sure did surface at the right time.
I wish Mr. Trump would have answered the allegations of the women a little differently.
I think he should have pointed out that his goal has never been to be public office or moral leadership of any kind. The problem is that those who aspired to be political and/or moral leaders have failed and people have turned to him who has never claimed to be anything other than a rich playboy to pick up the slack. Because he is honest and tells it like it is.
Then he could have deflected the accusations by saying something like, I've hit on a lot of women, sometimes it doesn't work, sometimes they change their minds, so I back off. I've not tried to discredit them or have them walk in front of a train. I just move on, heck, sometimes I buy them furniture.
And he could have thrown in how this has affected his marriage cause his wife has found out he's a bit of a dog and how with the country at stake he would do better and then make a completely inappropriate joke about cigars in the oval office and pledge not to make his name synonymous with a sex act.
I mean really, at this point who cares if he offends the shrill classes. They are already offended.
I think it was a mistake to say the allegations were all untrue. Why not just embrace it. "Yeah, I like women, I'm a dog, Sorry, now that I'm going to president I will have to be more professional, the nation is at stake..."
Now it sounds to me more like he is just going nuts. There is not point in talking about a conspiracy or acting oppressed. We are all tired of that. I want him to move forward and show some leadership.
I'm actually leaning away from Libertarian or Constitutionalist and voting for Trump just cause I want to see what will happen.
I know Hillary will screw us. No mystery there. Might as well have our descent into hell as a nation be entertaining.

And back to farming

I got a planting job!
It is 160 acres of rolling hills. I'm planting annual ryegrass. It has been raining for several days and so it is kind of tricky going. I have adjusted my planting depth about 20 times as the press wheels build up mud and then I'm planting shallow.

I've raised up the harrow on the back of the drill as there is some straw on the ground and it is so wet it just balls up. I really hope this works. I suggested baiting for slugs and spraying 32 solution which should provide extra Nitrogen to help the straw break down.

Sometimes I forget what it is like to farm.
I planted 20 acres Friday evening after dark and got the drill set. Everything went great until a coulter bearing went out. I took it off and kept going. The v-openers were actually cutting in nicely. My brother bought me another coulter and so I planted another ten acres.
I got there Saturday morning fairly early so I could listen to the old-time Country Western hour on KBOO and I made one round and another coulter bearing went out. Then I discovered I had left my wrench in the other vehicle.
But it was ok. I needed to turn the coffee off at home.
I was in a hurry. I used a quarter tank of fuel to got to the field and back. It is a Ford F250 with a 460 cu in engine...

Everything went fine aside from me forgetting to turn a valve off before unhooking the fertilizer tank. I got a fertilizer shower at noon. So I was sticky the rest of the day. The next fill up I forgot to shut the pump off and blew the filler lid off the top of the tank and showered the whole drill with liquid 10-34 fertilizer.

Then I filled the diesel tank up after dark and spilled diesel over the whole front of the tractor.
Next I ran out of seed at 8:30 p.m. and did not have the right trailer hitch ball to go get more. Then I broke the shock absorber mount out of the frame of my pickup turning around in a ditch. The bolt was neither 11/16 or 3/4 so I couldn't remove the shock. I used a bungee cord and baler twine to keep it from hitting the tire. That should hold it for six months.

Then I went home and went to bed. Today it is raining. Tomorrow it will be sun but I have to work. I guess we shall see what we shall see. I hate to work all night on Mondays because that makes me fall asleep on the lawn mower on Tuesday. Tuesday I pick up the family at the airport.

Utter idiots destroy a PBY flying boat (link)

The utter incompetence is just amazing. Actually criminal. They should name the salvage company.

https://www.backcountrypilot.org/forum/pby-on-sandbar-17512

The story

http://www.flyingmag.com/news/catalina-pby-beached-during-filming-nicolas-cage-movie

Insurance claim should be denied...

It is a Sunday afternoon. It has rained too much for me to plant. I was going to go fishing or go visit Muddyvalley but then I ended up calling an old friend I had not talked to in a long time.

I put a steak on the BBQ and connected all the stereos in the house together.

I seem to have lost my Tom T Hall collection and Maria McKee and Lone Justice. I am also infested with fruit flies and I don't know why. 

I did all the dishes and took out the compost.

I'm listening to Don Williams and am kind of struck by the lyrics.

I find it disturbing to see history written in terms of the progressive assholes who have ruined our country with their sophomoric view of life. Their total inability to understand that a real person (and perhaps society in general) is made up of contradictions and it is the conflict between those contradictions that gives you a depth of understanding, is very frustrating. I work against it one workstudy student at a time.

"Soooo... I'm a conservative but yet you like me, how do you rationalize that one?" says I.

"but you are different, not what I expected," says they.

"I'll let you run the lawnmower all day long if you wear a Trump hat," says I...

"Nooooooooo," wails they.

For another perspective:

I called an old friend who I have have neglected and we talked about the old days.

I was struck by two things. First the reality that stories are written by the hero. Second, I went sideways, not a hero or an anti-hero.

When I used to do ag shows and sell moisture testers I like to hear from Organic growers who had failed. You don't hear about failure stories you only hear about success.

My friend's uncle was a tail gunner on a B17. He disappeared over Europe and no one knows what happened to him so you don't hear the story. He may have bailed out and survived most of the war in a prison camp but because he didn't make it through the whole war and write a book we don't know.

Ann Frank is a notable exception because her story was found. (or made up, take your pleasure)

I suggest you listen to the Don Willaims song. It is important as song writer remembers his upbringing but he has moved outside of it. He learned to talk like the guy on the 6:00 news. He remembers being told about honor with a Stonewall Jackson picture on the wall but he is not like his friend who self destructed. He escaped to write a song about it and to benefit from it. He is a better person because he rationalized his upbringing with his reality into a way that made him a better person.

I hope more than anything else in the whole wide world that my daughter can do that...
Forget Muddyvalley... I'm going fishing...

Living on boiled eggs and ham and getting up early

Yesterday morning I was already dirty by this time.
This morning I woke up early to go to work and I heard rain so I went back to sleep.
It didn't rain that much...

The family left me for England and the Continent last Sunday. My wife left me a laminated checklist of what I should do every day, a ham, a huge container of boiled eggs, and a chocolate cake.
I've pretty much eaten it all. Now I will have to cook for myself. My wife actually left me frozen food that I promised to eat. I can't just bum off of other people as she will know when she gets home.
Although, my brother did bring me several slices of pizza when I was planting last night.
I started out by losing the dry erase pen so I'm not sure what I did yesterday. I'm never all that sure what I did yesterday and frankly, my grip on reality at any one given point is not that strong. So, it is bad that I lost the pen.
The dog seems hungry but then he is a dog and I'm almost positive I feed him. The chinchilla was quite happy to see me, or at least he wiggled his nose and I assumed that meant something. I gave him a raisin and he nibbled away at it.
There are still chickens but I can't find their egg stash.
I am currently out of pants so I'm doing laundry. This is not really a no-pants day. I would get a little chilly, not to mention frighten the horses.
The family appears to be having a good time. I keep getting notices that their balance is declining on their Starbucks card so I know they are caffeinated.

I planted 20 acres of annual ryegrass yesterday on the corn ground. I see the fancy chopper left little white trails. I don't know if it was silage inoculant or the corn was green and it was milk from the grain. I guess it doesn't really matter to me. I should get that field finished today. The rain will make no difference on hard ground.

I borrowed a large roller from my neighbor yesterday. It is 16 foot wide and is extremely heavy. He wanted it back by this morning so when I ran out of seed last night I went back to rolling. It was so dusty on the worked ground that I could not see a thing.
SO I took the roller back at 11 p.m.
Not a car in sight until I get on the narrow gravel road past his farm. Then, out of nowhere a little grey car comes bombing down the road. I head for the ditch. The little car zooms past me, missing the mailbox and never slowing down.
I missed the guy's driveway and had to back up.
It did wake me up...
And now off to work, perhaps I will wear coveralls.