Why do I get sick at vacation?

 I hate Oregon winters. Non-stop rain and then nasty wet snow. It was fine when I had my daughter to play with but nowadays it just ain't the same.

Then I got sick. I have like two weeks vacation time coming and if I am going to get sick I can fake it at least one day at work. Hopefully infecting multiple people and then when I am getting well, take three days off and get paid for it.

It started Monday with a cough. I didn't realize it was a real cough. I thought it was the result of me eating lots of my sister-in-law's Chex mix. It hit me in the middle of the night. The headache is the worst part. Tuesday morning I took a Wu-Flu test. According to the test, I don't have the virus which originated in China. 

It also could have been the result of being cold and wet for a couple days. Or stress at Christmas or I got it from my wife who was sick a few weeks ago.

The problem is that while I am lazy and welcome a chance to set in the easy chair, I want to use that time reading a book or listening to a record or something other that trying to sleep.

My wife says I am at the grumpy stage and that is a good sign.

Almost a white Christmas

Eight years ago I would be out playing in the snow with my daughter. We would be figuring out how to ambush the cousins across the machinery lot.

I miss my daughter. 

She came home for Christmas and we played board games and had a nice Christmas I suppose. Then she left as she had to work today. Or perhaps it was the discussion. I don't know.

My wife got me a record cleaner for Christmas. A lady from Church has given me a box of record albums for evaluation. She won't say if she wants to sell them to me. They are incredibly dusty.

Spin-Clean record cleaner which actually works!

I was never into late 60's rock but I really like some of it. Cream, Quick Silver Messenger Service, there are a couple Beatles Albums, Eagles, John Harrison boxed set, and of course "John Barley Corn Must die" album by Traffic.

I took the box just for that album. I don't really like the song I just like the title. But, record collecting is a silly emotional pastime anyway.

It was amazing how dirty the records were. Of course the original owner was blind and perhaps couldn't see how badly he was treating his records. On the positive, all the original posters and paperwork are there. Obviously, he did not hang the posters. Not much point I suppose.

I don't know if I should buy the records or just tell her to sell them. They were so dirty I couldn't stand to listen to them so I cleaned them and put them in plastic bags.

Speaking of records.

I have been trying to sell a turntable which I rebuilt. No one wants to actually buy it. No one has a "stereo" any longer. So you would have to buy a phono preamp, amp, and speakers. I suggest just getting a CD player. Probably why I have not sold my turntable.

I think what I will do is get a cheap preamp from Phonopreamps.com, connect this to a cheap china amp that has bluetooth, and redo a couple of my little Bose monitor speakers. The problem is the price would be $250 to $300 so I am probably just throwing good money after bad.

Christmas is past.

My daughter is gone.

There is snow.

I have a great book to read that my brother gave me for Christmas. Perhaps I will retreat to 1945 when people had real problems...

I hate to live with regrets but I do. I think I should have quit my job after my father passed and we did all the accounting and realized we still had a farm. I just don't know if I should have gone back to farming or never came back from Florida. Somewhere and sometime I took a series of wrong turns in life and while it is fairly entertaining for observers. I am no longer as entertained as I once was...

Where I was six years ago and wish I was today!

Death of a Uni-tractor

 

My father built this swather attachment for the Uni-Tractor. It features an Owatonna cutting platform with modifications. Variable speed reel and drapers, adjustable height reel has a rotating drum with fingers to pull material through center. Top of the line back in the day.

By the time I ran it in high school it was pretty frustration to run. Rather horrible to run, I might add. It has sat in a shed for all these years and now the shed is falling down. The nephews decided to clean out the shed.

There is no where for Mr. Uni to go. Since there was calcium in the tires, the rims are shot. I seriously doubt anyone thought to put air in the tires before moving it anyway. 

Sort of an end of an era... I mean, before we could always get it running, for parades and stuff....

I just can't do it anymore...

 Today I checked my University Email account. This is always a worrisome chore. I never knew when I will get sent to a re-education camp, get put in charge of a re-education camp, get a letter so ineptly informing me of a raise that I start looking for other jobs, or just generally shake my head at the utter ineptness of the whole shebang. I would feel better if I thought they were actually sampling the fruits of the wine program but I suspect not.

I was quite unexcited to see the campus wide sort of newsletter/communication. It has replaced most of the bulk emails which is good but you have to wade through a lot of BS to find anything that pertains to you. 

This is what I found today. How to talk to your less enlightened relatives about the Wu-Flu. This is better than the original statement of get vaccinated or get fired, followed by a lessor threat of get vaccinated or get tested every week. 

We have a mask wearing policy. I wear the mask whenever students are with in eyesight. Other departments don't wear them at all. I usually wear mine over my mouth this is the correct way of wearing a mask as aforementioned mask only deflects germs being expelled from your mouth. If you are a total dumbass you can wear two masks which laughably do not work. Or perhaps I misunderstood my PPE training. (Putting two filters of the same mesh size does not filter out more than one filter of one mesh size.)

I now officially know of a person who legitimately got the virus China let loose into the world and has died from it. I am actually rather sad about it as he used to read this blog. He was a rather decent fellow.

I attempt to boycott the bastards but everything cheap comes from China and I am cheap...

In other news, last week my wife discovered my job description listed on Indeed under groundskeepers wanted. I asked my supervisor about it and apparently they were just too lazy to write a new help wanted advert for a different opening. I was working on my resume and cover letter but thought I would let my five readers get a laugh at my expense. I would just go with the incompetence angle but my specific job has not been listed for probably ten years. That was not the job I applied for when I got his job. It was never advertised, I was just installed.

Also, last week I was put in charge of the sexual harassment and Implicit Bias and micro-aggression training. I am pretty good at micro-aggression and gas lighting. Sort of a minor hobby of mine. I try to avoid sexual harassment although after being told certain types of jokes were not funny there is now a temptation.

The story i am about to tell is anecdotal and unprovable.

For some unknown reason i was put in charge of hosting our racism and sexual harassment training videos (which are produced by Vector training solutions. )

The grounds crew at present consists of four people who immigrated from Mexico, one old white guy like me, and our supervisor who is of Hispanic background but born in the USA.

I think I was put in charge because it is presumed I both speak English and run a computer. This is only partially true.

We got the training started and the newest worker insisted that he had taken the training on his own. (Cause he is just very conscientious about his job) so I excused him but did not let him sign the training sheet. (This was intended as a Micro-Aggression.)

(A Micro-Aggression is where you piss someone off with the hope that they will punch you and get fired. A macro-aggression is where you have the balls to punch the idiot yourself and don't care if you get fired.)

I got about three minutes into the neomarxist claptrap about unconscious cultural racism and micro aggression and i stopped the video and asked my coworkers, ok look, i am an old white guy, but I don’t feel this way about you! What do you think? I think this is a load of horseshite. How do you feel about me?

The agreement seemed to be that the training did not quite reflect our work environment and i was ok, as long as i was laughing with them and not at them. Well of course.

Then they wanted to watch Speedy Gonzolas cartoons on YouTube, which we did until I realized that there was no way i could explain my way outta that one to HR. We also got 100 percent on the assessment quiz. Took it three times till me got it right!!! I am an excellent teacher!

This training has sparked a lot of discussions. I don’t have good Spanish so it is hard to relay the stories.

Apparently, local schools have been giving some sort of assessment test to young students. Those who seem to be confused about sexuality or gender roles are picked out and given counseling reinforcing any tendencies which go counter to stereotypical/traditional gender roles.

Two examples, a boy who had strong feminine traits was encouraged to consider switching genders rather than to retain his masculinity but also understand his tendencies towards the feminine side.

A 12 year old girl was encouraged to identify as a lesbian and have a girlfriend, much to her parents consternation.

Parents who complain are threatened with termination of custody.

These parents are recent arrivals with poor English skills. They will not speak up out of fear.

Now if i take what I learned in racism class and apply it to White Liberals if makes a lot more sense. This is classic oppression. A social class with all the power of the State backing them. White liberal “intellectuals” who are teachers, inherently a “power class,” vs people without monetary resources or cultural power. Not native speakers, no acces to unbiased legal representation, fear of retribution, fear of deportation. The oppressed class that people like me are not supposed to identify with.

Honestly, Hispanic’s are pissed.

(Also, do NOT refer to Hispanic males as Latinx!!!!!!)

Of course i could never prove this. The person who told me would suddenly not understand if confronted.

In conclusion,

Republicans are missing out on the Hispanic vote. This is essentially a cultural civil war.

Hispanics who are here do not want the crime and corruption they left.

They want working path to citizenship, they don’t want their kids to be turned against them, they do not want to be forced to sell drugs to pay for getting to the USA, they would like a guest worker program with a path for citizenship. AND they don’t want criminal gangsters streaming across the border.

Is there a single Republican that speaks Spanish??? I don’t…

Sweet white female school teachers are screwing up your children! It is absolute insanity.

I don't know what to do about it. Obviously, no cell phones and private school or homeschool your kids.

Pre Christmas jitters.

We had one heck of a storm! Rain and wind and the power went out. I hooked up a generator so my wife could have light to wrap presents. 

I am sure that crazy weather across the nation will result in people asking forgiveness and redoubling their faith in their gods. Science and Climate change. Hopefully they will respond with more yard signs. I especially like the one that says they believe in Science, Women's rights are human rights, and Black Lives matter. Also, I hope this weather reminds everyone to vaccinate and to wear a mask. 

Obviously the god of Science is displeased.

(I am personally worried that Clyde Lewis is right. The projected change in the Earth's magnetic poles has caused devastation in the past eons as has the increase in Solar activity on the sun.)

But, I digress! More legislation is required to stop manmade global climate change. Everyone who grew up in the 1960's and read the Hobbit knows the internal combustion engine is the root of all evil and must be banned.

We also need to blindly plow ahead with mandatory Wu--Flu shots because once we are committed to a course that half the world hates, we must continue! The party line must not be questioned!

In other news... My wife is watching the TV. I hate TV. It makes me angry.

The Portland Timbers didn't win. Soccer is not a real American sport anyway. Baseball, American rules Football and Ice Hocky, are real sports. Timber fans are all obnoxious arsehole. 

I cannot concentrate. 

I gotta go...

Note: The title of this blog has nothing to do with the content. It was originally to be about my annual quest to a cheap Christmas tree ending in failure, rebuilding a KLH model 20 for my daughter who no longer cares, and me being put in charge of the Racist programming at work. Perhaps another day when the %$&*# TV is off...

Have a nice day...

Monday I take the day off and start to talk about farming and then go off the rails

I took the day off work. My supervisor gave us a talk about the purpose of Personal Time Off. We are to use it to relax and rejuvenate ourselves. 

So, I am blogging at 8:30 am on a Monday.

Further plans for today are to make more pig feed, look at a couple fields someone wants no-tilled to wheat, and mow the lawn.

I have inadvertently gotten back into the feed making business. I have 3,000lbs of peas which were tested at a whopping 40% protein, a couple ton of triticale, six big bags (700lb bags?) of oat screenings and a Pearson's Square App on my phone. 

Saturday I started calling previous customers. I have one person that wants 500lbs today. I had a 1200lb bag left over from my previous misadventures and so I thought I would mix it with my new batch which has a lot of alfalfa in it and make 3 mm pellets. The peas in the old batch were extremely dirty and thus horribly dusty when ground. I had the bright idea of turning the mix into 3 mm pellets.

I started at 4:30 and finished at 7:30 p.m. Ran the tractor out of diesel at 7:28 p.m. Then when I was moving the bag of pellets I spilled the bag. Then I was grumpy with my wife. Not a good evening. Plus, the Sunday sermon was about not being angry so I pretty much proved my Mother correct. Don't work on Sunday!

However, I did discover that 350lbs per hour is mindnumpingly slow for pellet production and my little White 2-60 (Fiat 560?) is a bit thirsty even when it is not working hard.

The pellets come out of the pellet mill at 150-170 degrees F. The drop onto a conveyer which is covered and has two 12v radiator fans which blow cooling air on the pellets. The pellets are about 100 degrees when they drop into the bag.  I previously used an auger and no fan which I think worked better but was harder on the pellets. But I loaned my auger to my neighbor and he wants me to grind corn for his distillery and I haven't gotten all the hemp cleaned out of my mixer grinder yet. So I have been avoiding him.

And now for some moralizing...

I saw this on my facebook page. I really used to like the lady who posted it. She seems to have turned into a bit of an Alberta Scrubb in her old age.  I see this post as an example of a typical leftist/progressive viewpoint.  

Part of the social action concept of the left is to Redefine cultural values in a negative light and then criticize those values based on YOUR previously defined stereotype.  Listen to this speech by Barak Obama. It sounds good. Just like the old Cold War appeal, "Why can't we all just get along, We all want the same things, don't we?" 

We don't want the same things. Jesus was not a socialist. Saying Jesus was a friend to the poor is not even correct. The message of the New Testament is how to survive and even flourish in any situation. If you are poor, a slave, under an oppressive regime, or you are richer than Daddy Warbucks, your responsibility is to show the Love Of God to your fellow man. Jesus upset the money changers in the Temple because they were perverting the institution/mission of the Church. The brotherhood of believers as well as individual Christians have responsibilities to help one another and to reach out to the unbeliever. But, society is changed one heart at a time and not by social action or legislation or force of arms. 

Know your enemy:

Rules for Radicals 

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In 1971, Saul Alinsky wrote an entertaining classic on grassroots organizing titled Rules for Radicals. Those who prefer cooperative tactics describe the book as out-of-date. Nevertheless, it provides some of the best advice on confrontational tactics. Alinsky begins this way: What follows is for those who want to change the world from what it is to what they believe it should be. The Prince was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power. Rules for Radicals is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away. His "rules" derive from many successful campaigns where he helped poor people fighting power and privilege.

For Alinsky, organizing is the process of highlighting what is wrong and convincing people they can actually do something about it. The two are linked. If people feel they don't have the power to change a bad situation, they stop thinking about it.

According to Alinsky, the organizer, especially a paid organizer from outside, must first overcome suspicion and establish credibility. Next the organizer must begin the task of agitating: rubbing resentments, fanning hostilities, and searching out controversy. This is necessary to get people to participate. An organizer has to attack apathy and disturb the prevailing patterns of complacent community life where people have simply come to accept a bad situation. Alinsky would say, "The first step in community organization is community disorganization."

Through a process combining hope and resentment, the organizer tries to create a "mass army" that brings in as many recruits as possible from local organizations, churches, services groups, labor unions, corner gangs, and individuals. 

Alinsky provides a collection of rules to guide the process. But he emphasizes these rules must be translated into real-life tactics that are fluid and responsive to the situation at hand.

Rule 1: Power is not only what you have, but what an opponent thinks you have. If your organization is small, hide your numbers in the dark and raise a din that will make everyone think you have many more people than you do.

Rule 2: Never go outside the experience of your people. 
The result is confusion, fear, and retreat. 

Rule 3: Whenever possible, go outside the experience of an opponent. Here you want to cause confusion, fear, and retreat. 

Rule 4: Make opponents live up to their own book of rules. "You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity."

Rule 5: Ridicule is man's most potent weapon. It's hard to counterattack ridicule, and it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage.

Rule 6: A good tactic is one your people enjoy. "If your people aren't having a ball doing it, there is something very wrong with the tactic."

Rule 7: A tactic that drags on for too long becomes a drag. Commitment may become ritualistic as people turn to other issues.

Rule 8: Keep the pressure on. Use different tactics and actions and use all events of the period for your purpose. "The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition. It is this that will cause the opposition to react to your advantage."

Rule 9: The threat is more terrifying than the thing itself. When Alinsky leaked word that large numbers of poor people were going to tie up the washrooms of O'Hare Airport, Chicago city authorities quickly agreed to act on a longstanding commitment to a ghetto organization. They imagined the mayhem as thousands of passengers poured off airplanes to discover every washroom occupied. Then they imagined the international embarrassment and the damage to the city's reputation.

Rule 10: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative. Avoid being trapped by an opponent or an interviewer who says, "Okay, what would you do?"

Rule 11: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it. Don't try to attack abstract corporations or bureaucracies. Identify a responsible individual. Ignore attempts to shift or spread the blame.

According to Alinsky, the main job of the organizer is to bait an opponent into reacting. "The enemy properly goaded and guided in his reaction will be your major strength."

See also 10 Principles for Public Media
And Co-operation First
And IAF Organizing pdf
And Post-Alinsky Organizing 

The Citizen's Handbook / Home / About / Table of Contents
The Citizen's Handbook / Charles Dobson / citizenshandbook.org

A Sunday speech about books and events

My brother found some old photographs. Thirty years from now will it be that my daughter finds and old MacBook?

Thirty years ago I thought I was going to be somebody someday. Didn't think I would be a groundskeeper and still poor!

In 1990 something I repainted this 1964 Minneapolis-Moline M670. It had something link over 10,000 hours on it then. I think we put another 10,000 on it since then. It is interesting that now our newest tractor is a 1986 White 2-155. 

I listen to books on my phone at work. I started with detective fiction from the 1960's, (John D. MacDonald) and continued through modern fiction, Adrain McKinty, Lawrence Block, Olen Steinhauer (don't remember other names)

I was amazed at the changes in values. Travis Magee had a flawed but distinct moral code, his author still believed in a positive moral outcome. Wrongs were righted and after a misadventure Travis and Meyer hung out in the Busted Flush with Plymouth Gin on ice and pontificated and philosophized. 

Their discussion were (In my opinion) part of the on going discussion that made pre-twenty first century, country music, blues, jazz, an reggae so interesting. The degeneration of tradition Christian values and the old codes of honor and integrity and stewardship of God's creation. Essentially the understanding that we are only here for our limited lifespan and our decision is to preserve life, live honorably, virtue for the sake of virtue, vs living for the moment as the moment is all that there is. Generally they follow the 1960's values of living for the moment but retaining their hints of "dear old Momma, bless her soul..."

Modern authors just kill everyone and random bad stuff happens. The hero's deal with random death and destruction. Old values are hollow. Their friends turn on them and must be killed. They are continually faced with impossible moral choices. Do you shoot the child or the woman or die your self.

I was listening to Adrian McKinty who incorporates Northern Ireland and the "Troubles," into his work. His characters are a bit more nuanced than a lot of the modern escapist fiction. There are vestiges of Catholicism and Protestant beliefs that give them moral conflicts as they navigate an incredibly high body count.

I tend to binge listen so perhaps I get too involved in my books. After the last Michael Forsythe murder/betrayal (Bloomsday Dead) I downloaded a book on CS Lewis and then moved on to a 40 hour marathon of "The Chronicles of Narnia."

I suddenly have realized that my whole train of thought is slightly off and that Olen Steinhauer is actually Cold War Fiction and I need more coffee.

Not to waste five paragraphs of random thoughts held together with a thin line I can't quite follow I will make some concluding observations.

First, Eustace Scrubb's parents and their horrible socialist friends have taken over the world. They are the Progressives that censor Hucklberry Finn and take "1984" an "Animal Farm," as textbooks.

Second, the reason the Children in "Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe," and "The Magician's Nephew," knew what to do in Narnia is because they had read the right books.  "Lord of the Flies," would not have happened to post WW2 British school children but happens every day in the modern America.

Third, I have been reading about the Kyle Rittenhouse trial. I watch much of the events as they happened before the censorship took over. Mobs focus on a perceived weakness and will run that person to the ground. Kyle was obviously young and inexperienced, the rioters targeted him because he had the AR and they didn't think he would use it. Leftists/Progressives have always provoked a fight and then claimed to be victims (See back to the actions of Eustace Scrubbs)

People have gone through Progressive/Socialist revolutions before. There is a lot of history. Fascists in Italy were a reaction to violent Socialists. The Spanish Civil war could never have had a good ending.

If Kyle would have been convicted it would have meant that you could no longer defend yourself in times of social disorder. In fact, there will be a push to eliminate your right to self defense.

Read what what state leaders have said about the trail and note how they lie about the actual proven facts of the event.

The words of the Governor and Speaker Tina Kotek are pretty amazing.

A beautiful Saturday Morning

 The title of this blog is in fact, The Lazy Farmer. As such I feel there are standards to uphold.

We have had rains of Biblical proportions. I suspect much of the farm is flooded. But, I am sitting in my rocker in front of a warm fire. My wife is gone and her co- dependent dog is locked outside. (She has eyed me with suspicion since I ran over her with the grain drill.)

I have a full cup of coffee and I can hear the whistle of the infamous Willamina Wobbler at the rail crossing down the road. Surprisingly I don't hear the gaggle of Canada Geese on the flooded fields. They have not arrived yet. I also did not wake up to gunfire so the ducks must be swimming a little further out today.

I have much to do. The windshield wipers have failed on my wife's pickup. She lets me borrow it for work as my truck is not currently appropriate for polite company. Of course it is not simple. The windows also do not roll down. It is the cab computer which is buried deep under the dash. If I were not so lazy I would repair the 1966 Ford pickup that just needed a carburetor rebuild or the 1970 Camper Special that needed heads or the 1964 that needed a new starter post, or the 1963 Studebaker Cruiser that just need the torque converter put back in.

In order to get the pickup into the shop I need to process a bag of hemp (150lbs) and a bin of goat feed. Although I do have 15 more bags of hemp to do and I was supposed to make alfalfa pellets for my friend's rabbit collection and I must clean my shop as there is not a flat surface not occupied by old electrical gauges, parts of Great Plains grain drill, White Tractor parts, unsorted tools, a couple ancient vacuum pumps, speakers salvaged from the college, and various unfinished projects.

So I have unabashedly retreated to the comfort of a quiet house and a pot of coffee and the day my very well proceed with out me. Of course about 10 a.m. I will completely panic as I realize just how much is not done.

I also need to mow the lawn and use my recently acquired groundskeeper skills to knock the yard in to shape as the wife's family Thanksgiving is at our house this year...

In other news....

A lady from church brought me a box of albums to evaluate. They are 1970's classics that every middle aged white guy buys as soon as he starts collecting albums. Perhaps the difference is that I never started really "Collecting" albums, I just never stopped acquiring albums.

Last night was the first time I have purposefully sat down and listened to a Pink Floyd album.

I was not all that impressed. The production was good. I found the odd sound effects annoying. The producers obviously did enjoy their stereophonic effects! 

I am going to keep the album "John Barleycorn Must Die," by Traffic as that is an epic title. I suspect that the albums are worth much more than I would be willing to pay for them. But, I am enjoying listening to them. Especially now my free online music services don't let me find specific songs without making me hear stupid advertising and playlists I don't care about.

And now for another thought. I was watering plants in the University library yesterday. I like libraries and used bookstores. It reminds me of the days when I could actually read. I found this section of books. I wonder if the insane liberal idiots know about this. Pretty darn colonial of the school!

I discovered this while I was listening to a commentary on C.S. Lewis, Chronicles of Narnia. The Children know what to do in Narnia because they had "read the right books."  Books of heroism and "doing the right thing," not this post modernist shite where the main character has to be perverse just to knock it all off the rails. 

Holden Caulfield was one screwed up little shite and while I have sympathy for him. I don't think he should be a roll model.

Likewise my favorite teenaged angst book, "The loneliness of the Long Distance Runner," has inspired me to be an absolute contrarian my whole life.

But, I digress...

In honor of Armistice Day, I give you this link... because I am contrarian.

And to further confuse you all....

I think this may have also happened to me in 1978.

Have a nice day!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9NqnzPc-Ic

And while we are at it...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8X1EKyhLHw

Wish someone would give me an apple crate full of British Pub Rock, weird 1960 soul music, non-nashville sound country western, even Bluegrass with banjos.

When your kid decides to be the opposite of you, it is pretty sad

 Mark Glaze, fanatical gun control activist, has killed himself. CLICK HERE for story.

If you read to the very end you will see that his mother was a homemaker and his dad owned a gun store. He is quoted as saying if you would have told him when he was a kid, shooting guns and hanging out in Colorado, he would be the face of the anti-second amendment movement, he would have said you were crazy.

Somewhere along the way he decided to the be the opposite of his parents. Of course he suffered from severe depression and anxiety but no one makes a correlation. 

At least the women in his family told him he was wonderful...

I lose my email and muse about blogging and make hemp tonic

I hope no one has been attempting to email me. I forgot to check the blog email for six months and mail.com deleted by email account and then would let me use the same email address. So for those of you who care my email is now buddeshepherd@mail.com 

I think I have the email links updated but I have a lot of trouble with my Buddeshepherd Google account and signing in to Blogger.

I went through my settings on Blogger and I was amazed at how many of our friends are not updating. Several have died. Quite a few quit posting in 2013. I don't really remember 2013 so I don't know what happened.

I get about five views a day. Usually people who want to know how to split a White tractor or rebuild a Dual 1019 turntable.

When I post I think Ralph, Gorges' Duck, and someone in Oregon get notified and see my blog. Sometimes I get 20-30 views in the days following a post.

Have people gone to other platforms like Instagram? Or is blogging dead? 

To change the subject. 

I have unfortunately gotten back into the hemp business. I though I had it all sold. However, the person buying it decided he didn't need two year old hemp buds and he backed out.

Actually, what happened was my friend sold all his hemp to a guy out of state. It was not the greatest price but it was a sale. Now if he would have just said he had 1100 lbs instead of  1000lbs and sold mine it would have been nice but I suppose that would have been complicated. He did try to get me in on the deal and stored my hemp for a year. Anyway I had to go get the hemp last week as his partner is selling his farm and that is where the hemp was stored.

My hemp is really nice, all buds and the bags are heavy. I am going to turn the buds into pellets and use the pellets for fertilizer or goat feed. 

I asked my pot growing neighbor if I should just dump the hemp and he said I should give the pellets a try. Then he brought me another ton of the shite that he had stored in his own shipping container. 

Yesterday I tried pelletizing it. I got everything set up and it started pouring down rain. The hemp would not feed out of the big bags. I got soaked. I am not sure why I am doing this. No one is going to buy the crap.

I also made hemp tonic last week. I have some friends that like it for muscle pain. I made a 1000 mg/ounce dose. I used MCT coconut oil as a carrier.  If my math was correct. If it was wrong I made a 2000mg dosage.  I suspect they are putting it in their coffee but I don't ask. 

Today I am going to make some with alcohol as a carrier. This works differently than the coconut oil as the alcohol evaporates leaving the CDB resin on your skin. It is not an oil that you work in to your skin. I use Everclear as it is 190 proof, works as a hand sanitizer, and since I suspect people may be 'tapping the Admiral' so to speak, I don't want any ingredients that are poison.

It works great for some people. Some people it doesn't help. I don't know why. 

A farming picture

People usually worry about hitting power lines or interstate highways when farming and looking at a computer screen. Someone left an apple tree and a ladder in the field. I did stop in time. 

I have been farming in my spare time. I had lots of great blogging ideas but it was too depressing to comment about the lunacy in today's world.

I wish I had the free time, the money, the privilege to worry about oppression. Be a nice change from worrying about going broke. I suppose the guilt would get tiresome.

More farming...

Random rant about something you have heard before and it won't even matter except to get me on a list somewhere

Oregon is going nuts and it is probably time to leave.

I grew up hearing stories from my Uncle about leaving Germany between the wars. He foresaw the end of this country better than anyone else I have even talked to.

Germany was devastated spiritually after WWI and it slowly became a dual society. The rural people were conservative and more religious. The city folk became progressive and liberal. According to Uncle H the growing divide between the liberals and the  smarter than anyone else folk became significant. 

A charismatic leader like Uncle Dolf who promised to rid the country of socialist/communists/weird perverts and university professors(sorry for being redundant) was welcomed because he was an alternative. A few normal people realized it was time to leave. But overall I suspect that the temptation to welcome brownshirts beating the shite out of Antifa shite head types was so strong that one might overlook a little spillover. 

Needless to say, Uncle H got the heck out and moved to Texas. I suspect the only thing that will keep Oregon from turning into Berlin of 1926 is... , well I don't really know. I don't see a charismatic right-ringer rallying us all. The Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer a first seemed to be a step in defense of the rest of us but they were immediately and skillfully marginalized. The racial diversity of the groups, Latino, Cuban, Black, White was denied and the clever folks defined them as RaCist. Of course. The "so called violence" didn't do much as those groups seem to have just ended up being mostly Oregon State Police and FBI infiltrators agitating each other. Plus, rural Oregonians are not extreme right wing or "racist fascists." We just want to be left alone. We don't want Kate Brown and countless civil servants telling us what to do. We don't want snot nosed brats protesting endlessly about non-existent oppression of people who we don't even know. We don't want global warming bullshite forced on us because the idiot early baby-boomers read the Hobbit and Grapes of Wrath and convinced their grandkids that the internal combustion engine is evil and that all Mexicans are oppressed farmworkers. (I used to be post baby-boom and pre Gen-X before Wikipedia expanded the Baby Boom years. There ain't a lot of us and we seem to be a grumpy lot)

Note: I started to write this last weekend and ran out of steam. I am still out of steam. I got nothin to say. 

Here are some pictures with no captions and a video that probably won't work.

My collections are interesting

I Accomplish Stuff at My real job....

I have to decide. Decisions are hard for me. I generally choose wrong. So do discard the first pick as it is probably wrong and take the second? Or just go boldly forward with no regrets... I have had bad luck with both so perhaps I should just choose randomly...

Today is Independence Day. It may be too dry to set off explosives. Plus, I kind of identity as a wearer of the grey.

My choices,

Go to Church...

Go fishing...

Rake alfalfa. ( I kind of want to do that the most)

Go back to bed. (Five gallons of coffee later I suspect that is not an option.)

Proofread my blogs...

Find the movie projector and "Gum Ball Rally" and invite the people over who have been begging me to do movies for the past year...

Wallow in depression till my daughter arrives to work on her bus, annoy her and my wife, then go fishing...

Yesterday was a good day.

The a/c fan quite on the 2-135 but we had a new one. I was not driving the 2-135 so it were not I who suffered. I sent my retired guy helper home and worked on the tractor. I did get it repaired. It was a POS Chinese fan. ( A shout out to my namesake in California who actually blocked me on facebook because I complained about Chinese bearings and he though I hated his wife who is apparently Chinese- Insanity runs in our family) I really hate Chinese products. Have nothing against Chinese people in general especially if they are from The REPUBLIC OF CHINA.

But I digress...

The 2-135 is suffering the curse of a repaint. Exhaust manifold leaks, (or has a bad head gasket on the result Hercules. Of course the Hercules was rebuilt by the US Army before the Obama appointees took over so I figure it was made with regular pride and not June Pride so it is probably fine) It also has a water leak from the rubber joint under the Turbo, which also makes me suspect a head gasket, but no bubbles so I don't know)

My nephews took the initiative to bring the Tedder rake and baler up to Muddy Valley and get things going whilst I worked on stuff. I sent them home as it was  6 p.m. on a Saturday and I figured there was a rodeo somewhere that needed attending. But first I waited till the eldest got all the twine tangling problems sorted out on the baler. Actually feel a little guilty about having the second oldest rake another two rounds till the baler started working again.

I got my just rewards. The A/C in the 2-155 was so cold I got the shivers. I really hated to turn it down as most of the time you are way too hot running a tractor. I suppose it doesn't all even out in the end.

And then I decided I would open the next field. I was a mile away from the pickup on the opening round when suddenly the sun disappeared behind the hill and the moisture content jumped to 20 percent. I figured that was probably ok and baled a little further and then it went to 30 percent. There ain't no rationalizing that away so I quit.

I actually feel good about accomplishing something for the first time in a year. Of course I should have stacked it also, but perhaps this afternoon when it is hot...

In other news, my college is giving away surplus cool scientific stuff next week and I want to take it all. I don't know what it does but I want to be a scientist. If only I could concentrate. If I could concentrate and remember anything but the lyrics to old country western songs I could do anything in the world!!!

The lazy farmer is actually lazy nowadays...

It is hot...

It is never hot in Oregon this time of year. 

It is going to be 90 degrees at 12 midnight tonight. I should have been hooking up lights on all the tractors. Years ago we had similar weather and I just basically switched to working at night. 

Now I have this job as a groundskeeper and when I get home I am so tired from the heat I just don't feel like doing much. Pretty sad. I really am becoming the lazy farmer.

Last week I turned down a better job. It paid $2 an hour more. I suppose  I had good reasons.

1. It would have cost me $1 an hour to drive the distance. The reason this is a big deal is I live close enough to my current job that I could drive home for lunch. Switching to a 40 minute commute on a highway I hate was daunting.

2. They made me an offer. I asked for 45 cents more to meet my goal. They said that HR had a computer program to determine pay equality and after working for my current college I understand the codewords. The code word is F... You. They are coating it in Jesus language instead of social justice and diversity. Actually I think at the new job I would be getting a double dosage of both.

3. The President of my current college invited me for coffee to discuss my mental state. I went to his office. The ladies in the office acted weird like I should not be there or I was getting fired. Turns out he was on vacation. I was invited to his house.... 

I really felt I should go to the back door as it is the president's mansion on campus. He calls me in and his lovely and gracious wife brings me coffee. We have a great chat, the cheers me up. We agree on a strategy. I ask for what I want, which is pretty reasonable and based on the wages of local groundskeeping companies. If they don't give it I walk. I have a job.

And that is what I did.

I am still a little depressed. I just cannot seem to boost my motivation. It will be a long summer.

I have been driving dump truck in the evenings. It gets me more behind with fixing farm equipment but $30 an hour is pretty nice. Plus, they are so happy for my help. The excavator guy has a truck load waiting for me at 4:05 pm. I haul it to the farm where I am dumping it and try to make it back by 4:45 pm. He quits at 5 so that gives him time to load me. Then I try to get two loads in myself. I am down to loading in 20 minutes. (I am getting better with the excavator. )

I try to make it home by 7:30. So far I have only ran the stacker one evening. I worked till 10 p.m. and thought I was done but didn't realize there was another field. The problem with this is that while it is nice in cool in the stacker, the next day I can't stay awake on the lawnmower because of the heat. 

I am afraid I am getting old. I have no idea how to deal with that problem...

I am reflective

We had a different Pastor in Church this morning. I enjoyed the sermon. I needed it. I am too uptight.

He quoted TS Elliot, "The Hollow Men," and reminisced about reading "On The Beach," many years ago. Then he quoted Dale Carnegie, "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living."

I wanted to call/text my daughter and talk about it. "On the Beach" is an awesome movie. (Having never read the book) plus TS Elliot. "The Hollow Men," is interesting in so many ways just as a poem but the Pastor's Biblical references and the "On The Beach," reference made it all so much more interesting to me. There was a time when I thought talking about things like that with my daughter was the most amazing thing in the world.

But alas, that that time has past. It is a different world now.

I went to my nephew's graduation yesterday. Him and his three other classmates seem happy and positive. It is Child Abuse to put your kid into the public school system if you have any values at all. 

I often question my decision to work off the farm. I question even more my decision to get my daughter to attend the Young Writer's Conference at Sweet Briar college. I am not a particularly good parent.

However, when I decided to get an off the farm job I felt I had to make a decision. My dad had to go to a rest home. If he would have lived another year there would be no farm. This would have probably been a good thing for all involved, but that is another story.

I did not want to be a 50 year old truck driver, it is a tough life. I often get confused at what gear I am in. It is an 18 speed. Traffic is a little scary on HWY 18 on a Friday with 12 yards of gravel. I think it would be worse with a set of doubles or a 50ft trailer. There has got to be a niche for me...

But... That is what I was last week.

The company doing the steam line project at my college needed truck drivers and they hired me for twice my hourly wage. I took a week of vacation time and drove dump truck. Saturday, my supervisor told me I could just work by myself if I wanted and I should just use the excavator to load myself. 

The bucket is quick attach, it rotates and tilts independently. It is really amazing to run. I am not good at running it but I have observed the real excavator driver using it and he is awesome.

JRT Mechanical seems to be a great place to work. I sent a photo to my supervisor documenting that I anciently broke the top board on the dumb truck with the excavator bucket. (The controls are opposite what I am used to and I was trying to learn new controls instead so switching the lever). I said he could take the cost of a new 2x10 out of my pay. He said it would be cheaper to just buy a new dump truck...

I probably should have turned the lever that changed the controls but I am so bad at running an excavator I thought I might as well learn the other system. I did get better...

I kind of hope they offer me a full time job.

My supervisor from the Grounds Department at the University I work at brought me coffee Saturday. I offered to let him run the excavator but he declined. It was kind of funny...

I don't think I can work at my daughter's college. It pays another $2 per hour. They have amazing facilities. People seem to love their jobs. That college is NOT going broke.

But.... The secret to happiness is controlled access. 

I refuse to go to work in the morning and pretend to listen to a self help book but actually listen to...

 I am a bad farmer. A lazy farmer. There is hay to cut and in three days, there will be hay to bale. I have feed to make, I have a broken tractor, a broken motorcycle, a broken golf cart, and several axes to grind. (metaphorically speaking)

It is 8:30 a.m. on a Saturday. I have a baler to put together and I am blogging. Perhaps that is where the Lazy Farmer name does truly apply.

What I would rather be doing

I hate working on baler plungers. I have trouble reading the instructions. When I had my larger helper Bill, we would argue over the instructions and somehow figure it out. I do not think in the same way as my new helper. Nothing against him. It just doesn't work the same.

This needs to be installed and adjusted and then readjusted and then adjusted again. Then I will probably get it wrong.

I have a book but I can't read... Actually, I can't understand instructions...

I need my daughter. But she has abandoned me.

The weather man is calling for 90 degree temperatures next week. I am taking a vacation. I am going to drive a dumbstruck for the company that is redoing the steam lines at my University. I also have an interview at another University as a handyman groundskeeper. There is a very unlikely possibility that it will pay two dollars an hour more. If so I will take it.

My daughter is working in the grounds department of that University this summer. It is where she attends. She has been advocating for my employment there. I am not sure this is a good idea. I tend to interact too much with her. She objects, but then turns around and seeks me out. This job is an example. She was going to work in my grounds department but then got a job at her University. Then she tries to recruit me.

She said, "At LU I am known as Farmer ....'s daughter. At GFU you will be known as Lulu's dad." A subtle difference. But somehow important in terms of status....

The decision to switch jobs is actually impossible. I was offered the job a couple years ago. The pay turns out to be almost the same when the extra half hour drive is figured in. The drive kind of sucks.  At my current job I now I have 15.5 hrs of PTO per month and they give me all sorts of interesting junk. They are renovating the science building and I am really hoping for cool scientific junk this time! 

I am listening to "How to stop worrying and start Living," by Dale Carnegie. It is a refresher course...

Ok, I'm lying... This is what I am really listening to. Probably why I can't read.