My usual life story...

I need a couple classes in farm management. I wonder if Ed Winkle has thought of developing a correspondence course in farming.
We have a little clover to combine and a little buckwheat to combine and a couple truckloads of barley to deliver and a little ground to work and a little silage to chop and after October 15th I have wheat to plant for several neighbors.
It looks like rain...for a week...
I needed to get some ground ready to plant alfalfa and then I needed to plow 30 acres. I wanted to get the 30 acres worked so I would get a sprout from the coming rain.
I was on my way with the 2-155 last night but got called on to help set up dad's printer. We figured it was time to fix his printer as he told us he had a dream where it worked and it was a good dream...
My dad's "I have a dream" speech was not so much about social issues, but it was compelling.
By the time the printer was working it was dark and I was hungry and I thought I'd just get started in the morning.
This morning I started the tractor (not as early as I had planned) but then my helper arrived and I had a cup of coffee and discussed what we were doing today. When I walked back to the tractor I noticed a larger than normal drip and a larger than normal puddle of oil.
So, I wiggle the hose that is dripping...
Suddenly the hose exploded sending a spray of hydraulic oil at 2,200lbs of pressure under the dash of my tractor. The power steering line had blown.
This required removal of the hoods, fuel tank, cab floor, and a trip to town for fittings rated over 2,400lbs of pressure.
Then I discovered the cab mounting bushings had failed.
Then there was a wiring problem.
I did just get it all back together and started the tractor. No leaks so far.
I am very thankful that steering line didn't fail about the time I hit that mailbox last week, or on Hwy 18 or going over that steep hill. I would not have wanted to do this job alongside the highway.

My friend's artwork

It is pretty good, you can't even see the numbers!
Bless his angst-filled artist soul... or female drama filled soul-depending on how you look at it. If only he could run away and fight in the Spanish Civil war or be a stover on a tramp steamer.
Anyway, here is the link...
If you want to comment, be sure to use big words like existential or dadistic or avant-garde, or simulacrum which I have no idea the meaning of.
Don't say, "a pet monkey with a paintbrush," or "It's pretty good you can't even see the numbers..." or I don't get it-where is the tree? Those are not encouraging things to say to an aspiring artist.

We catch a fish

Daughter and I went fishing this afternoon. The cousins joined us. We also built roads with the vintage Tonka trucks at the river. But, in between we went fishing.
I caught two rather small bass. The first was more like a really big minnow. The second was not quite big enough to keep. The daughter and nephew were somewhat disappointed at not catching tiny fish of their own but shared in the excitement of actually catching a fish.
I caught the first fish with a MEPPS spinner and the second with a lure someone gave me. It looks like a really big slug with a hook sticking out of his bottom.

I accomplish nothing all week

I have been attempting to plant annual ryegrass since monday. I have planted 30 acres. Yesterday I planted 6 acres of annual and then after dark I planted another 6 acres of Timothy hay.
I have a 15ft drill. I've planted 100 acres in a long day.
I have only been fishing once.
Little problems with the drill, little problems with tractor, pickup loads of hay sold, 4 barrels of chicken feed, trucks moved, a few farmers who wanted to talk. But, somehow the time just went away.
I guess I will go to work now.

A totally hypothetical situation

Not that his would actually happen to anyone...
Lets say that it is pretty close to your birthday. A birthday that is one step closer to being old. Not that anyone would notice...
Perhaps it rained the night before and the sky is cloudy and dark.
Suppose that a 4 a.m. you had been awakened by dogs barking and discovered the neighbor's horses in your wife's flowerbeds. Suppose that because you are lazy and your wife didn't seem to care all that much, you noted that 1. you did not have the neighbor's phone number, 2. eventually they would discover the horses were missing and look for them, 3. the corral gate has been busted for 5 years, 4. if you call the sheriff you will have to wait for him to arrive, and 5. if they get hit by a car we will never speak of this again-and you go back to bed.
Suppose, that your employee arrives early and you give him a job and away he goes. Suppose that you are still just a little depressed by those clouds and your own mortality and so in a moment of clarity you decide to forget work and go fishing. Something you have never really done before, at least in any recent memory. A conscious decision to just flat out skip work. After all it has just rained and the sky is gray and it is perfect weather for catching one of those bass you see lurking in the deep water behind the log in the river.
So... remember this is all just hypothetical... you grab your fishing pole and sneak out to your pickup-only to see your hard working and some what older neighbor driving by. He is so amazed to see you carrying a fishing pole on a Monday morning that he does a double take, slows down and waves.
Now just suppose your daughter was given a old and rather neurotic German Shepherd who worries a lot about guns and imagines that things like fishing poles could be a gun and is so weird and uptight that she never looks where she is going and tends to walk out into the middle of the road, as she was a town dog.
Continuing with this hypothetical situation, the next thing you hear is the dull thunk of a dog hitting a pickup truck because the idiot dog walked in front of the truck and the driver was looking at you because you were obviously ditching work to go fishing and now he just hit your dog.
So... if that dog lay wheezing in the middle of the road with one eye popped out of her skull do you call the vet and get an examination or do you shoot the dog? Would that be ironic that the dog was so afraid of a fishing pole being a gun that it wandered into the road and injured itself beyond repair and so had to suffer the fate it so feared? Or would it be ironic that you just nursed the dog you really kind of dislike-because of it's pathetic neurosis, back to health after if nearly died this summer only to have it walk in front of a truck and die?
And, is it true that you could get large fines and possible jail time for shooting your own dog?
Keep in mind this is purely hypothetical and I could never image this sort of story line happening in real life. At least not to any NORMAL HUMAN BEING!!!!

Today we rode a steam train

Brother and family and I and daughter rode a steam train today. It was fun. There was a girl driving the train. I pointed that out to my daughter. That would be a great summer job!

News from the BBC

I was looking at news from the BBC this evening and I came across this story. It would appear that two guys broke into a house while the owner was home. One of the guys got stabbed and the police arrested the homeowner.
What absolutely amazes me is that "floral tributes" were laid at scene in honor of the house robber who got stabbed.
I am a pretty non violent person but my home is my castle. The whole story seems a bit odd and shows a strange attitude towards crime and criminals.