There is an 85% chance we will be watching movies on the neighbor's barn Saturday night. I would say it was in honor of my brothers 35th birthday but he is not turning 35 and I forgot it was his birthday tomorrow.
If you would like to attend you can just show up around dark and you don't have to bring my brother a present. You could bring him pie. I am sure he likes pie. I know I like pie. You probably should bring a chair.
Most likely it will be Woody Woodpecker shorts.
Although I do need to move a tractor and drill first.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
What I do with my life... Hint, it involves balers and straw and stackers and old stuff...
I am baling wheat straw.
Neighbor gave me 60 acres. The first two fields were good the second field was terrible. Very weedy. He swathed it for me but the swather guy went the same direction as the combine and really fast. So, half the stubble was bent over instead of cut and he didn't get any of the wheel tracks.
I got my 1500 bales of 100lb 3-tie straw and now am working on my 7,000 bales of 60lb two tie. We did 1,800 in the last two days.
I got the baler Tuesday after the fellow who wants the straw called and confirmed. I am selling it by the bale so the weight doesn't matter. (As long as it is 60lbs) What matters is getting enough bales in a stack and on the truck.
I had given up on the little Hesston 14x18 baler and was attempting to either get our Freeman 200 going or rent a baler from the local Case-IH dealer. I decided the 14x18 was not going to work and had moved on to the 16x18.
Then I remembered by brother-in-law has a brand spanking new Case-IH baler and I was sure it was 16x18.
Went to look at it and it is a heavy duty two-tie baler. Split knotters, extended chamber, extra bracing on the chamber, hydraulic tension, and the paint was not even worn off the inside of the chamber.
So we towed it to the field and put it on the White 2-135. The straw was so heavy I couldn't use the 70hp John Deere I had rented as it's lowest speed was 1.5 mph. The 2-135 will do 1 mph with the 540 pto shaft in.
I'm not sure if it is the 130 hp or the baler but it really puts out the bales for it's size. I am a little worried we will hit a heavy clump and the baler will just start spinning over and over from the torque.
I started picking up the bales and they were 14 x18" bales. (14 x18 x46" actually) So now I am back to trying to find how to get the most in a stack that will fit on a truck.
I have to get the bottom layer on edge so you can pick the stack up with a squeeze. So that makes it 18" + (14 X 7) = 116" The stack should be 16" times 7 = 112"
I could go 7 high with three layers on edge, 18, 18, 14, 18, 18, 14, 14 = 114"
The bottom must go on edge 18" and two tie layers must be flat (14") and the stack has to fit on a truck and so can't be much higher than 112".
The guy hauling my straw thinks he is over heigth at the ideal stack of 8 high which is 116"
Going with non tie layers on edge and the top flat is the next best but will it stand up?
In other news here is the beached whale...
And this is what I found in a shed where I am baling. Anyone seen one of those before?
Neighbor gave me 60 acres. The first two fields were good the second field was terrible. Very weedy. He swathed it for me but the swather guy went the same direction as the combine and really fast. So, half the stubble was bent over instead of cut and he didn't get any of the wheel tracks.
I got my 1500 bales of 100lb 3-tie straw and now am working on my 7,000 bales of 60lb two tie. We did 1,800 in the last two days.
I got the baler Tuesday after the fellow who wants the straw called and confirmed. I am selling it by the bale so the weight doesn't matter. (As long as it is 60lbs) What matters is getting enough bales in a stack and on the truck.
I had given up on the little Hesston 14x18 baler and was attempting to either get our Freeman 200 going or rent a baler from the local Case-IH dealer. I decided the 14x18 was not going to work and had moved on to the 16x18.
Then I remembered by brother-in-law has a brand spanking new Case-IH baler and I was sure it was 16x18.
Went to look at it and it is a heavy duty two-tie baler. Split knotters, extended chamber, extra bracing on the chamber, hydraulic tension, and the paint was not even worn off the inside of the chamber.
So we towed it to the field and put it on the White 2-135. The straw was so heavy I couldn't use the 70hp John Deere I had rented as it's lowest speed was 1.5 mph. The 2-135 will do 1 mph with the 540 pto shaft in.
I'm not sure if it is the 130 hp or the baler but it really puts out the bales for it's size. I am a little worried we will hit a heavy clump and the baler will just start spinning over and over from the torque.
I started picking up the bales and they were 14 x18" bales. (14 x18 x46" actually) So now I am back to trying to find how to get the most in a stack that will fit on a truck.
I have to get the bottom layer on edge so you can pick the stack up with a squeeze. So that makes it 18" + (14 X 7) = 116" The stack should be 16" times 7 = 112"
I could go 7 high with three layers on edge, 18, 18, 14, 18, 18, 14, 14 = 114"
The bottom must go on edge 18" and two tie layers must be flat (14") and the stack has to fit on a truck and so can't be much higher than 112".
The guy hauling my straw thinks he is over heigth at the ideal stack of 8 high which is 116"
Going with non tie layers on edge and the top flat is the next best but will it stand up?
In other news here is the beached whale...
And this is what I found in a shed where I am baling. Anyone seen one of those before?
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
There once was a time when towns like Amity and McMinnville had a real main street and people shopped "downtown"
Forget the "dragging the gut" festival part of this article. As the only middle aged dude in America without the muscle car that he never had as a kid, I am somewhat nonplussed about the whole event. I suppose I could take the daughter and ride the Triumph. Somehow it seems like it is just another thing that the tight arsed adults stole from the kids and now want to relive at retirement age.
However, click on the link and look a the photograph.
Once McMinnville had a real downtown. I remember shopping for Christmas presents when you could walk from one "real" store to another.
JC Penney's, Rutherford's, The Dime Store, I remember a briefly lived toy store which had a whole wall devoted to Marx Johnny West dolls, Taylor Hardware, Coast to Coast, A Shoe store, Sewing Store, Oregon Stationary, Thrifty Drugs, you get the idea.
Then came Payless Drug store and the shopping mall on the outskirts of town. Things got tough downtown as people tried out the new big stores on the outskirts of town. And then, just about the time I remember my Mother and Grandmother decided to go back to the downtown as the new stores were not that much better, there came the downtown beautification project. The first "bulbouts" and pedestrian friendly screwed up curbs at the crosswalks and the downtown died.
The infamous "dragging the gut," tradition of kids cruising on Friday and Saturday nights only caused problems when there were real businesses downtown that suffered from traffic congestion. I suppose i the reason it came to a head in the mid 1980's is because the last long time business were finally failing. That and the mid 1980's is when the 1960's generation started running things and they are the least self aware and closed minded of any generation. It is pretty funny that the generation that gave us free love and "peace protests" is also the generation that stopped freedom of assembly in downtown McMinnville....
But, I could digress on that subject and get off into the TSA and NSA and conspiracy theories and the end of the world and go on all day...
Back to Third Street.
"Dragging the Gut," which sounds pretty funny when the dorky people that never did it back in the day, now promote it, is a good idea now because.
There are no "bread and butter" businesses in downtown McMinnville. Third Street is full of knick-knack wine country shops, coffee shops, a McMinnimums (or however you spell it) there is still a bookstore, Ice Cream shop.
Most of businesses are desperate for the disposable income of middle aged people and so welcome all the middle aged folks who have finally restored the car of their dreams and want to drive at a crawl, not because they want to whistle at pretty young girls, but because they are afraid to scratch the 15 coats of hand rubbed lacquer...
And there are no kids with loud music taking risks and showing off and getting into trouble.
Perhaps we can bring it all to Amity.
Only with wine, and bicycles, and the occasional drunk guy on the BMX because he lost his license and is spending his days picking up pop cans between Amity and Ballston.
And now I shall return to baling straw and being a grump.
So the link didn't work and now I can't find what I linked to.
Here is a link that has the photo I wanted.
Here is a story in the Wine Country Newspaper
However, click on the link and look a the photograph.
Once McMinnville had a real downtown. I remember shopping for Christmas presents when you could walk from one "real" store to another.
JC Penney's, Rutherford's, The Dime Store, I remember a briefly lived toy store which had a whole wall devoted to Marx Johnny West dolls, Taylor Hardware, Coast to Coast, A Shoe store, Sewing Store, Oregon Stationary, Thrifty Drugs, you get the idea.
Then came Payless Drug store and the shopping mall on the outskirts of town. Things got tough downtown as people tried out the new big stores on the outskirts of town. And then, just about the time I remember my Mother and Grandmother decided to go back to the downtown as the new stores were not that much better, there came the downtown beautification project. The first "bulbouts" and pedestrian friendly screwed up curbs at the crosswalks and the downtown died.
The infamous "dragging the gut," tradition of kids cruising on Friday and Saturday nights only caused problems when there were real businesses downtown that suffered from traffic congestion. I suppose i the reason it came to a head in the mid 1980's is because the last long time business were finally failing. That and the mid 1980's is when the 1960's generation started running things and they are the least self aware and closed minded of any generation. It is pretty funny that the generation that gave us free love and "peace protests" is also the generation that stopped freedom of assembly in downtown McMinnville....
But, I could digress on that subject and get off into the TSA and NSA and conspiracy theories and the end of the world and go on all day...
Back to Third Street.
"Dragging the Gut," which sounds pretty funny when the dorky people that never did it back in the day, now promote it, is a good idea now because.
There are no "bread and butter" businesses in downtown McMinnville. Third Street is full of knick-knack wine country shops, coffee shops, a McMinnimums (or however you spell it) there is still a bookstore, Ice Cream shop.
Most of businesses are desperate for the disposable income of middle aged people and so welcome all the middle aged folks who have finally restored the car of their dreams and want to drive at a crawl, not because they want to whistle at pretty young girls, but because they are afraid to scratch the 15 coats of hand rubbed lacquer...
And there are no kids with loud music taking risks and showing off and getting into trouble.
Perhaps we can bring it all to Amity.
Only with wine, and bicycles, and the occasional drunk guy on the BMX because he lost his license and is spending his days picking up pop cans between Amity and Ballston.
And now I shall return to baling straw and being a grump.
So the link didn't work and now I can't find what I linked to.
Here is a link that has the photo I wanted.
Here is a story in the Wine Country Newspaper
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Tractor Art and Chicken Feed and straw.
My chicken feed customers are clamoring for more feed. I have not advertised in a year. I must be way too cheap on my feed prices.
I've just finished baling grass straw and have sold it all. The buyer from the major straw/hay export company spent the afternoon driving from field to field with me. It is kind of funny. I suspect that usually when he is driving from field to field the fields are larger than 20 acres and there is more than one stack in each field.
I got less than I hoped for the good stuff and more than I expected for the less than good stuff and it will all be gone soon and I will not have to load out of the barn in the winter time.
I just wish I could keep a bit more of the money...
$20-40 to the farmer, $35-40 for baling/raking, $7-10 for stacking, $1 to me. However at one time I could get three burritos for $1 at the Grand Island store.
The scrapper neighbors went by yesterday with a 49' Buick.
I flagged them down.
I told them that the Buick's final resting place should be under a tree in our pasture and not on a scrap boat to China. They offered to trade for a dead Ranger pickup of which we have four (4). I came pretty close but I had to go rescue my helper who was nearly lost in a giant fillbert orchard while looking for a tiny wheat straw field.
However, my aging neighbor drove by twice looking closely at the Buick and he stopped as soon as the scrapper drove off. Was that an overhead valve straight eight?
"Yes it was," said I.
I have him the scrapper's business card.
Pretty soon the Buick came back and disappeared into one of the huge hay sheds across the road.
The scrapper offered to take a Ranger anyway.
But we are going to fix them all up and drive them some day...
I leave you with tractor art. Just stop for a moment and admire the composition of this photo. Note the avant garde refusal to follow the 1/3-2/3 rule and my excellent cropping of the photo. As they say, "it's all in the frame..." I really have not clue who said that but I'll put quotes around it anyhow.
The old IH on the feed mill. Nothing like a little black diesel smoke against a clear blue sky...
I've just finished baling grass straw and have sold it all. The buyer from the major straw/hay export company spent the afternoon driving from field to field with me. It is kind of funny. I suspect that usually when he is driving from field to field the fields are larger than 20 acres and there is more than one stack in each field.
I got less than I hoped for the good stuff and more than I expected for the less than good stuff and it will all be gone soon and I will not have to load out of the barn in the winter time.
I just wish I could keep a bit more of the money...
$20-40 to the farmer, $35-40 for baling/raking, $7-10 for stacking, $1 to me. However at one time I could get three burritos for $1 at the Grand Island store.
The scrapper neighbors went by yesterday with a 49' Buick.
I flagged them down.
I told them that the Buick's final resting place should be under a tree in our pasture and not on a scrap boat to China. They offered to trade for a dead Ranger pickup of which we have four (4). I came pretty close but I had to go rescue my helper who was nearly lost in a giant fillbert orchard while looking for a tiny wheat straw field.
However, my aging neighbor drove by twice looking closely at the Buick and he stopped as soon as the scrapper drove off. Was that an overhead valve straight eight?
"Yes it was," said I.
I have him the scrapper's business card.
Pretty soon the Buick came back and disappeared into one of the huge hay sheds across the road.
The scrapper offered to take a Ranger anyway.
But we are going to fix them all up and drive them some day...
I leave you with tractor art. Just stop for a moment and admire the composition of this photo. Note the avant garde refusal to follow the 1/3-2/3 rule and my excellent cropping of the photo. As they say, "it's all in the frame..." I really have not clue who said that but I'll put quotes around it anyhow.
The old IH on the feed mill. Nothing like a little black diesel smoke against a clear blue sky...
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Yamhill County Landfill Park surprise! Ken Huffer sits on DEQ information! Well, yes there have been problems in the past...
While the News Register and Parks Department officials explain opposition to Ken Huffer's legacy plan to build a park next to the unlined and sometimes leaking Riverbend landfill in Yamhill County as a "Not in My Backyard," sort of selfish complaint, it turns out that local residents may have a point.
Living next to the old dump and hearing many stories of contaminated wells, lawsuits with gag orders, and the occasional spring of nasty goop leaking into the river, it comes as no surprise that the DEQ may have additional information that might bear on the decision.
Yamhill County did purchase land to insure a "buffer zone" around the old dump but as part of that agreement the people involved were not allowed to talk about it, or so we have always heard.
What is a surprise is that Ken Huffer, head of the parks department and primary proponent of the dump, wrote to DEQ for info and chose not to include the info in his report to the planning commission or the County Commissioners.
Whether or not this info really has bearing on the case is probably less important than the fact that illustrates how government works. A petty official comes up with a plan that will build his/her resume' as a step up to the next job. He/she does what it takes to get it through, after all he/she is not going to touch the green stuff that is oozing out of the river bank, and he is certainly not going to attempt to take a semi-truck through Amity...
Here is the link.
Living next to the old dump and hearing many stories of contaminated wells, lawsuits with gag orders, and the occasional spring of nasty goop leaking into the river, it comes as no surprise that the DEQ may have additional information that might bear on the decision.
Yamhill County did purchase land to insure a "buffer zone" around the old dump but as part of that agreement the people involved were not allowed to talk about it, or so we have always heard.
What is a surprise is that Ken Huffer, head of the parks department and primary proponent of the dump, wrote to DEQ for info and chose not to include the info in his report to the planning commission or the County Commissioners.
Whether or not this info really has bearing on the case is probably less important than the fact that illustrates how government works. A petty official comes up with a plan that will build his/her resume' as a step up to the next job. He/she does what it takes to get it through, after all he/she is not going to touch the green stuff that is oozing out of the river bank, and he is certainly not going to attempt to take a semi-truck through Amity...
Here is the link.
Friday, August 24, 2012
Sharon for mayor of Amity
This comment from yesterday,
"I for one miss Ashes Cafe...it was nice to let
Sharon do the cooking and clean up....Now she
has closed, thank you City Fathers, she has
put her hat in the ring for Mayor. I know
times are tough but if you have a spare $20
I am sure her campaign could use the funds.
I like you live out of town this would be a
way to be involved. "
Sharon for mayor of Amity?
Now that is a cause to which I would contribute!
More details please!!!
I personally favor the twins, Levi and Leroy.
One of them gave me a lecture a couple years ago about Amity City politics and I was amazed at his depth of understanding. Kind of ironic that they would face discrimination because they are obviously mentally handicapped, buy yet because they are interested and focused on city government and are obsessed with lawn mowers instead of real estate values and sipping win,e they appear to have a better understanding of the city that those who actually make the decisions.
But I digress...
How do you donate?
How is she campaigning?
What is her plan?
Will there be any free pie?
Those are all important questions...
I wonder if the Blue Goat will host a fundraiser?
However, the horse is already out of the barn on Amity's determined plan to screw up the downtown. What are you going to do? Jackhammer two "blub-outs" and take three feet off of the curbs?
Can you even stop phase II where they ruin Amity-Hopewell Road?
"I for one miss Ashes Cafe...it was nice to let
Sharon do the cooking and clean up....Now she
has closed, thank you City Fathers, she has
put her hat in the ring for Mayor. I know
times are tough but if you have a spare $20
I am sure her campaign could use the funds.
I like you live out of town this would be a
way to be involved. "
Sharon for mayor of Amity?
Now that is a cause to which I would contribute!
More details please!!!
I personally favor the twins, Levi and Leroy.
One of them gave me a lecture a couple years ago about Amity City politics and I was amazed at his depth of understanding. Kind of ironic that they would face discrimination because they are obviously mentally handicapped, buy yet because they are interested and focused on city government and are obsessed with lawn mowers instead of real estate values and sipping win,e they appear to have a better understanding of the city that those who actually make the decisions.
But I digress...
How do you donate?
How is she campaigning?
What is her plan?
Will there be any free pie?
Those are all important questions...
I wonder if the Blue Goat will host a fundraiser?
However, the horse is already out of the barn on Amity's determined plan to screw up the downtown. What are you going to do? Jackhammer two "blub-outs" and take three feet off of the curbs?
Can you even stop phase II where they ruin Amity-Hopewell Road?
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
I ruin two steaks
I am a terrible cook.
My wife staying with her father. Not because of my cooking but because he broke a rib.
All day yesterday I was thinking about the two steaks in the refrigerator.
I had slathered them in Worcestershire sauce, garlic and salt and I could image the salty goodness after I had properly charred them on the BBQ.
Yesterday was a properly frustrating day.
I now have only 8 semi-truck loads of 2-tie wheat straw and 4 loads of 3 tie on 120 acres of wheat stubble and 80 acres of prennial ryegrass and everyone else is finished.
Plus, 80 acres of oat straw to stack for a neighbor, plus another 120 acres of straw from wheat purposely mixed with oats, plus, it is going to rain next Monday.
However, the straw was too wet to bale.
How could this happen when we have had temps past the 100 degree mark? I really don't know. I am pretty sure the moisture tester in the baler is accurate. I did get out and stab the bales with the hand held moisture tester.
I baled the 350 bales of really crappy looking fescue straw at 16-18 percent but I doubt it would have been export quality anyway. (I can explain all that if you wish but I really need to be at work)
So, I quit early and came home to BBQ a steak.
I found a box of corn on the steps that someone had left for us. This is the first local corn I have had.
I cleaned the silks out of a couple ears and soaked them in water while I waited for the gas grill to heat up.
I could see there was a problem with the steaks but we will get to that later.
I put the corn on first on high heat and singed the ears good and proper. Then I put the corn on the upper grate and the steaks on the center grate. Our gas grill gets a little too hot.
The steaks were very thick so I cut some slices into them to make them cook faster.
What is supposed to happen is the garlic and salt tenderizes and flavors the meat but it also burns off when the meat is cooked. That is why you use coarse salt.
I did not have coarse salt.
I resisted the urge to cook the steaks on high as their were sirloins. It tends to make them tough.
I actually took 30 minutes to cook them on lower heat. I did carve the nicely burnt edges away and eat them like candy. I'm a bit strange that way.
The dog got a woodie watching me cook so I gave him some fat. It made him very happy.
The steaks were good. They turned out very tender.
The salt did not fall off.
I like salt. My wife does not.
Perhaps if I scrape the left overs. If I am home I will eat them for lunch. I should have had them for breakfast.
I wonder if you can be arrested for ruining top quality cuts of meat with your gas grill? If so I am a serial offender...
The corn was good. The moisture from soaking the ears stays in the husk so it kind of boils it.
Have a nice day...
Pray the rain holds off for another week...
My wife staying with her father. Not because of my cooking but because he broke a rib.
All day yesterday I was thinking about the two steaks in the refrigerator.
I had slathered them in Worcestershire sauce, garlic and salt and I could image the salty goodness after I had properly charred them on the BBQ.
Yesterday was a properly frustrating day.
I now have only 8 semi-truck loads of 2-tie wheat straw and 4 loads of 3 tie on 120 acres of wheat stubble and 80 acres of prennial ryegrass and everyone else is finished.
Plus, 80 acres of oat straw to stack for a neighbor, plus another 120 acres of straw from wheat purposely mixed with oats, plus, it is going to rain next Monday.
However, the straw was too wet to bale.
How could this happen when we have had temps past the 100 degree mark? I really don't know. I am pretty sure the moisture tester in the baler is accurate. I did get out and stab the bales with the hand held moisture tester.
I baled the 350 bales of really crappy looking fescue straw at 16-18 percent but I doubt it would have been export quality anyway. (I can explain all that if you wish but I really need to be at work)
So, I quit early and came home to BBQ a steak.
I found a box of corn on the steps that someone had left for us. This is the first local corn I have had.
I cleaned the silks out of a couple ears and soaked them in water while I waited for the gas grill to heat up.
I could see there was a problem with the steaks but we will get to that later.
I put the corn on first on high heat and singed the ears good and proper. Then I put the corn on the upper grate and the steaks on the center grate. Our gas grill gets a little too hot.
The steaks were very thick so I cut some slices into them to make them cook faster.
What is supposed to happen is the garlic and salt tenderizes and flavors the meat but it also burns off when the meat is cooked. That is why you use coarse salt.
I did not have coarse salt.
I resisted the urge to cook the steaks on high as their were sirloins. It tends to make them tough.
I actually took 30 minutes to cook them on lower heat. I did carve the nicely burnt edges away and eat them like candy. I'm a bit strange that way.
The dog got a woodie watching me cook so I gave him some fat. It made him very happy.
The steaks were good. They turned out very tender.
The salt did not fall off.
I like salt. My wife does not.
Perhaps if I scrape the left overs. If I am home I will eat them for lunch. I should have had them for breakfast.
I wonder if you can be arrested for ruining top quality cuts of meat with your gas grill? If so I am a serial offender...
The corn was good. The moisture from soaking the ears stays in the husk so it kind of boils it.
Have a nice day...
Pray the rain holds off for another week...
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