Another "for want of a nail the shoe was lost post."

The Great Plains 1500 no-till drill is a simple idea. Great Plains just built a cart with aggressive coulter that cut a slice for the double v-openers to follow. The drill is a 3 point mount drill with a lot of down pressure which mounts on the back of the cart.
The cart i have now is kind of a hokey set up. The first drill had the Precision Hitch which lifted with a rock shaft. It was a lot heavier and drove a little straighter in the field. It was harder to back up to the truck due to the way it pivoted.
Oh, did I mention? The Secret weapon of the GP drill/cart setup is that it pivots in the middle so the front and back don't slide sideways when you turn. Of course it doesn't pivot enough so if you forget to raise the drill you will drag the whole back end around and mess up the openers.
My drill has sliding telescoping tubes with long hydraulic cylinders. This allows it to lift higher but it gets loose and the wheels tend to get out of alignment.
Yesterday I lost a wheel bearing.
I replaced the wheel bearings on the lift this spring.
One of the bearings was made in China.
It failed...
As bearings made in China tend to do-randomly...
The thing is, the bearing was not really cheaper, it was the only one available. It is pretty frustrating to have to look at the fine print on every bearing box to make sure it does not read, "made in China."
"Made in China," could become a term that means, it might work or it might fail randomly, but the instructions will be really funny and in the end you will be angry...
China will take over the world when all the bearings fail at once. Of course who is to say bearings don't also fail randomly in China? Probably they don't because they just execute everyone in the factory if it does happen...

High Speed Internet! Oh Boy!

The onlinemac guy came out and upgraded our internet today. We are in a canyon between barns and trees and have a problem getting on the wireless tower that DOESN'T have 50,000 subscribers.
I had a lot to do this morning but I figured that since I forgot the Battle of Balaclava I should at least  get fast internet for so my wife can watch TV on her iPhone.
So I'm spending my precious moments when I should be eating lunch watching the Roosty6 channel on YouTube!
Old Roosty is kind of a hot rodder! Never been able to watch him before.
Click Here to view http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRamjdv5OsM

The last day of sun

The weather is about to change.
That is what the TV guy says.
Accuweather agrees.
I have 20 acres of cover crop to plant at the dairy. (Planting Oats and peas on the corn ground there.)
I have ten acres of timothy to plant. (a little worried it is too late)
I have ten acres of vetch to plant but I don't have the seed.
Yesterday I planted 22 acres of hay for the dairy next door. I planted Maximo intermediate ryegrass. It is supposed to be a really fast growing high sugar type ryegrass. I also mixed in a similar type of Annual Ryegrass with the idea that something will grow...
The field didn't turn out quite as smooth as I wished.
We have poop to haul from the dairy, a pile of dirt to move, the rough spot in the corn field needs to be worked down, I need to get the neighbor to actually get his antique AC hooked up to plow his field for my other five acre test plot of flax,
I called my brother's little helper to see if he was still sick. He is coming to work this morning he said.
He came to work Monday but I was out of cell phone service and my brother was going after seed. He had coffee time, filled his car with gas and went home, he didn't know what to do...
It would be funny if it were not so tragic. Fifteen years on the job and he doesn't know what to do on a random fall day. Other than take a crap and fill his car with gas...
Jose' used to clean up, put tools away, wash equipment, grease stuff, anything to stay busy. But then again, Jose didn't weigh 375lbs and when he went past 200 he decided to go on a diet.
Francisco rebuilt the heads on a 1948 UTS by looking at the exploded parts diagram. He did it in an open sided shed with no heat.
But, I digress...
We have our usual screw up. Rain on the way and the helper has been "ill" for a week.
It just makes me tired.

They can shut down the panda cam but not the rule making?

Oh yeah... while the government was in non-shutdown mode we got more regulation.
Commercial drivers will have to be tested for sleep apnea.
The world is certainly a safer place...
More idiotic rules for truck drivers that may sound good but really do nothing.
CLick Here

Read the comments.
Comment 1: Truckers are underpaid
Comment 2: They should pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, and they are not underpaid.

Reality is there are a lot of different experiences in the business but it the idiotic hours of service laws and other regulations make it hard on many truck drivers. You really have to be over qualified to be a truck driver as you have to pass drug tests an annoying license exam and you already have to pass a physical and drug tests. It doesn't really matter if you know how to back a truck.
If you can pass all the tests and don't mind being away from home you can make a lot of money as a long haul.
More laws and regulations and the idiots who think it is a good idea...

Also, why did this person paint his gun's? One purple and one silver? Also, who in their right mind would try to take a gun through NYC.  New York is famous for prosecuting people who check a legal gun in their luggage at another airport and then when the flight gets diverted or stops in NYC, they prosecute the passenger even though the gun never leaves the airport or the baggage area.
Obviously the fellow was a little nuts. Supposedly there was a round in the chamber. But, then again, who knows?

I forget the battle of Balaclava

However, my lovely wife reminded me with a hug and the code phrase, "happy anniversary!" This is how we remind each other to celebrate the Charge of the Light Brigade, October 25, 1854.
We usually go out for dinner and give each other cards. Since we can't buy cards saying "Happy Charge of the Light Brigade," we substitute anniversary cards. There are lots of those.
Sometimes I buy her flowers.
Seems like there is another important event that occurred today, but what was it...
I absolutely cannot believe it is October 25th already.... I have so much work to do before it starts raining... Oh poop!

The Charge of the Light Brigade

          BY ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON

I

Half a league, half a league,

Half a league onward,

All in the valley of Death

   Rode the six hundred.

“Forward, the Light Brigade!

Charge for the guns!” he said.

Into the valley of Death

   Rode the six hundred.

II

“Forward, the Light Brigade!”

Was there a man dismayed?

Not though the soldier knew

   Someone had blundered.

   Theirs not to make reply,

   Theirs not to reason why,

   Theirs but to do and die.

   Into the valley of Death

   Rode the six hundred.

III

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon in front of them

   Volleyed and thundered;

Stormed at with shot and shell,

Boldly they rode and well,

Into the jaws of Death,

Into the mouth of hell

   Rode the six hundred.

IV

Flashed all their sabres bare,

Flashed as they turned in air

Sabring the gunners there,

Charging an army, while

   All the world wondered.

Plunged in the battery-smoke

Right through the line they broke;

Cossack and Russian

Reeled from the sabre stroke

   Shattered and sundered.

Then they rode back, but not

   Not the six hundred.

V

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon behind them

   Volleyed and thundered;

Stormed at with shot and shell,

While horse and hero fell.

They that had fought so well

Came through the jaws of Death,

Back from the mouth of hell,

All that was left of them,

   Left of six hundred.

VI

When can their glory fade?

O the wild charge they made!

   All the world wondered.

Honour the charge they made!

Honour the Light Brigade,

   Noble six hundred!

Farming the Lazy Farmer way and how to be a BTO in five easy steps...

I went to sleep on the couch after supper last night and no one woke me up. I had another ten acres to farm but I am so incredibly lazy...
I was going to get up early and repair the baler by neighbor borrowed from me and destroyed but then I got distracted by Gene Logsden's blog. CliCk Here...
My brother has been reading one of Gene's books and we've been discussing organic farming.
(I almost bought a couple Gene books at Powells but I was too cheap and opted for the Corning Egg Book, By Corning Himself, instead... Sorry Gene, if you read this)
The blog that made me sit down and have another cup of coffee has to do with herbicide resistance and what that means for the future. There was some hopeful comment about a chance for small farms with farmers who want to cultivate or hoe.

I think it is quite simple...
1. Big farms will get bigger...  As people become bigger arseholes in general, the size of their farms increase.

Here is how it works... When you are really small and struggling you are nice to everyone to get someone to give your ground. Then you hit a wall. No more ground. Neighbor's want you to be smaller than them so they feel like better farmers. So, you have to decide, be nice and be small or get big.
Step two, you screw anyone to get more ground. You form an LLC and you offer more money for rent you look at the tax map to find potential landlords to manipulate and you set a goal of 10,000 acres...
Step three, you give up a little... Drop to 7,000 acres. Cry hard times. Perhaps a bankruptcy, then you can pick who you want to pay off. Those people will be your potential friends, so choose wisely!
Step four, wait a couple years, avoid screwing anyone important in the local ag community. Perhaps, give up some ground. After three years start joining stuff. Farm Bureau is a good place to start. They are desperate for members and completely irrelevant. Hire a couple of the smaller neighbors to help with harvest. Wave at people.
Step five, benevolence... Be a part of the community. People will forget how you got there. Now they will be nice to you because you have things they want... You are in! Lots of folks will come to your funeral. What a goal!

2. Um, I forgot what point two was. Perhaps it doesn't matter. I doubt I will start farming with a horse. Have all the harness. I like horses. I have the USDA handout, "Horse Sense," from 1918. Of course I also have a civil defense bulletin on building a fallout shelter and a pamphlet from 1936 warning of the Nazi threat. Sort of old news I suppose...

I got way off subject and now I have to go to work...Out of coffee and my bottom is getting numb. Elvis has a cushion on his throne!

Here is a photo of a large scale farmer! Look! New overalls!

Sometimes other people just don't understand...