Storytellers

I stumbled upon a show on Netflix that I just find fascinating. Not a binge watcher, but one I find interesting if I have 20 or so minutes to kill. It is called the Appalachian Storyteller; you can check it out by clicking this link.   The channel has many interesting stories about individuals and families that lived in the Appalachian Mountains in the late 1800's when there was little law enforcement and oversight. 

There are so many people in life that I wish I could watch shows about their life stories; my grandparents, my parents or even random people I meet in life. There is a woman we met a couple of weeks ago who is (I was told), the single largest landowner in the county owning thousands of acres. In her 80's, she has an accent, and I wonder what her life story; what has she seen in life?  Hopefully these stories would be without the crime, and murder, but who knows?!?! 

As a matter of fact, I think we have a storyteller amongst our blog community. Granny Sue has talked about storytelling in the past and probably knows the Appalachian storyteller.

But on with our week. Wet and foggy are the adjectives for week. Basically, zero work done on the garage. As much as we want to make progress on it, a couple of down days with no guilt was kind of welcome. Instead, we spent the week inside cleaning and organizing. I spent several hours out in the shed trying to put that in order. Basically, moving stuff from one spot to another, but it does look more organized. 

But look what peaked out from under the hay bales while I was in there! 

Hard to see, but that there are two little bunnies! At least two of the four survived!

I swear it rained part of every day. This was our view most of the week with intermittent breaks of partly cloudy to be replaced by more fog and rain. 

Forrest and I did get out fishing for a few hours one day. We went down to Angostura to try and catch a few smallmouth. We had a great afternoon boating about 20 fish!

 

Although you see blue skies in one of those pictures, we were not able to avoid the rain entirely. In fact, if you pay very close attention to this video, you will see a bit of hail too. 

The highlight of the week occurred when Minnesota friends Tom and Shelly pulled in the driveway Thursday afternoon. I had not seen Tom in over a year and Shelly in several years. Tom and I worked together back in the 80's and have been good friends since then. One of those friendships that stand the test of time; we may only see each other every couple of years but every time it is like we saw each other yesterday. 

While the weather did not cooperate, we had a great time. The first night found us gathered around the island testing several very tasting bourbons and telling stories from some of our past adventures together. 

One such adventure that Tom reminded me of involved a deer hunting trip in northern Minnesota that ended with my truck on fire and us driving home with the windows open all the way home. Well, "smoldering" would be more accurate than "fire".  It all started with Tom and I driving up to the Little Falls area to hunt on a farm of a relative of a friend of mine. Tom and I donned our hunting gear, grabbed out bows and went out in pursuit of the wily whitetail. 

After an unsuccessful hunt I went back to the truck, arriving before Tom, to find the truck filled with toxic smoke. I can smell that smell like it was yesterday, I could not even breath as I turned the key on to open the windows and let is air out. Once the smoke cleared, it was obvious what had happened. There was a spotlight on the seat of the truck (a bench seat) and somehow it had gotten turned on as we were exiting the vehicle. Over the next several hours that spotlight burned a hole into the seat. Never catching on fire but melting a hole through the cloth and foam. I was able to replace the seat, but that stench forever permeated the entire interior.  

The next day we set out on a jeep ride of some of the forest service roads and a hike. Oh, and what a hike it was! Custer State Park has some of the most beautiful hiking in the country, pictures just do not do it justice, it is something you really have to experience for yourself to fully appreciate. 

We had an absolute blast over the two days, so much fun and laughter. They pulled out on Saturday morning and made their way east towards Minnesota. We have to do this more often! 

Saturday, we headed up to Spearfish to visiting our niece, Alana. It was a big week for them as they were moving into their new house! It was a big move, a total of 150 yards, one street over from their current place. Luckily, the moving had already been done, but I did get to help install a couple of TV's!

Our mission (besides seeing the house) was to pick up little Sophie for a 10-day sleepover.  What's life like with 5 dogs underfoot? Mostly mellow with intermittent periods of chaos and even some brief fighting, but here is what it looks like most of the time. One dog on each end of the couch and a few more scattered on the dog beds on the floor. 

What does this chaos sound like? Here is a sample of what happens anytime the vacuum cleaner comes out. The video is only 25 seconds, about 20 seconds longer than I can take. 

But when it comes to bedtime, they are all worn out and ready for bed. Ever slept with two snoring Frenchies? Me neither, I have spent the last two nights in the recliner!

On that note, it is time for me to get outside. The forecast shows rain-free skies 5 of the next 6 days, with luck we will have some progress to show you next week! But for now, I will leave you with something to sooth your nerves after that chaotic vacuum video. Here are two frequent visitors of our birdfeeders last week. Do they get much more beautiful than these two?!?!

How Many Licks Does It Really Take To Get To The Center Of A Tootsie Pop?

 Any of you over the age of 60 know the answer to this question. Which of course is 3. For those of you who don't know what I speak of you can watch it here. 

Believe it or not, many studies have been done to determine the actual number of licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop. 678 is the real answer, on average that is. I have not had a tootsie pop in years, but I do enjoy my Charm's Blow Pops which comes in at 638 licks. 

What in the world made me think of this useless piece of information? I was brushing my teeth the other day (something Dino should try once in a while) and I wondered... How often should one get a new toothbrush? Once a month? Once a year? I don't think I have ever bought a new toothbrush, one just magically appears in my drawer several times throughout the year. No idea how it gets there, much like my socks and underwear appearing in my dresser drawer every week. 

Curious, I had to look it up. Every 3-4 months according to most experts, unless you get sick. That, my friends, is your public service announcement for the day. 

My first full week back from the farm was a busy one! So many projects so little time. Of course, we were anxious to carry on with the garage, but we needed Kevin's help to get the trusses up before we went any further and he was not going to be available for 7 days, so we focused on other things to work on. 

The first project was to work on the grout on the stone outside. Those of you who have been reading our blog for a while, getting this grout done has been an ongoing saga for more than a year. Well, Dan to the rescue when he volunteered to come over and help for a few hours. Just the motivation we needed to get moving on this project again! 

We put a colored dye into the mortar to bring a little more depth to the stone. Together, we got about 30' done, 45 feet remaining and we can put this project behind us!

 I also got to play, I mean get to work with the 3D printer and start the garage organization project. The first step was to clear out a section of the garage wall, if your garage is anything like mine, it is pretty much stuff hanging every couple of feet on the wall; shovels, tools, basically stuff there is no room for anywhere else. I needed 12' of clear space so that meant a lot of removing of stuff. 

Once that was accomplished, I went about scouring the available 3D print files to find the files needed. I printed out about 25 holders averaging about 2 hours per print and this is what I came up with.....

Now, if I can just keep the tools there and not scattered around between the house and shed. I see this photo is already missing the circular saw and an impact from their holders!

A spur of the moment project occurred when Barb and I went to Rapid City and I bought 3 apple trees. I have been wanting some for years, but we are always gone in the summer and new trees need care, but this year we were going to be around! I should have probably thought this out a little more as I struggled to get the three trees in the back of the jeep. But one just not just buy trees, dig a hole and put them in the ground. The deer and rabbits would have them eaten down to nubs within a week. 

Thankfully Cheryl had some left over 7' fencing from her garden and soon enough I had them in the ground and protected from the critters. Now I just need to get something over the top to protect them from the hail. Time will tell.

The coolest and cutest moment of the week occurred when I was rotating the bales of hay in the shed. These bales are about 700 pounds each and as I removed the last bale with the tractor, Barb noticed some sort of nest on the ground behind the bale. Upon further inspection she found 4 tiny little bunnies!

After taking a quick picture and showing them to Lily, we set them back next to the pallet, replaced the bale and hoped momma bunny would return. We will not know until I go to move that bale next winter,

Speaking of Lily, did I mention that she joined the track team in Hot Springs? Forrest went down there and talked to the school administration and track coach, and they apparently allow home schooled kids to join their teams. Lily was apprehensive at first as she did not know a single soul, but after the 3rd or 4th practice, she was making friends and was looking forward to it. They practiced Monday through Thursday each week, Forrest, Somer or Barb would drive her down and hang out while they practiced (I was at the farm). She had a half a dozen or do track meets in a 2-hour radius of Hot Springs. She would have to be at the school as early as 5:30am on meet days, jump on the bus, travel to the location, compete and ride the bus back to the school, usually arriving home after 10pm. Talk about long days! But she had fun and did well, placing in several events. 

She also made several friends and has been going to their houses each week for a few hours. 

This past Saturday was a big day as Kevin had time to come over the help with the trusses. There were 4 of us total; Kevin, Forrest, Barb and me. Forrest and I were each on a ladder placing and hammering the trusses, Kevin operated the skid steer with the boom and also braced the top of each of the trusses. Barb was on the ground on the rope making sure they did not swing wildly while on the boom. Start to finish, it was a little over 4 hours. So happy to have that done. Next up, purlins, extend the tails and steel!

We also received some good news from the farm. They got rain! Lots of rain, a nice soaking rain and then some more rain. Would you believe that they don't want any more rain for a bit? Are farmers ever happy? We all know the answer to that, but it is good news! We got some rain here as well, over an inch with another inch forecasted today and tomorrow. So, it looks like inside work for us the next few days, I wonder what kind of trouble we can find. Maybe work on that camper a little bit!

I will leave you with this video of our local turkey flock, doing what turkeys do. If you watch closely, you will see that they are all chasing one bird. I wonder what it did to earn the wrath of the rest of the flock?!?!

Ol' Rem

 If you are lucky, you will have a once in a lifetime dog. One that is your best friend, loyal, a protector of the family and a good hunter. Remy is all those things to Chris and Holly.  Over the past 13 years, Remy has seen all for of Chris and Holly's children born and has dutifully taken on the responsibility of protecting each of them. You do not want to be a stranger driving into their place. Remy's size, of over 100lbs is matched by his bark, but to my knowledge has never bitten anyone, and if he did, they probably deserved it. If I were to be honest there was more than one time that I was hesitant to walk into their house having to walk by Rem. The FedEx man has it figured out, tossing out a treat upon his arrival. The UPS man, not so much. There must be some history there as Remy just does not like that big brown truck driving up. The school bus is another story altogether, over the years, he has greeted one, two, now three kids getting off the bus every day.

But Rem's main role in life is not that of protector, he is a hunter. That is his passion in life and is relentless in his pursuit of pheasant and fowl. Which unfortunately has included their chickens a time or two. No, Remy is not the perfect dog, you certainly do not want to leave a bag of garbage within his reach, but what he lacks in manners, he makes up in in his love of life. 

Why all the Remy talk? The old guy is getting near the end of his life here on earth. Most of his days are spent laying on the stoop of the garage protecting his pack inside. Nowadays he will just open one eye and give me a look as I step over him, but I suspect if I was a stranger, it would be a different story. With fading eyesight, most of his recognition comes through smell. Having been run over twice in his life, just the act of getting up is a struggle, but he manages to get up a couple times a day and you will see him walking the perimeter of the farmyard. What took 10 minutes now takes him over 30. While you can see he is in some pain, you can also still see his love of life and his will to live as he makes his rounds. 

It is hard seeing good dogs get old, any dog for that matter. He is a big part of the family, not only to Chris and Holly, but when he goes, it will be the first taste of death that will impact the three oldest children and that in itself is heartbreaking. So, it was with a heavy heart I patted Remy on the head Tuesday night knowing that it was more than likely the last time I would ever see him, but even without him physically there, I know his spirit will still be sitting on the porch stoop, walking the perimeter of the yard, greeting the school bus, terrorizing the big bad brown truck that pulls into the yard, and even though Chris will not see him, he will be sitting right next to Chris when he is out in the duck blind each fall. 

As you may have theorized from that paragraph, I have left the farm and am now back home. What you ask? How could I be home so quickly? This spring planting season was one for the books. Our earliest start on April 16th, favorable condition, minimal breakdowns, no rain (both a blessing and a curse) resulted in our earliest ending day of May 8th. Three weeks and 1 day, over 5500 acres planted.

Other years this process has taken over 5 weeks so to get everything in the ground so quickly will have its benefits. If they get rain. But that holds true no matter when they get the seed in the ground, but getting it in sooner means should rain come in the next few weeks, the seeds will take full advantage of it. It also means a longer growing season or an earlier harvest depending on the crop.

But before that last seed went into the ground, and before that last pat on Remy's head there was still work to be done. Two more evenings on the machine shed roof buttoned up that project.

And there was seed to get fertilizer to get out to the field. While one the way out to one field I saw the odometer in the truck I was driving turn over to 999,000, 0ne thousand more miles and it will be all 0's again!

Speaking of old trucks, they get a wide variety coming in from local farms to get seed. I am not sure of the year of this one, but it is a classic!

All in all it was a successful season. One broken window on the truck and a few broken hoses, if those are the worst of it, we'll take is as a win. After three weeks I was anxious to get home, but it is one of those places that you already miss the next day. Little Tessa learned to crawl while I was there, and she got her first tractor ride!

The farm is one of those places you look forward to going to, cannot wait to leave and miss the next day. The happy hours after a hard days work, sneaking away and watching a few minutes of golf with DeAnne in the house, the camaraderie with the boys, and a big thank you to Holly for keeping me fed and inviting me down for suppers. I did not get away without injury though, not sure how it happened, but I funked up my left thumb. I do not remember a specific incident, but it has lost all gripping strength and is super painful should I try grip something or bump it. Kind of like a severe sprain, but I didn't sprain it. Three days later, it is still tender but slowly getting better. But I have the next few months for it to heal before I am called to duty to get the crops off the fields. I am already looking forward to it!

Regrets

 Regrets, I have a few. But then again, too few to mention. That famous Frank Sinatra phrase went through my mind last week during one of my many hours in the tractor. One cannot help but to let their mind wander as you are rolling down the field at 9.5mph. Unlike Frank, I have enough regrets, too many to list. We all do. You regret not doing something in life, you regret doing something in life. Sometimes those are the same things, and you are damned if you do and damned if you don't. One of my regrets that I thought of this week was not calling my parents enough. I used to drive by my mom's place about once a week depending on where I was traveling for work. But I was so busy that I did not always stop by. I now regret not stopping by more often. 

What is your biggest regret in life? Something you did, or something you wish you hadn't done? Mine has to do with how I treated the love of my life. Young and dumb, an unkind word, an unkind act, seeing the hurt in someone's eyes is gut wrenching, knowing you are the reason for that hurt will suck the life right out of you. I wish I could go back in time an undo some things I have said and done over the years. But there is no going back, just moving forward. Both Barb and I choose to look at the bright side of things, not dwell on the negative. That is probably the attribute I love most about her, she always chooses to smile and look at the sunshine instead of the rain. And should it rain, she will say something like "We need a little precipitation". As any farmer knows, you need both sun and rain in order for things to grow and I like where Barb and I are right now. Had there been no bumps in the road would be where we are right now? It was a bump in the road that prompted us to make what is probably the biggest decision of our lives. We were both working fulltime, too many hours, making decent money when we decided we needed a change, and we set forth a multi-year plan to sell our home and all (well, most) of our worldly possessions, by a 5th wheel and hit the road. Looking back, I can honestly say it is the best thing we have ever done bringing us closer than we had ever been.  

Okay, I am going to jump off my philosophical soapbox now and talk about real farming. We need rain, and we need it bad! With over 3,000 acres of seed in the ground it is time. We have had the promise of rain, but not a promise kept. Regardless, the seeds are starting to grow, sucking what moisture Mother Nature left us from the now distant snowfall. They go out to the fields almost every day to check, are the seeds germinating? Are the weeds growing? This is the most critical time for the seeds, once they are established, they have a fighting chance and keeping the weeds back helps them with that fighting chance. 

To see if the seeds are germinating you go out to the field and carefully dig in a row to find a single seed and inspect it. You would think with 2.4 million seeds per acre they would not be hard to find, but they can be. This is what you are looking for.... These two picture are wheat, the first being about 1/2" sprout. This is what a single wheat seed looks like before it emerges from the ground. 

We few days later, they will be popping out of the ground. Millions upon millions of tiny little sprouts reaching for the sun! To a farmer, it is a beautiful sight! 

This next picture shows various stages of the peas.

Our big project for the week was re-steeling the machine shed. Ugh! The building itself is 40x80. First, we had to rip off the old shingles, 5 guys taking turns on two shingle rakes. We all took our turns, but Chris, Dylan and Ty were the workhorses, Bob and I just don't have the stamina anymore. When you weren't raking, two guys were on the brooms, one with a hammer, sweeping and one pulling nails, we had one side off in 2 hours. Backbreaking work though. 

The aforementioned "Bob" is Bob S, Chris's dad, who too came up this week to help with the planting. He will be here for the remainder of my stay. Farmer Bob wanted nothing to do with the roof and found other projects to work on while we were doing that. The next morning Bob S and I laid out the underlayment and got to work! 

Two half days later we got one side done. Now, we just need to repeat the process for the other side!

While Bob S. and I were doing that, the rest of the crew was busy doing farm work. We too got called down to load or deliver trucks, which is why it took us two half days to get this done.

We have moved on from wheat and peas to Canola. Tiny, tiny little seed. The bag the canola seed comes in has a label that states it has a minimum of 85 million seeds in it. I was going to count them and see if they shorted us at all, but lost count after all my fingers and toes.  

A couple of people have asked if the tariffs are affecting the farm at all and so far, the answer is no. I thought I would see it on the lumber and steel for the garage and so far, I have not. The one area I have seen it is the 3D printer I bought a few weeks ago, it comes from China. It has gone up $150 since I bought mine, but they do have a $100 discount code, so basically a $50 increase. 

My goal this week was to get out and take some pictures of the wildlife. While I did not get out as much as I hoped, I did capture a few. The moose are still hanging out in that same field. 

Two of the most common birds in the prairie land are the meadowlark and pheasant. The pheasant is by far my favorite upland gamebird. Their coloration is just so fascinating. 

The waterfowl and shorebirds moving through or nesting here are in their brilliant breeding colors, trying to attract the females. 

My favorite pictures of the week are these two; while not the best pictures I have ever taken, they are not even in the top 100, but of all the years I have been coming up here I have not been able to capture a Hungarian Partridge with the camera. They are just too small and speedy! But earlier this week I got luck when I drove up on a covey along the road and they did not fly away. 

Meanwhile, we just keep rolling along here in the fields; literally and figuratively. 

With less than a week of my time here remaining, it does not look like we will get everything in the ground before my departure, but all darn it, we are going to try!