You see some of the silliest things

I commented on my personal blog recently about some of the dumb stuff a particular gas station did. Like piling truck tires in the driveway so you had to drive around them

Driving around this winter I keep seeing odd stuff.  Some is amusing, some heart breaking.  We were setting at a stop light Friday when I noticed the car in front of us.  Apparently they had trouble with the trunk release

it may not show here.  The key lock on the trunk door has a piece of metal pop-riveted over it.  A piece about the size an arm would need to unlatch it.

I didn't get a picture of it, but we followed an '80's Chevy Impala up 13th street in Terre Haute with the back end jacked up so high the bumper was at our eye level in the Honda.

I have been noticing some odd installations in Men's Rooms the last few months.  For instance this

Why they would plumb it that way ... had to be a farmer just using what he had on hand.

 Anyway, I thought I needed to update with SOMETHING.  To see what I have been doing visit my personal blog at http://walnutprairie.blogspot.com

Well, my streak may have run out

We've been doing some trading around on the farm.  I took Steve to get his truck out of the shop in Terre Haute one day and in the process got talking with the sales manager.  He asked if I was looking for something?

I told him I was too cheap.

"How cheap?"

"Really cheap."

"Come look at this..."

"This" was his personal truck.  He has a son in college and is needing money more than 8 vehicles (I can understand that). '01 Dodge 1500 extended cab 4WD fancy wheels, toolbox, Reese hitch.  Kind of like this but actually better looking:

It was even red.

He said a price.  I made an offer.  He said OK.

Great, how do I explain this at home?

On the way home I got to thinking about it.  Aman's truck is showing it's age, we have a Jeep we don't us nearly as much as I anticipated, 

 

and we have a flatbed we rarely use since got the F550. 

I offered to trade Aman straight up, then we'd sell it and the other 2 and I should come out even.

He thought on it for about 2 seconds.  Kind of like when I traded Jim the Toyota truck for the old Camaro ... REALLY? SERIOUSLY?

He listed his truck, sold it rather quickly.  I mentioned on Facebook I was going to sell the Jeep.  That was about 8 AM.  By noon I had a check in my hand.

I was talking to Ralph at the welding shop.  He had a tag axle for a truck he'd been trying to sell with no success.  I suggested he let me list it on the AgTalk+ Classifieds for him.  I listed it about 11:00 one night

A bit after 8 the next day he called to say it had been sold ... to a guy in Virginia.

We have some stuff I'm tired of walking over and around, like the planter closing wheels and stuff on the pallet I bought a couple years ago.

I listed them on AT+ late Thursday night.  By 11 the next day they were all spoken for

I listed the flat bed last night.

Also listed the KW.

 It's a good truck, too good a combination to break up.

No calls yet

I'm not getting accomplished nearly what I think I should this winter.

Spring has sprung, Fall has fell, Winter's here and .... I'm not getting accomplished nearly what I think I should this winter.  I thought I had shaken off the bug everyone seems to be passing around.  I didn't have near the symptoms folks keep talking about.  I felt "blah" for a day but didn't get sick, never ran a high fever, just "blah"

But I've been fighting nasal congestion for too long.  And while I can do anything, I seem to wear out quickly.  And my get up and go has got up and gone. And what productive time I have had has been in the office.

When I was in high school we had to take a military aptitude test.  My results came back and I met with the recruiter.  He said "Son, you can be anything you want except a clerk." Maybe I should have joined up, because that would almost have guaranteed a desk job someplace. Yes, my pessimistic side shows through at times.

We did get some real work done.  The road commissioner let us on the posted roads so we emptied the corn bin at Mom's. I had a couple things I HAD to do, so  Aman  started on one at Gramp's but  we got bottlenecked at the elevator.

Then the USDA report came out. And the weather hit.  I have a semi load of corn int he shed waiting to be unloaded worth $500 less than it was when we loaded it.  Some days you just LOVE farming.

So this week I've done exciting things like renew my farm radio license, get the title and license transferred on the new trailer, straighten out some insurance stuff, get information ready for the accountant so we can get W-2's and 1099's out, study for then not go to First Responder class...  Not that I skipped it. Tuesday the instructor was called away,Thursday I went to Robinson to the Driver's License Office and accountant's then hung around town and ate supper at McD's until class time.  About 20 minutes before class I got a text class was cancelled due to weather.  So I drove home.  It was just blowing snow.  Nothing too exciting.

I also listed the Maurer trailer and the Chevy 10 wheeler on a couple free classified for farmers as well as Craig's List.

 I have gotten one bite on the trailer and 2 on the truck.  A truck call was from central Iowa, the other was online from a guy in Nebraska.  We discussed my truck and one he was looking at a neighbor widow lady offered him.  It wasn't quite as big as mine, but she had offered it to him for about half market price and the tires were all new. He told her that wasn't enough money and she told him he had been helping her and wouldn't take any pay and it was a fair price.  I told him to buy the neighbor's truck.

In preparation for the pulpit search I have updated the church web site. The I revised the update.  And then added some things and took off some things.  I put our search on 3 different college boards.  Had 3 resume's by supper time.  A couple are actually good possibilities.

Yep, he's one of the preachers that have sent a resume.  Would you believe he has "Dr." in front of his name?  Oh, and doing a little searching it appears the beard is normal for him.

I know, not farm stuff, but things that have to be done.

Friday it hit me we had never finished the pump house at Mom's.  We hadn't gotten the rest of the insulation installed or put the thermostat controlled heater in.  So Friday afternoon Aman and I did that.  Next week we hope to make real progress.

Back to it

Well, I guess it is time to get back to work.  We have basically been shut down for the last 10 days or so. Between Christmas and family and going to the mountains

for Jill's wedding (see http://walnutprairie.blogspot.com/) the farm has pretty much had to survive without us.

I came out to the office to get things going again and found the monitor for the business computer wouldn't start up.  I guess it thought we abandoned it.  This is the longest it has been unpowered since we started using it.  No screen display, no indicator light, nothing.  So I dragged up an old CRT tube monitor out of the basement, plugged it in, and it worked.

It wasn't quite as simple as it sounds.  If you've seen my desk recently the only reason there were clear spots was because the piles got so tall they slid off in the floor. So I had to find a place for a CRT footprint on a flat screen desk.

In the process I decided it was time to clear out my card file with phone numbers and passwords in it.  I've freed up a lot of space. I've been tossing cards with contact info from when I sold copiers and cell phones!  I don't thik I need the contact numbers, account info, and part number for a Motorola T400 cell phone hang up cup.

And there is info I won't need anymore.  Hotel info for Johnson City, a card with Milligan numbers including after hours security, Jill's advisor, contact names, etc.

It is amazing how may web sites I have login and passwords for that do not exist now! And businesses as well.  I just tossed a couple for businesses that are gone.

I need to spend a week at the desk catching up on last week ... and looking out the window and at the thermometer I may just do that!

You can see the top of my desk in places ... but that may just be because the pile fell off in the floor.

"What ya been doing ?"

Some questions you hate to answer.  Because for the last couple weeks it seems like every time I  progress forward a step two steps get added to get to where I need to be.  I'm setting here in the office thinking 2 weeks ago the piles of papers were smaller.  And I admit I haven't been working at this as hard as I could have, but I think I've been pretty diligent.  But like that corollary to Murphy's Law (Stuff expands to fill available space) what needs done expands to fill available time.

Progress on insulating the shop has been minimal this week. Between traveling Monday, catching up with what happened while we were gone Tuesday, running needed errands, going to funerals, going to the FSA office, stopping by a lawyer's office to answer a question (come to think of it, maybe I should have charged him $300 an hour for a consulting fee ...), visiting with my friendly banker, on and on I haven't accomplished near what I wanted. So far my biggest accomplishment was bringing the little semi home from being in the shop.

It had an oil leak on the high pressure pump.  Since it runs around 4500 psi, I decided to let Biernbaum's work on it.

But I've only spent $450,000 this week plus change.  More on that some other time when all the paperwork is done.  For now, Merry Christmas and we'll see you next year.

I really wish Dad had gotten cold ......

Dad was one of those folks who never got cold.  Well, that isn't entirely true.  He just tolerated cold a lot better than I do.  So he didn't bother to insulate or heat his shop.  He had a kerosene torpedo heater he used a little when it got REALLY cold.  But Aman and I aren't as resistant to cold as Dad was.  So we started a winter project. Aman went to Sullivan, IL and got 5 bundles of insulation board.  So we are in the process of insulating the shop.  The problem with that is we have to move everything out from the walls ... some of which I don't think has been moved in 30 years.

We got to the window and decided there was room for improvement.  So we went to Tempco and dug through through the salvage window corner  We found a nice window a little wider than the one there.  Insulated glass, vinyl frame, etc.  So we made a little bit bigger hole

and put in the new window.

When we are done it will make the shop a lot more usable in cold weather.

It wasn't our first choice.  We would like to have had it foamed., but the estimate I got was $13,000.  I'm just a little cheap.

...always the first thing you buy after getting an STS combine - A Bigger Truck

Aman posted a picture of the Freightliner on the farm's Facebook page, to which a cousin said "always the first thing you buy after getting an STS combine - A Bigger Truck"

The only problem with that truck is by itself it's just a large lawn ornament.  However, when you add this 38 ft Mauer hopper bottom trailer it becomes something usable.

So we've upgraded out fleet from a 37 year old 10 gas engine Ford wheeler

and a 31 year old  gas engine Chevrolet 10 wheeler

to a '99 FL112 Freightliner with an '02 38 foot Mauer trailer.

Plus we have the '97 IH 8100 tractor and '04 22 foot Jet

and of course the Big Blue '90 Kenworth tandem.

 Technically we still have the Chevy, but there is a buyer coming Friday  And if he doesn't buy it the plates are good until June 30.

So we have upgraded from 2 trucks over 30 years old to one 12 years old, the oldest in the fleet being 21, stayed about the same capacity, and lowered our license plates expense about $500.

I think Dad would approve.