Saturday, January 14, 2012

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.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

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!