How's the weather

[tanya]

It is now in the 40's here and pretty much sunny weather every day for the past week.  The snow is melting slowly but surely and that is what we like here.  There is green grass under the snow and I love it!!!

[glenn kangiser]

25 to 35 mph wind gusting to 50 - rain -had a small amount of hail.  Not too nice.

[glenn kangiser]

Only rained part of the day yesterday and we showed .79 in. before midnight.  Wind has been steady so the batteries are charged well although we haven't seen the sun for a couple days.  The Bergey XL1 (1000 watt rated) is the only thing putting out any significant amount of power,

[ScottA]

Cloudy gloomy and chilly but no rain today. Expected high in the 40's.

[Drew]

Lots of wind, lots of rain.  I had some construction detritus along side the house that I'm glad Dave and I broke down and stuffed in garbage cans.  That way I didn't need to listen to thump, thump all night.

We have a tree down that has part of its trunk still attached. I should have cut it yesterday.  Then it would be in someone else's yard this morning.  Roll-outs forever!   

[Redoverfarm]

Don't know about your neck of the woods but this time of the year is really bad about trees falling. The freeze and thaw and add a couple days of rain and let the wind blow and "there they go". Pines are the worse because of the root system or should I say the lack thereof. Also makes dirt roads a complete mess.  I got bored today and thought I would haul some more T&G flooring to the cabin.  Well the truck sunk in about 1-2" all the way up and I had to make several attempts at backing up to the door. Yep "mud on the roof of the truck" . Plan on making my accent in the AM hours this week while it is still frozen.  That is if I can find a loaner generator to use while waiting for parts.

[MountainDon]

I don't go anywhere in our neck of the woods without a chain saw anymore. Any time of the year. I got those smarts last year when I had to hack through a tree, smallish thank goodness, with a hatchet.


We took a drive up into the mountains today. Couldn't take the Jeep as it's crankshaft position sensor picked today to die and I didn't feel like wrestling with that today. So we took the Honda. It doesn't do too well on uphill hard-packed-snow-turned-into-ice. I had to back down the hill, doing an inadvertent 180, although I made it look like I planned it  , and then take a run at. No mud to deal with at this time of year. That will come in a couple months.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Sunny and gorgeous for a Wisconsin February day... a great day for moving.  We haven't left yet, unfortunately.  Hopefully sometime tomorrow!!!!  Packers were moving kinda slow today, which stunk because they asked to work on Sunday instead of Tuesday.

[MountainDon]

Packers were moving kinda slow today,

... hangovers....?

[glenn kangiser]

So...like ....let's get outa Dodge, Homegrown.


Rain finally quit.  A week of mostly sunny coming.

[Drew]

Yeah, the sun's out down here, too.  I'm in my home office with the door to the deck open.  A nice sunset is threatening on the horizon.

I'm hoping the weather holds.  We're going to celebrate my dad's 70th birthday this weekend.  Then its back to digging the trench.   

I had my Monday 1:1 with my client boss today.  "How are things going?" he asks.

"Things are going great.  [Insert short status report on Project A], and [Insert short status report on Project B.]," I said.

"Good.  Because we've had budget cuts and we need to end your contract early.  Your last day is March 7," he said.

"So why did you ask how I was?"

"To see if you were in a good mood."

So I'm on the bench soon and with little notice, but that's fine.  I'll turn on my resume and hope I get a few days at the farm before I have to go back to work.  Dan doesn't like the uncertainty, but I'm okay with it.  I only wish I had a helper to get some work done on the straw bale.  I can do the post cross-braces but I'll probably need a hand to get the beams in place.  Heeey, maybe my dad will be there...   

[glenn kangiser]

Hope you get a good severance package, Drew.

[MountainDon]

I believe Drew's a contractor and his severance pay is the last paycheck.  Maybe not. Would be nice if my theory is wrong.

[glenn kangiser]

I wonder - hopefully it is breach of contract on their part, but maybe month to month..

[Redoverfarm]

Hopefully Drew is in an area where jobs are more plentiful and can find something else in short order.  Just the opposite here as jobs are hard to find (limited) and if you have one you had better stick with it.  My hats off to people who change jobs more often than I do automobiles.  I stayed at my job for 25-1/2 years. Partly because I liked the work ( At least the first 15 years) and after that because of the retirement I had vested in. 

[Drew]

No severance package, but I've socked part of each paycheck away in what I call the "Bench Fund".  The agent who got me this gig will want to get me another since they get a cut of what I make (It's like the mob but with American Standard accents).  As long as I look marketable they'll keep trying.

There's no breach of contract since I'm "at will".  In practice I can leave a contract with 2 weeks notice and they can let me go with whatever they want.  If I leave things in a mess I won't be invited back.  They can run out of money and "thank" me on the spot.  The good news is that I don't have to worry about making Director or getting a corner office.  Layoffs don't worry me, since they usually mean I have more work to cover for the employee they let go.

The downside is that I don't take vacations since work is work.  When I'm off I don't spend money.  Moving to the farm will help since I won't have to work year round to pay a Bay Area mortgage.

Dan is going off to graduate school for the next 4 summers, which will put her out of work for 2 months.  She'd prefer that I was on the job through August like the contract said, but it is what it is.  I'm good on the bench.  I get all kinds of things done.  And if it can keep from raining, maybe I can get some stuff done at the farm before I have to get back in the cube again.

[Redoverfarm]

Good attitude . But the problem about the farm is that almost everything that you do or plan to do will cost something.  Thats the way with me.  Have alot that I could do but the downside it cost to do those things.

[Drew]

That's the truth.  If I have time, I have no money, and vise versa.  There are some things I can do that won't cost much, and I set aside some for the next phase of the field shed.  Soil prep is nearly free if you do it with minimal tools and are dumb enough to dig a trench by hand in the first place. 

I think about all the work I'm doing so that I can produce the most intimate product on the planet: food.  But  the barriers along the way are innumerable:  Low margins on raw food.  USDA requirements that burden small producers.  An apathetic market looking for the China price on everything.  "I can't afford organic.  Can I have a ride to my allergist appointment?". 

I'll grow and I'll make a go of it.  I know a few things that will help and at the end of the day I'll be doing what I want to do.  I can invest the time in it now because I love it.  It's what's called an "off balance sheet transaction."

And back on topic.  It is mostly sunny and in the low 60s.  My bike is on the back of my truck and I'm going riding on my way home.

And yes, I'm leaving early. 

[ScottA]

Drew everyone knows that the cash crops grown in Cali are not low margin. They might be marginaly legal though. Sunny here today in the low 50's.

[Drew]

Yeah, I thought about what goes into growing medicinal grass.  The State might leave you alone, but the Fed won't.  They'll even take your property, in essence preventing you from mounting a defense.

But my biggest trouble would be with the local kids.

"Dang, kid, leave my Stuff alone.  'Cause if you don't I'm gonna have to shoot ya.  I don't have a problem with that.  Its just that it's July and the ground is as hard as a clay pot and I already filled in the three ready graves I dug last spring.  That reminds me.  Are you Jeff?  Yeah?  Well Mark says "Hey."  He also says, "Please, God, No, Don't shoot me!  I'm Sorry!  I'm Sorry!  GAAAAH!" but I think the "Hey" part was for you."

[Redoverfarm]

Started off at 10F this morning and we are already at a balmy high of 23F.  Didn't get all of the falling perciptation that was forecasted.  My elbow is giving me fits today so a needed day off was in order.   

[Willy]

Started off at 10F this morning and we are already at a balmy high of 23F.  Didn't get all of the falling perciptation that was forecasted.  My elbow is giving me fits today so a needed day off was in order.   

It started off at 30 degs this morning but up to 60 DEGS RIGHT NOW!! YA-HOOOO snows a melting won't be long till cabin building time!!! It will be in the high 50s all week they said. I just finished the 12 ft tall post for my staircase today in the shop. Mark H.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Sunny, warm, and windy.  Boy am I glad to be back in Oklahoma!  'Bout late July and August we'll probably be dying because of the heat and we've gotten acclimated to wimpy northern summers, but I'd take 40 days of 100+ temps over six months of winter any day!  When we crossed the border from Missouri into Oklahoma, the temperature jumped from the high 40s to 51 degrees, and we all got giddy as it continued to climb up to 65.  Even the dogs were excited about it.  I don't know what the temperature is today, but it is still comfortable in a t-shirt and jeans.  Would be good enough to go barefoot if not for the wind. 

[Willy]

Looks like 2 weeks or less till I can start the cabin. I am piling up tools near the garage door allready! Trailer is free of snow waiting to be loaded up with the tractor, readymix and wood posts. Water is forming around my lake with the ice melting and 60% of my land is free of snow now. If there is any in Chesaw when I go up it will be plowed off and I start anyway on the posts. The ground will not be frozen and I will be able(the hired kid will)dig the holes. Once this is are done nothing can realy stop me from working. I have long johns, carhartts, rain gear ect to wear. I have worked in the Pacific Northwest many years outside all year long. I just can't dig in frozen ground with a post hole digger and shovel!! Mark

[Drew]

Sunny and in the mid-50s.  Dave and I are going to ride our bikes down the coast as soon as I get Robin's and my Dream Theater tickets on TicketMaster. 

\m/ Rawk!