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Saturday, April 2, 2011

signs of spring







Raccoon arrives. Not very good pictures - tooken about an hour ago so it was dark and I didn't have time to adjust the camera correctly - but I did catch him hanging onto the edge of the birdfeeder for a couple seconds.

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43 comments:

pansypoo said...

boy it looks healthy.

the farmer said...

looks healthy.
they usually do. bears should be waking up soon too.

And here's some more mobster movie news: John Travolta to play John Gotti in the movie Gotti: Three Generations.

Story at Yahoo News:
http://tinyurl.com/3dcbxqy

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Anonymous said...

Maybe that's why he's packin' on the weight.

Oh Vinnie, we hardly knew ya.

I'd cast Peter King (R-Fuckstickistan) in the role if I had my druthers. No Makeup or Ethics Coaching Required.

pjk said...

Anon Be Me.

the farmer said...

I'd cast Peter King

LOL!

Yes, I'd go along with that.

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the farmer said...

And yet another - (saw something about this at HuffPo): Sean Penn may be lined up to play Mickey Cohen in LA/Vegas mob movie. (Bugsy Siegel, Meyer Lansky, Flamingo Hotel, etc...)

old feb 1950 pittsburgh post gazette article about some problems Cohen was having in LA at the time - here:
http://tinyurl.com/3rabb5v

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pansypoo said...

i miss coon watching.

pjk said...

Goat kids a-poppin' this last weekend.

Not a real good omen when the first one (a marketable buck) had a fatal bungee jump with the cord, but a much better year than others since.

One non-viable buck and a surviving doe from the Saanen, twin does from the LaMancha, brother & sister from both the Nubian and Toggenberg.

Thursday afternoon until Monday afternoon (lots of butt progress inspections in that timeframe).

We should get about a 3 week break until the next 2 hit their due dates.

Lots of pitter patter goin' on in the plastic pen in the kitchen these days. Like gas prices aren't bad enough, it's as if we've got to buy puddle pads for an incontinent Sea Lion who likes linoleoum more than the tub.

And NO, I am not all hands-on or hands-in with that birthing process.

pansypoo said...

linoleum the wonder flooring.

the farmer said...

Looks to me like Kloppenburg is gonna win this thing.

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pjk said...

She had to drop them soon, or her tummy would have become a 5th point of contact with the ground.

Not a Kloppenburg, or a Bilderberger either. But that wouldn't have kept Bill Clinton off her, back in the day.

At least he could have saved the family some shame, versus a few of the "gotta go hetero within the species, 'cause Santorum's watchin' me like a hawk" choices he made.

the farmer said...

How many of them goats you got PJK?

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pansypoo said...

how many kids?

pjk said...

I think this gets us into the 20-ish range, farmer.

Still shy of the tri-county cat population, but growing by leaps & bounds this year.

7 live kids so far, pansy- with 2 more does expecting later. If we stay on pace, that would be be +2 each. For a total of 12, one poor bastard included.


Latest personal news involves being denied a work comp claim by my benevolent employer's WC insurer. I guess they need a real smoking gun to tie symptoms that began a month after crashing onto a dock plate under the unplugged light in the shipping area.

Arm hurts more after use, especially in the shoulder and elbow area. Waves of tinglyness through the thumb & 2 fingers next to it.

Stupid me, I walked off the low profile tennis ball-sized lump on my shin without seeing a doctor. And despite the location marker, the leg went back to normal about the time I irritated whatever got whacked in my arm on the way down.

Dealt with that for a month before I went in, after I rationalized that sleeping funny goes away in a few days.

WC in this state requires a doctor to evaluate you, but they based their rejection on a PA's notes. They also have the option to have you see one of THEIR specialists (not offered).

It might hurt later, but I could put aside the pain long enough to beat their Interrogator within an inch of his life. One of these dicks who takes pleasure in playing God- almost like the people that handled our foreclosure.

So it's probably lawyer time. No missed work means they don't even have to notify the state. Way To Suck It Up and Work Through those Little Hurts, dumbass! Lombardi woulda been proud!

I am WAY less twisted today than when I got my denial wake-up call at Noon on the 6th. Once I started screaming at the guy, I'm not sure of anything that was said, beyond You Don't Get the Final Say on This One (click!).

Perhaps he was unhappy that I didn't sign the "release" form he sent out which was actually a waiver of any State & Federal rights I had to privacy of medical information AND WC law.

The owner came back from FLA vacation #3 since November, and was all chummy. His HR daughter of many hats came by and offered me some frozen cookie dough, on him, just pick a flavor.

I declined, because I didn't see "Are You Fucking Kidding Me?" on the list of options.

Time to make a list. Getting another job will be prominent.

mike in pr said...

When I heard the margin of victoy for the dems in WI was merely 200votes I knew something fishy would have to happen to set things straight for the repugs, and sure enough.

pansypoo said...

i think kloppenburg can still pay for a recount. waukesha is GOP stupid land. but go to the machine shed if you see it.

oh, and MIKE! waves hi. how's PR. do not mentiion the temp tho. to sad here in the 50's and grey.

mike in pr said...

yeah, i'm still around, pansy. won't mention the temp, since it doesn't ever change much.

the farmer said...

...the Saanen, twin does from the LaMancha, brother & sister from both the Nubian and Toggenberg.

Didn't realize you had that many and that many different kinds. Are they mostly for 4-H shows and pets or do you milk em too?

won't mention the temp, since it doesn't ever change much.

Probably best time of year there isn't it? Not to hot not to cool. Just right. I just don't want it to get too warm around here to early or there won't be any morels. Need to have a real spring this year with plenty of rain and cool spring temps. I remember last year around mid to late april it stopped raining and the temps shot up into the high 70s and 80s for days and fucked everything up. I don't want that to happen again.

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pjk said...

farmer-

it probably will, again.

And until someone else seeks out the high morel ground as you have, we'll just have to be satisfied living among dumbasses to spout "how about that Global Warming!" on the coldest day of Winter.

Mostly the 4H hobby thing, but yes they NEED to be milked if you want to keep them producing up till showtime, and also before the kids turn into mass consumers.

Right now we're producing about 3gal/day and the goat kids are consuming 2.

It's a hobby for them, which revoves around a month in the Summer for actual fair-going, judging and such. Breeding tends to be in the Fall, and cohabitating with a few kids tends to be the Spring thing.

Winter exists so that we may piss away money on hay, and carry buckets of water to the barn because the hoses freeze.

I guess there are worse things a guys wife and kids could find amusing.

Hi mike!

pjk said...

Oh, and farmer-

if you hadn't already surmised, I got my train of thought derailed over humorous references to goat breeds rather than a rigged race for State Supreme Court candidates.

Sorry about that. Mah Bad.

pansypoo said...

the supreme court race will be on hold for the near future.
you need a cute goat baby video to go viral on youtube.

pjk said...

Anyone left in farmerville after the latest storm system (or frackin' mishap)?

Marco.....

the farmer said...

still here. doing spring stuff.

...polo

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pansypoo said...

yes. farmer's market needs to be checked if open. whay are beets so early now?

pjk said...

Got a few things left over from LAST weekend's list still to do, like oil changes and pulling the front tires off the venerable JD GT275 so's we can get tubes put in 'em.

That, and getting a copy of whatever my docs office sent the company Work Comp ins. co.

Thinking that I'm gonna tell the physical therapist thanks, but we've reached a plateau regarding the never-ending appointments.

He's a good guy, and I'm not going to mention it while he has his hands on my neck. But the root cause lies elsewhere and has yet to be addressed.

Not feelin' the love for my employer these days. Too much "What have you done for me lately, and F@ck your health & safety".

farmer- how does one attach pics to a comment here?

jp said...

stumbling out of the studio cave, where I am working on some innerstin' stuff..HI to mike PJK Ms PP (we werz in racine last week at the Art Museum..wowser) and of course the boss of this mess, for whom I have a "signs of spring" question: Last Fall/early winter, we put a bunch of hay down to cover our verdant pastures of not so plenty..strawberry patch, and several big (ok not so big)rows of spent vegetables (also the roast beef bush that didn't produce) should we just turn the straw into the ground? take it off, grind it up and do that..let it sit there? make a scarecrow of sarah palin that would scare away everything..or ! pile some good soil/compost on top and plant through the whole thing?

the farmer said...

how does one attach pics to a comment here?
I don't think you can. If its possible I don't know how to do it. Goat pics!? If you want to email them to me I can post them.

JP: 4/15/11 - check back tomorrow to read the news? Hay and straw: is it hay or is it straw? Could do any of the above with it. If its hay I'd probably rake it up and compost it. Its probably pretty much on its way by now anyway. If its straw and is still in relatively good shape I'd probably rake it up and then use it again to mulch around this years new plants. If not just till it into the soil. Straw is expensive these days and hay much less so. Trouble with hay is that it still has seeds in it so whatever grasses etc were in that hay might sprout in your garden. Thats not necessarily bad but it can mean more "weed" pulling later. Straw is threshed out so the seed, grain, etc... are removed.

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pansypoo said...

ooh, babee goat pics! i need to take more spring flower pics.

pjk said...

jp- Racine has an Art Museum? What's in it, avant-garde sculptures produced by laid-off workers and those who picked a bad week to emigrate from Chicago in search of a better life about when Walker "took charge"?

farmer- straw's more than hay? DAMN.
That duck-shaped wicker basket lying around hereabouts has gotta be worth a fortune!

pansy- if you could pass off a baby goat as your eco mower, I'd drop it off. DISCLAIMER: fixed buck only. Makes 'em smell cleaner, but they get too big to be cute real fast.

Our best example was Herb (you pronounce the "H") last year. We had that boy puddle pad potty trained in less than a week, indoors.

I guess he just felt lucky to hang out in an inside, heated space he could play a part in keeping semi-respectable.

Sounds like Sherri's breeding bucks are battin' 1000 so far this season. Somebody got triplets, but one was lost to a birthing incident. Single, doubles, almost a triple; going for the cycle.

Know what we need? One of the Mitchell park domes. And some mini-domes. And a Bobcat that has every attatchment they make for it.

Might as well ask for a hit on the Lotto.

jp said...

a true indication of my un-farmerness is not making the distinction between hay and straw, it is straw, and we'll reuse it, thanks you.

afa RAM (Racine ya later Art Museum) PJK, we were quite taken aback my good fellow, as the main exhibition was by a husband and wife from Milwaukee, stretching from their WPA work through the 80's (and their 80's as well ;), never heard of them (nothing new there) but really good if you like that paining stuff...I think the Johnson family built the museum, as well as the town? it is really well done (the museum). Rena is in charge of restoring the Grand Army of the Republic building here in aurora-not-by-the-sea, and the memorial statue in the Racine town square is the same one that tops the GAR in aurora..ok, not THE same one, but there you go.. And the surrounding environs were pretty nice one we found a Scots pub that had Spotted Cow on draft @$3 a pint. Can't get that beer down here in the smoke no more. the town has that "let's get lottza artists to move here that will make everything ok" schtik going on that every other town that used to make things (but don't anymore) has, aurora included..but apples to apples, it was a lot nicer.

SBL: farming and traveling tips YOU CAN USE!

pansypoo said...

we have a push mower from LL bean that is rotting in the garage. the neighbor mows our lawn cause his dog/s poo on our grass. down to one dog.

the farmer said...

Hay for eatin' - straw for sleepin'

straw's more than hay?

If you buy it by the bale. About $8-15 for a bale of straw from a feed and grain store. Can buy bales of hay for $1.50-3.00 per bale from locals who cut their fields. Dunno what the big rolled bales go for - or where the animal farms get their straw, or for how much. I imagine its a lot cheaper for straw in places like the midwest where they grow a lot of wheat and oats. Someone also told me that a lot of people are plowing the straw back into their own fields now instead of selling it.

And wouldn't a sheep make a better eco-mower? I thought goats were best for brush clearing. And aren't fixed bucks (or wethers, is that what they call em?) and does the best for pets? You really don't want to keep a buck for a pet, that can be treacherous, or something? I heard that somewhere. Pansy could keep one of those little dwarf goats in her kitchen. I've looked at those swiss army knife Bobcat things too. Christ, those things are like 40-50K. But I was looking at a compact John Deere the other day (small farm, nursery, landscaping size) and it was only 12K brand new with front end loader and backhoe. Which I thought was pretty good considering a couple years ago I looked at some Kubotas that were 2 or 3 thousand more for the same size with the same tools. But what I really want is one of those domes with a golf course inside it... like they are gonna build at Cornell:

http://blogs.cornell.edu/hort/2011/04/01/rtj-golf-course-to-get-dome/

I'd stand in line for 2 or 3 days in the same clothes to get in a $75 round of golf in January Ithaca. Especially if they stock the ponds with mermaids. I just hope the local deer hunters are careful.

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the farmer said...

i want one of these things:

www.drpower.com/backhoe_features.aspx

if i was still even remotely popular in the flogosphere i'd put up one of those "buy me presents" links on the sidebar and sit back and wait for magic to happen.

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the farmer said...

PJK, we were quite taken aback my good fellow

don't talk to PJK about art JP. He might just discover he has just the imaginative temperment for the trade himself and give it a try. And next thing we all know he'll be crashing imported sports cars into trees in the Hamptons.

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pjk said...

More like using a domestic 4-door to crash into imported sports cars at a Hampton Inn.

pansypoo said...

don't think my cats would like a dwarf goat.

pjk said...

They aren't dwarf goats any more than we were dwarf humans at birth.

There are Nigerian dwarf goats, but these ain't that breed.

And they coexist with cats quite nicely. One of the barn cats took to sleeping on what I assume were the better thermal sources this Winter.

The city might have a problem with it, though. Just tell them your lot is 3 acres DEEP.

the farmer said...

don't think my cats would like a dwarf goat.

get a little wagon, put the kitties in the wagon, let the goat pull the kitties around the kitchen in the little wagon. they'll love it.

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pansypoo said...

i have enough issues with stepping on cat erp, don't need to avoid goat droppings.

pjk said...

Get yourself a dog that likes to snack on those caprine milk duds.

Then all you need is a floor drain and sprayer setup like they have in the Zoo (or the bathrooms in any bar I'd design).

farmer- I'm picturing the short home video version of any number of old Westerns wherin the runaway wagon plunges off the cliff/basement stairs/back porch.

Congratulations! You won video of the week, and a multiple count citation for animal cruelty!

pansypoo said...

one of the best things abouts cats, you don't need to walk them in crappy weather like today. jeez, is it february?

the farmer said...

old Westerns wherin the runaway wagon plunges off the cliff

Toonces the cat driving a little stagecoach.

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pansypoo said...

TOONCES!