Chance: The Field Report

Hiya!  It’s me again with a field report.  We went for a ride on Tuesday afternoon just before nap time.  Gotta keep these old farts on a schedule.  Ride, nap and supper.

The snow is icy and hard in the places where there is snow, we have ice too…there is two inches of snow at the snow stick.  It rained last night (Wednesday) and our walk was all icy.

One of the area fields…I think this one had beans in it last summer…or potatoes.  It was beans…Far Side found a photo taken in almost the same spot last August.  She must be a creature of habit too.

This is the neighbors corn field.  Those dots are Wild Turkeys.

In the old grain field across the road from us were 44 Wild Turkeys.   I hear them gobble gobbling through our woods…they make quite a racket…and I bark at them.

I might have rolled down my window and barked at them…then again Far Guy slowed down so Far Side could get a photo…all I know is something spooked them and made them fly back into our woods.   Might have been me…who really knows for sure?

Wistful Wednesday :1914 Auction

A bit of Far Guys family history that took place almost 101 years ago.

Folded in half amongst Grandma Tracie’s things was the auction bill from her parents(Louis and Louisa’s) farm in Iowa.  Louis would have been 60 years old and Louisa was 54 years old at the time of the auction sale. The obituary for Louis says he came to Park Rapids in 1916…I question that…after his farm and livestock was sold why would he stay in Iowa?  Louisa’s obituary has them coming to Park Rapids in 1914.  Apparently whomever wrote the obit for Louis was in error.  Since Louisa died first in 1929 and then Louis in 1932 it was probably Emma or one of her sisters who couldn’t quite remember when.

I scanned the fragile sale bill the best I could.  They apparently had a sale and then came north to Minnesota to be near their daughters Tracie and Emma.  Tracie and Emma were both newly married to James and Rubert.

PUBLIC SALE

I will offer at Public Auction at my farm  8 miles west of Logan, 3 miles east of Readers Mill, 8 miles west of Persia.

Friday February 27, 1914

The following property, to-wit

7 head of Horses and Mules

One pair of matched Percherons, aged 5 and 6, weight 2800 lbs; one brown horse, 5 years old, weight 1300; one pair of spotted ponies, 7 years old weight 1700; one mule, weight 1050; one yearling colt.

17 Head of Cattle

Nine good milk cows, five fresh now, four fresh in the spring; five heifers coming two years old, fresh in spring; two fall calves; one Red Poll Bull, 3 years old.

24 Head Hogs

12 bred sows, good ones, farrow in April; 11 head fall shoats; one yearling boar.

Machinery

One Moline wagon and bed, one truck wagon and bed, spring wagon, good 14-inch gang plow, 16-inch walking plow, 16-inch riding plow, McCormick corn binder, McCormick mower, McCormick hay rake, corn planter and 120 rods of wire, Jenny Lind cultivator, New Departure cultivator, bobsled, 3-section harrow and cart, endgate seeder, fanning mill, hog rack, feed grinder, set work harness, set driving harness.

Miscellaneous

Some stove wood, 100 bu. Early Ohio potatoes, 450 bu. Early Silver Mine Oats, 800 bu. corn, 6 1/2 tons alfalfa hay, 4 1/2 tons timothy hay, 5 doz. chickens, three ducks.
HOUSEHOLD GOODS- - - Two heating stoves, two cupboards, 8-foot table, dresser, two commodes, sofa, kitchen cabinet, two beds, and other articles.

FREE LUNCH AT NOON                                              SALE BEGINS AT 10:30 AM

  Terms: All sums of $10 and under Cash.  On sums over $10 a credit of twelve months will be given on bankable notes bearing 8 percent interest.

Louis Stuve, Prop.

Tupper and Son Aucts     B. J. Wood Clerk

The Logan Gazette, Logan Iowa

***************************************

I had not heard the term shoat before, I looked it up it is a young hog that has just been weaned.

For you non farm people:

As for the hogs…they farrowed or were to give birth in April.

Coming fresh means a cow or heifer will give birth and then produce milk.  Milk Cows freshen after they have been dried up in preparation to give birth, heifers have never been bred before so they will freshen after they give birth.   Most milk cows are allowed their calf only a short time, it is put in a pen with other calves and fed with a special pail…a pail with an teat on it.  I used to feed the calves on the farm, those calves are pretty aggressive they will suck on your hands or your clothing anything that they think will give milk.

Free Lunch now that is one way to get people to the farm and keep them happy!

Refrigerator Drama

It is fixed, repaired.  Mr. Fixit came out right away Monday morning and after a diligent search through all the wires in the refrigerator found the problem and fixed it.  Yes his name is Mr. Fixit.

The problem was a coupler.  For some reason it went crazy arcing and eventually burned out or whatever and quit…which shut the entire fridge down.

It didn’t look bad from the outside, the men cut it apart to see what the problem was…$90 later it was replaced and everything is working all hunky dory.  The fridge may last another fifteen years…who knows.

I do know that everything in the refrigerator freezer barely fit in our chest freezer.  We have to use up some of that frozen food.  Two people shouldn’t have that much food hoarded in reserve.  Even if we do live in Minnesota and can get stormed in for a few days.  We have soup in the pantry…we won’t starve to death.

We did get the refrigerator freezer all defrosted and cleaned out!

Far Guy breathed a sigh of relief …he was not looking forward to shopping for a new refrigerator.  Neither was I.

Social Security is slow as molasses in the winter time…no calls were returned on Monday in regard to the Medicare problem.  Why am I not surprised? 

Impatience

The time for patience has come and gone.

The all elusive Medicare Card Far Guy has been waiting for is never coming in the mail.  It seems some supervisor of another supervisor has  stacked us into some kind of immovable spot.  Someone at Social Security has to look at our file and declare it OK and push some stupid key seven times.  I think it has to do with our change of address from last August..but I am told it has nothing to do with that whole situation.  Yes we have another call into SS…seems we call them once a week and nothing happens.  We were told by one worker that we have been high priority since December 23, 2014.  How’s that grab ya?

Begonias and New Guinea Impatiens

The refrigerator quit working.

New Guinea Impatiens

The refrigerator is an Amana and we have had it 15 1/2 years.  I am not certain it is worth repairing but we have a call into the repairman if it is just a relay switch it will probably be good to go for another few years.   The refrigerator just died whilst we were cooking supper.  Far Guy opened it once to get ice and when I opened it a minute later the lights were off…both of them and the compressor is not working.

What a way to start the week…they say troubles come in threes I wonder what will happen next?

Adventures in Foods

I really tried to follow the Doctors advice and eat some yogurt.  Just the thought makes me shiver from head to toe.  Yogurt is not in the same category as cottage cheese…which is in the immediate vomit stage….gag a maggot cannot get it swallowed. 

My other baby brother and she who sees Robins first suggested the Key Lime Yogurt (Chiobani) the one with the crumble off to the side…Far Guy had one spoon full and declared it inedible, I almost finished it off…Chance really liked it.

One day I had some caramel flavored yogurt something or another it wasn’t too bad.  I must have elderly taste buds…at their advanced age they don’t like anything new.

Far Guy eats yogurt just about everyday for lunch.  He likes the plain old store brand Raspberry or Blueberry Yogurt…nothing exotic or Greek for him.

I am not very adventurous with foods…I often think it would be fun to be a food judge on one of those fancy smancy cooking shows.

Our big food adventure this week was Asparagus…I roasted them in the oven with a bit of Olive Oil and Parmesan Cheese…they were really good. But then I like asparagus.

I like mango too and they looked and felt good in the store…not squishy but firmly ripe.   I topped it off with some kiwi and it was our different fruit for the week.

I prepared French Bread to toast under the broiler…filled the whole house with smoke…Jennifer said “Just like old times Mom.”

These Mallards Ducks are “dabblers” or “surface feeders”  they can reach up to 16 inches down into the water to get grain or corn.