I Think I Can I Think I Can

For some reason, when I was looking at Ben's car this morning I was reminded of a children's book ...

No, he really wasn't trying that.

He doesn't have a hitch on the Beetle ...

yet

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Had an interesting exchange of emails this weekend.  John Walter (Executive Editor of Successful Farming Magazine) and I exchange email from time to time.  He sent me this:

I enjoyed looking through your blogs a bit. One question I have: Why do you keep two blogs? How do you feel they differ in terms of content and style?

I’d like to promote them on our new site, which we’ll be re-launching in a week or two.

So I guess I could be infamous again.

Oh, here is what I told him:

Wonderings from Walnut Prairie is supposed to be more of a personal blog.  The other one was actually started as a placeholder for my url www.bumpusfarms.us and www.bumpusfarms.info.  I had thought about a farm web site and found bumpusfarms.com was already taken by someone in Ohio. So I took advantage of a GoDaddy promo and grabbed .us and .info.  OK, now that I have them what do I do with them?  I set up a blog on blogspot in about 10 minutes and linked both url's to it.

So who knows, I might be in SF again.

glyphosate?

I was taking with a couple guys the other day and mentioned my concerns with wheat.  We just do not seem to be able to grow wheat like we should any more. I recently stumbled across Jim Martindale through an email a friend sent me  The jury is still out on my opinion, but if he is correct we are in a world of hurt. I've found some articles by Jim, Don Huber and others and have just glanced through them and started back through reading it a bit more slowly.  If it is real it is scary.

The starting place is http://www.soilcursebuster.com  At first it looks like a page promoting some farm equipment.

If you click on the Soil Health News tab, at the bottom are links to articles titled Coming Home To Roost.  It is a 3 part series of 4 articles (this guy sounds like me) I am still wondering through.

Another paper is Huber's on crop nutrient interaction.  Click on this link to download the pdf file http://s230184898.onlinehome.us/CurseBuster/joomla/images/PDFs/Huber%20at%20Fluid%20Fert.%202-10.pdf

I realize Jim is promoting his own miracle tool.

I am looking at the information he is starting from and wondering if maybe, just maybe, he might be on to something?  If he is it is really scary.

I guess it concerns me because it is starting to answer a question I asked 35 years ago I have yet to get a good answer for. In a discussion about herbicides in a college class the comment was made the chemicals broke down after so many days.  When I asked "break down into what?" nobody could give me an answer.  In asking a similar question for over 30 years I have never gotten what I consider a good answer.  I'm not sure this is the answer ... and if it is true it is not good.

What Am I Missing ?

I wonder what I am missing right now?

Why do I say missing?  I have developed a history of missing it. In '87 I saw my first fax machine.  It was roughly 2 ft long, a foot wide, and not quite a foot high.  It used roll thermal paper and did not include a telephone.  You had to plug a telephone into it to use it.  Cost was just under $3000.  I said "Why would anyone want one of those?

I totally missed it.

Today fax machines are so common I have one at home and one in the shop.  Both also function as ink jet printers.  If I had specialized in fax machines who knows what would be today.

A few years later I saw a tower going up between Marshall and Clarksville.  It had to be a cell phone tower.  I did some investigating and found it was Cellular One from Danville.  I met with Chuck (the manager)  in Marshall and had in my hand the contract to be the first agent outside of Danville.  I was working for a GTE Mobilenet agent at the time selling office machines (yes, including faxes) and as part of my employment had signed a non-competition agreement. 

I pondered on it.   My employer knew the non-comp agreement was unenforcable.  I did not directly sell phones, I was in a different license area, even in a different state.  But I looked around.  At the time we were selling Panasonic transportables (they were about the size of my current fax machine) for $1600.  I looked at the market and thought "I might be able to sell maybe a dozen in the Marshall area."

I REALLY missed it.  There are more cell phones than that waiting in line at McDonald's

Maybe cell phone is not a very good description.  My cell phone has a 3.2 megapixel camera, video camera and player, a mini SD card with 2 gigabytes of memory, an MP3 player, FM radio, calendar, on and on.  You can fit 2 if them in a pack of cigarettes.

I have a friend who runs his business from his cell phone. His billing,etc is from his computer, but his communication and scheduling are all on his phone

So I am wondering what I am missing today? 

Physical Therapy

Who'd a thunk it?  The boys were playing in a mud puddle in our driveway last week (different one than posted below) and their Mom did not seem too upset with it.  It seems this is what David needs to help with his coordination. So being the ever helpful Grandpa I of course aided and assisted.  I couldn't take pictures while holding his hands, but David just loved "Papaw" holding his hands while he bent over to get good momentum and then jumped in the middle of the mud puddle, splashing Papaw of course.

Here are a couple shots of his less energetic attempts

Brother is of course encouraging him in this

Papaw was entirely  innocent.

We have had a major systems failure that may necessitate an emergency trip to Rural King

Yes, my pliers holder has failed. I am sure duct tape can temporarily repair it, but a permanent solution may be required.

Went out for dinner yesterday, to one of the more interesting establishments in the area

 http://www.themoonshinestore.com/

Oh, new record April 10, 2010
1908 served
Yes, you read correctly.

So what else has been going on?  We've watched deer

looked at crops before the river takes them.

Watched boys play in the mud.  Gotta run, battery is almost gone.

Later Ya'l

Fun Friday

The only thing worse than having an irrigator is needing an irrigator. 

I had decided to start the south irrigator up Friday.  Engine ran fine about 2 minutes then shut down. Couldn't get the Murphy to hold.  I've got the box off tracing wires looking for bare places the mice chewed off insulation when it hits me ... the temp gauge is full scale.  I realize this when I notice there is anti-freeze under the radiator on the frame.  I call the radiator shop.  Roddy  is closing early today because his wife is in the hospital.  He's closing in 1 1/2 hours and it is an hour and 10 minute drive.  No, we didn't make it.  But it is setting by his back door.


Sue and I pulled it off, cleaned up a little (ie washed hands and put on clean clothes) and headed for Mattoon.  Bill's (I don't know why Roddy's radiator shop is called Bill's, it just is) is easy to find.  Just go a couple blocks past the Sonic drive in and turn right.  Yeah, Sonic Drive-in Restaurant.  So we stopped at Sonic after dropping it off and got a Sue a Limeade.  Then we went to the flagship store of the Rural King chain.

Am I a romantic or what?


Would you believe they did not have a 3/4 drive 1-1/18" socket?   Every other size but that.  So we swung past Sears and got one.

Since we were in Charleston we stopped as Pagliai's.  What? You are unfamiliar with Pagliai's ?  It's been there at least 40 years.  At 5:30  it was full and a continuous flow in and out.  They had 4 pizza makers, 2 guys on the ovens, and I don't know how many waitresses. Pizza was OK, but the number of customers was impressive.

Oh, fortunately the weather guy's 50% chance of rain became 1/2 inch Saturday evening.  But hopefully by the time we need the 'gator it will be ready.

Yeah, it's a little wet ...

Yeah, it's a little wet  The lot in front of the plow shed needed mowed.  I should have went after the Bush Hog, but had the Husqvarna on the trailer so I used it.  The grass was a little tall

and it was a bit wet

But I mowed it anyway

Found a little buddy while I was mowing

He's shy, he didn't want his picture taken.

So it's been another one of those weeks down here on the prairie.  We're actually making pretty good planting progress, the roads need mowed (what else is new?), corn needs cultivated but is getting too tall, milo needs cultivated but it's almost too small, beans need planted but it is w-a-y t-o-o wet.  But I'll write more about that on the farm page.

Oh, one other thing I did this week.  Put a new rope on the flagpole at the ball diamond in the York Township Park

That is one tall pole.  Dale got 50 ft of rope and it wasn't long enough.  Sure gives a different perspective on  things being up that high

Oh, one more photo.  Wish I'd had my camera.  Mom had a hummingbird setting on her shepherd's hook.  Just setting there, not flying.

Later Ya'll!