Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[NH Homesteader]

I hope you get some rain! I hope it comes my way too. Everyone's doing first cut right now. About average time. Hope second cut is good, that's where I am to get the bulk of my hay.

I pay $45 for a round bale but the quality has been sketchy as of late. Which means I'm probably going back to square bales, which means more $. Sigh. At least the pigs are good with cruddy hay!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

We have such a long growing season that there's still time for a couple more cuts if the rains are timely. I saw a field close to me getting cut on my way to work one morning. By the next afternoon that field had been baled and there wasn't even a wisp of hay on the ground. They baled it and moved it so fast it'd make your head spin.

I got lucky last year and got round bales for $20 a bale cuz the guy is really nice and I went and loaded it myself. In fact, I still haven't even paid for it. He was supposed to come by and pick up the money from me and he hasn't. I've called him three times now! I finally got in touch with him Sunday and he kept telling me 'not to worry about it' but I told him that I HAVE to worry about it because I don't like to owe money to anyone. I found out that his wife works at an insurance company in town and I'll be taking it by there and dropping it off for him. Sure hope he can find someone to cut the field for him....that's a lot of standing hay there going to waste and it's ready to cut!

Prices here are already pretty high in anticipation of a drought. But, I think the rain we have coming this weekend and early next week will help to keep the prices in check. As long as the predicted 4 - 6 inches will dry up in a decent amount of time then the hay production should pick back up. I used to always get round and square bales - but I just don't want to mess with the squares again. They are so much work. It wouldn't be so bad if I could get them delivered and stacked - but that's really pricey even if you can find someone to do it. Another reason to just reduce the hungry mouths!

Big Daddy has done it again. He's in the pen with the sows and babies. I love my AGH's - except when Big Daddy decides that fences are inconsequential. I think my next project will be to extend the hot wire across the gate that he keeps getting under. He's so dang strong that he just puts his nose under the cattle panel and lifts it up. T-posts are no match for him - he lifts them out of the ground. So, a little electrical jolt might teach him some manners. Geeze, don't most animals get fenced IN - not OUT?

 

[NH Homesteader]

Lol! Stanley moves hog panels too. He must be electrified! He is incredibly respectful of electricity though!

I don't have a tractor so round bales are harder for us! Hope you get some rain, and hay prices go down to normal! Hard depending on mother nature, that's for sure.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Hard depending on mother nature, that's for sure.

And that's the truth! She is so darn moody, lol!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Soooooooooooo stinking annoyed right now. Yesterday I took my truck to a Kwik Kar business and had my oil changed. Today I noticed that the passenger side of my truck - the wheel wells, the running boards, the doors, even the tailgate and back bumper had oil spots allll over them. GRRRRRR! I opened the hood to check the oil and my sweet neighbor came over to see if I needed any help. He crawled under the truck and said the oil leak was coming from around the filter. And, the truck is showing that it needs oil added. Geeze louise! So glad I actually look at my truck sometimes. I will be at the place in the morning and I won't be happy. Something told me that I should've taken it to the dealer!

 

[NH Homesteader]

Ugh! That is annoying! Because oil changes are really difficult... Good luck with that!

 

[Mini Horses]

Glad you caught BEFORE you burned up an engine with no oil!!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I should've listened to that voice in my head (there's meds for that I hear, lol) that told me NOT to go there...I always go to the dealer even though that can be pricier. The place is right across the street from my job and it's convenient - but I still shouldn't have done it. GRRRRRRR! It'll never happen again.

Ok - never finished this posting earlier - but I've been to the oil change place and I give them credit for making it right. At first they wanted to say an oil leak could have come from anywhere... I guess they think that nobody knows nuttin' 'bout no engine. Little did they know that my first hubbie and I were on the Nascar circuit racing cars for quite a few years.

I told them that my oil pan didn't have a hole in it, my rings are good, my head gasket is good, there's no cracks in the head and there's no f'ing push rod sticking out the side of my block - so the oil leak DID come from the loose oil filter. So then they told me that I shouldn't have messed with it that I shoulda just drove it back the way it was. I sweetly (or not so sweetly) told them that I wasn't going to risk my entire engine to do that. That's when the guy said - yea, it's a stupid policy, lol. So, before it was all over we made nice and they even paid for a carwash to get all the oil off.

But, I will be checking the oil for the next few days and looking for leaks!

 

[NH Homesteader]

How condescending of them. Go you, telling them what's up!

 

[baymule]

So you mean that you are NOT a stupid female?

Would you make more money selling weaned piglets, rather than a pregnant sow? Sell the Weaners , breed the Sows, then sell them.