Good morning!!!!
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ponytug
Super Member
Cute cat, @buckeyefarmer I hope that he works out for you.
Most of the sticky fly strips are just molasses and pine rosin. The Shell "no-pest" strips still have a fairly toxic insecticide (Vapona?) in them, but they aren't sticky. I thought that they had been banned years ago, but looking just now, they are still on the market apparently.
Yesterday took a left turn when I dinged a wall corner with my foot. Nothing fancy, just clumsy, folding laundry, and my foot didn't go where my brain told it to. What is an inch or two between friends, right?
Given the bruise, and pain, it is pretty clear I broke at least one metatarsal. Walking around for a bit in work boots afterwards was a mistake, but in my defense it didn't look injured at first. I have it taped up and immobilized, and now the pain is there, but ignorable. My doc is not going to be amused, but I did tell her that something is making me even more clumsy than normal.
Today's highlight is getting the winter's hay delivered. The access road to the barn is borderline for the 60,000lb squeeze, so everything has to be just so to get the hay in. The soil in the road needs to be not too dry, not too wet, and as level cross slope as can be managed. I really need to bite the bullet and buy a land plane and vibratory roller to just care for that piece of road. (Poor workman blames his tools, right?)
With my foot out, I didn't get all of the old hay restacked in the front, so I will have to ask the crew (a one man army usually) to restack it for me. Cleaning the hay dust out of the corners didn't happen either, so I am just going to have to live with that one this year. I would love to have a barn that the squeeze could drive into and drop a block, but that is unlikely to happen here. It is an very old school barn. I love the underfloor ventilation though, elevated and open on three sides, with no rodent access.
I feel very lucky to have my current hay dealer. He knows his hay, and covers three states to get quality hay. He thinks nothing of driving five hundred miles one way to get hay, which can be what it takes around here, but that adds fuel cost, doesn't it? Locally, it seems as if a lot of lesser quality hay comes into the retail market around here. Given all of the irrigated hay fields around, to me, that's just poor farming. Having grown hay elsewhere, I am more forgiving of not always getting perfect hay, In much of the rest of the country hay growers have the real excuse of needing to dodge Mother Nature and weather to get the hay cut, conditioned, dried, and baled.
Stay safe out there.
All the best,
Peter
Most of the sticky fly strips are just molasses and pine rosin. The Shell "no-pest" strips still have a fairly toxic insecticide (Vapona?) in them, but they aren't sticky. I thought that they had been banned years ago, but looking just now, they are still on the market apparently.
Yesterday took a left turn when I dinged a wall corner with my foot. Nothing fancy, just clumsy, folding laundry, and my foot didn't go where my brain told it to. What is an inch or two between friends, right?
Given the bruise, and pain, it is pretty clear I broke at least one metatarsal. Walking around for a bit in work boots afterwards was a mistake, but in my defense it didn't look injured at first. I have it taped up and immobilized, and now the pain is there, but ignorable. My doc is not going to be amused, but I did tell her that something is making me even more clumsy than normal.Today's highlight is getting the winter's hay delivered. The access road to the barn is borderline for the 60,000lb squeeze, so everything has to be just so to get the hay in. The soil in the road needs to be not too dry, not too wet, and as level cross slope as can be managed. I really need to bite the bullet and buy a land plane and vibratory roller to just care for that piece of road. (Poor workman blames his tools, right?)
With my foot out, I didn't get all of the old hay restacked in the front, so I will have to ask the crew (a one man army usually) to restack it for me. Cleaning the hay dust out of the corners didn't happen either, so I am just going to have to live with that one this year. I would love to have a barn that the squeeze could drive into and drop a block, but that is unlikely to happen here. It is an very old school barn. I love the underfloor ventilation though, elevated and open on three sides, with no rodent access.
I feel very lucky to have my current hay dealer. He knows his hay, and covers three states to get quality hay. He thinks nothing of driving five hundred miles one way to get hay, which can be what it takes around here, but that adds fuel cost, doesn't it? Locally, it seems as if a lot of lesser quality hay comes into the retail market around here. Given all of the irrigated hay fields around, to me, that's just poor farming. Having grown hay elsewhere, I am more forgiving of not always getting perfect hay, In much of the rest of the country hay growers have the real excuse of needing to dodge Mother Nature and weather to get the hay cut, conditioned, dried, and baled.
Stay safe out there.
All the best,
Peter
Last edited:
daugen
Epic Contributor
The average monthly cost for employers to provide group health insurance is approximately
$626 for single coverage and $1,598 for family coverage, according to a 2025 analysis of the Kaiser Family Foundation's 2024 survey. These figures represent the employer's portion of the premium, with employees contributing the remaining amount.
| Coverage Type |
|---|
| Average Employer Monthly Contribution | |
|---|---|
| Single Coverage | ~$626 |
| Family Coverage | ~$1,598 |
- Employer contribution: The employer's average monthly contribution is roughly $626 for single coverage and $1,598 for family coverage.
- Employee contribution: The average monthly contribution from the employee is approximately $119 for single coverage and $533 for family coverage.
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daugen
Epic Contributor
Peter, ouch! sorry you wacked your foot
heal quickly
heal quickly
ponytug
Super Member
Thanks. Sad to say, this isn't the first time I have broken a toe. I broke my pinkie toe twice in about fourteen months many decades ago. Same way, misjudging a decorative wall corner. Perhaps I have just been on borrowed time?
All the best, Peter
sodamo
Super Star Member
- Joined
- May 20, 2004
- Messages
- 18,415
- Location
- Big Island, HI
- Tractor
- Bobcat CT4545 LS XR4140H (Mine) BX2380 (wife’s)
71°F and no rain
Sitting here at Toyota dealer this morning waiting for my Tundra to be serviced
Finished and tested Sophie’s EGO sprayer. Worked well. Should have gotten a couple of pics.
Having put forth the effort for Sophie, only fair I do likewise for me. Installed a cheap radio in my Bobcat
View attachment IMG_1189.jpg
Details over on the Bobcat forum if interested.
Not sure what I’ll get into this afternoon, the list isn’t lacking.
Prayers for all
Be safe
Have a great tractor day
Sitting here at Toyota dealer this morning waiting for my Tundra to be serviced
Finished and tested Sophie’s EGO sprayer. Worked well. Should have gotten a couple of pics.
Having put forth the effort for Sophie, only fair I do likewise for me. Installed a cheap radio in my Bobcat
View attachment IMG_1189.jpg
Details over on the Bobcat forum if interested.
Not sure what I’ll get into this afternoon, the list isn’t lacking.
Prayers for all
Be safe
Have a great tractor day
rswyan
Super Star Member
- Joined
- May 12, 2004
- Messages
- 13,183
- Location
- Northeast Ohio
- Tractor
- Kubota B2910, Cub Cadet Pro Z 154S, Simplicity 18 CFC, Cub Cadet 782
60F and sunny @ 13:00, that should be the day's high. Clinton Station reports the low there this morning was 28.7F ... 
Local weather folks talking about the possibility of the "S" word this coming weekend ...
Got a call yesterday from the secretary at the driller in Mansfield that their guy was about 1/2 hour out ... postponed the friend's project get together for a bit.
Good meeting with the driller, he's going to work up a quote with a couple of different options, including having a new well drilled ... which he said would be significantly less than what our our original driller was talking.
Found out that getting a rig on the well is probably going to require some significant tree trimming ...
He's supposed to email me the quote.
After he left I contacted my friend, he came over and we loaded up parts and ran over to his place and checked the fit on his lift and then came back and I welded everything up and sent him on his way.
With that out of the way I came back on down to the house and did a little clean up in the garage and fired off the torpedo heater just to make sure it would fire up.
Then headed to the basement and drained the pressure tank to check the pre charge ... it had zip/zilch/nada... which explains the well pump short cycling.
So I fired up the little Craftsman compressor and got the pressure tank pumped up to around 44 - 46 psi. Once (re)pressurized it seemed to hold air just fine and did not have any obvious leaks.
I've got the settings on the pressure switch jacked up to 50+ psi for the cut-in and 75 psi for the cut-out ... due to the all the complaints about "no water pressure" ...
Did some checking on the amount of draw down on pressure tanks and found out that the higher the pressure you have the system operating at, the less draw down you actually have. So probably will drop the cut-in pressure down a little bit at some point ... which will cause the pump to run less often but for a longer time when it does run.
Will need to check that pre charge pressure again in a few weeks/month ... just make sure it's still holding pressure. And add that as a recurring task on my calendar.
After that did some more separating of softener salt from brine.
Then got all the measurements for studs for the 4' section on the west wall and an 8' section on the south wall.
Agenda for today:
Dole out another week's worth of meds.
Pay a couple of bills.
Then get outside and start blowing more leaves off the lawn down here around the house.
Wind is out of WSW @ 9 ... so good for blowing on the east side but so much on the west side as I have to blow those to the west.
After that probably more work in the utility room project.
Otherwise, just see what comes up.
Hope everyone is having a decent Tuesday ...
Local weather folks talking about the possibility of the "S" word this coming weekend ...
Got a call yesterday from the secretary at the driller in Mansfield that their guy was about 1/2 hour out ... postponed the friend's project get together for a bit.
Good meeting with the driller, he's going to work up a quote with a couple of different options, including having a new well drilled ... which he said would be significantly less than what our our original driller was talking.
Found out that getting a rig on the well is probably going to require some significant tree trimming ...
He's supposed to email me the quote.
After he left I contacted my friend, he came over and we loaded up parts and ran over to his place and checked the fit on his lift and then came back and I welded everything up and sent him on his way.
With that out of the way I came back on down to the house and did a little clean up in the garage and fired off the torpedo heater just to make sure it would fire up.
Then headed to the basement and drained the pressure tank to check the pre charge ... it had zip/zilch/nada... which explains the well pump short cycling.
So I fired up the little Craftsman compressor and got the pressure tank pumped up to around 44 - 46 psi. Once (re)pressurized it seemed to hold air just fine and did not have any obvious leaks.
I've got the settings on the pressure switch jacked up to 50+ psi for the cut-in and 75 psi for the cut-out ... due to the all the complaints about "no water pressure" ...
Did some checking on the amount of draw down on pressure tanks and found out that the higher the pressure you have the system operating at, the less draw down you actually have. So probably will drop the cut-in pressure down a little bit at some point ... which will cause the pump to run less often but for a longer time when it does run.
Will need to check that pre charge pressure again in a few weeks/month ... just make sure it's still holding pressure. And add that as a recurring task on my calendar.
After that did some more separating of softener salt from brine.
Then got all the measurements for studs for the 4' section on the west wall and an 8' section on the south wall.
Agenda for today:
Dole out another week's worth of meds.
Pay a couple of bills.
Then get outside and start blowing more leaves off the lawn down here around the house.
Wind is out of WSW @ 9 ... so good for blowing on the east side but so much on the west side as I have to blow those to the west.
After that probably more work in the utility room project.
Otherwise, just see what comes up.
Hope everyone is having a decent Tuesday ...
Thomas
Epic Contributor
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2000
- Messages
- 31,667
- Location
- Lebanon,NH.
- Tractor
- Kubota B2650HSD w/Frontloader & CC LTX1046 & Craftman T2200 lawn mower.
What cutie.
Thomas
Epic Contributor
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2000
- Messages
- 31,667
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- Lebanon,NH.
- Tractor
- Kubota B2650HSD w/Frontloader & CC LTX1046 & Craftman T2200 lawn mower.
45F partly cloudy wind still huffing and puffing.
Momma bear and cub snoozing under Lalic tree,other cub curl up on setting bench sound to slept 3:30am as I headed down the driveway,I guess family feels right at home here now.
Good day at work but long day,afternoon burn barrel came to life for while,lot of cardboard flowers etc. from Mrs. garden no longer while enjoying smooth cigar.
Plans for the evening...dinner open hot face sandwich with gravy stuffing cranberry sauce I better get beach towel for bib,rext of the evening numb it to pillow time.
Enjoy your evening all.
Momma bear and cub snoozing under Lalic tree,other cub curl up on setting bench sound to slept 3:30am as I headed down the driveway,I guess family feels right at home here now.
Good day at work but long day,afternoon burn barrel came to life for while,lot of cardboard flowers etc. from Mrs. garden no longer while enjoying smooth cigar.
Plans for the evening...dinner open hot face sandwich with gravy stuffing cranberry sauce I better get beach towel for bib,rext of the evening numb it to pillow time.
Enjoy your evening all.
Thomas
Epic Contributor
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2000
- Messages
- 31,667
- Location
- Lebanon,NH.
- Tractor
- Kubota B2650HSD w/Frontloader & CC LTX1046 & Craftman T2200 lawn mower.
Safe trip looking forward to updates Scotty.
