Good Morning!!!!!!

[mike89]

mornin all, 55 here and going for 83 today...   I'll bet that was fun to watch Mark!!  but getting up at 330!!   no thanks!!  got a couple things to do today and I don't have any appointments either today!!   have a good day all!!

[LPS]

Morning boys.  Yes 3:30???  Yikes.  Same weather as Mike here today.  Accu says 83 for us but the tv weather just said 91 for us.  Hope they are wrong.  That is way out of my comfort range.  Have a Dr. appt this morning to get my pain shots in my back.  They really help.  Then just come home and do some putzing around.  Have a good one and stay out of trouble.

[glenn57]

morning fellers............yea 3;30 is to early.........unless your going hunting or fishing!!!!!!!!!!!

doing my good deed for the day.........got an appt to donate blood. i should be getting close to that 9 gallon pin. need to take care of a few things at the DMV also!!!! mayhaps a few other stops as long as i'm in st cloud.

been hearing there's ALOT of acorns this year....thats usually a sign of the winter to come. from what some say!!!!!! 

getting close to needing a haircut............my barber , mom, cant do it no more..........so gotta find me a new one!!!!!!

[Gunner55]

Mornin all, it was 60 when I headed for the dock & I'm seeing 85 for our high. Caught 1 but it had whiskers & got bit off a couple more times. We had a pretty nice breeze early here. We did go to Bemidji yday & didn't get back here until about 2. So, by the time I got my clothes off the line it was too close to HH to do much else. I should mow but if it's going to get hot, I probably won't. Still have a pc of that tree to mess with too. We'll see................. 'Bout it here, have a good day.

[Dotch]

Mornin' comrades! 50 at choretime heading for a high in the upper 70's. Weird when we're cooler than youse guys up nort. .01" worth of drizzle at the ranch from yesterday & last nite with collected .02" in Bugtussle. On the slate today is payroll, make copy deadline & by then it'll be close to lunch. Have to let Poppy out for a run at lunchtime then get back out into the fields for a bit. Then it'll be choretime & we're supposed to go to the Steele Co. Fair to watch the 4-H kid show one of our sheep. Kid worked hard at it altho her parents were no-shows during much of the process. Her mom never showed up. Tonite she will & will act as tho she had a major part in it. Good kid tho. She knows better & that's the main thing.   

[Jerkbiat]

Morning boys. 66 here and heading for high 70s. Chance of rain this afternoon. So I got the grass cut last night. Otherwise just getting ready for another day in the salt mines. Have a good one boys.

[mike89]

mornin all, 62 here and going for the mid 80's today...  sounds like like plenty of south wind too...  going to Alex this morning and get a few things and pay a bill too..   and a quick stop at the VA..  did a little mowing too..  have a good day all!!   

[glenn57]

morning fellers.........got up with the birds this morning!!!!!!!! think it might just be one of them Gunner/Mikey/LPS kinda days!!!!!1 much aloof about nuttin!!!!!!

do want to pick stuff out of the garden, but thats it. was thinking of mowing the lawn...........think i;ll wait till tomorrow when its cooler and less humid!!!!!! why do it today when you can push it off until tomorrow right LPS!!!!!

[markn]

I did get the yard cut, grass in both woods cut, the trail through the woods cut and some brush laying around for three years tossed on the burn pile yesterday. However the boat project got deferred due to a nap. That's on top of the list for today. Enough for today, later.....

[glenn57]

I did get the yard cut, grass in both woods cut, the trail through the woods cut and some brush laying around for three years tossed on the burn pile yesterday. However the boat project got deferred due to a nap. That's on top of the list for today. Enough for today, later.....

your getting to sound more like dotch everyday!!!!!!!


                                    Mike dared me!!!!!!!!!

[Gunner55]

Mornin boys, 66 here & 81 will be our high. Got the rest of that tree cleaned up yday. Then gave the saws a little TLC, so they're ready to go when we need 'em again. Been working on a couple small projects & not sure which 1 will be 1st today,........................ yet. Could still mow a little too. No more now, hopin your Wednesday's a good 1.

[LPS]

Morning boys.  Cloudy here and like JB said a chance of rain this afternoon.  We have dentist appts this morning.  So we will do some grocery shopping in Warroad today. We like to visit different stores.  Will have lunch over there too.  Then get the camper up by the house and get packed for the weekend. I hope this all doesn't interfere with my nap.  You all have a good day.

[Dotch]

Mornin' comrades! 60 at choretime heading for a high in the mid-80's. Chance of some thunderstorms tonite. No rainfall amounts mentioned & I'm fine with that. The NWS hasn't been able to predict that worth a crap here anyway. Surprise me. Nice win for the neighbor girl showing our ewe lamb at the Steele Co. Fair last nite. Won both the Jr. champion Breeding Ewe (lamb) & overall champion Breeding ewe. Not sure yet if she got a State Fair trip. There are 8 trips available in Steele Co. & they are heavily skewed toward market animals, not breeding sheep. She was 10th in the lineup out of ~ 30 lambs and there are likely some kids who won't take their lamb who were pulled out ahead of her. Still nice to see her finish with a locally raised breeding lamb ahead of kids whose parents spent thousands of dollars on a market animal. Best of all, she can show it again next year as a yearling. The market lamb parents will have to spend thousands on another one and done lamb for their kid. Not how the real lamb & wool industry works.     

[roony]

Thousands of $$$$ for a show market lamb? Some kids are sure learning the wrong lessons.
Or
I guess there really is big money in sheep farming.

[glenn57]

Thousands of $$$$ for a show market lamb? Some kids are sure learning the wrong lessons.
Or
I guess there really is big money in sheep farming.

[Dotch]

You got that right roony, that's how the club lamb game is played these days. Plan on spending a couple grand for anything that has a chance to compete at the next level. The only people getting rich are those selling the lambs to these parents. In a nutshell, all to get into the State Fair 4-H auction that generates big $ corporate sponsorship for 4-H & if you win it all, the use of a new Featherlite trailer for a year which you have the option to purchase after the year is up. This system has brought about all kinds of fun and games, from feeding lambs liquid diets consisting of only electrolytes so they hold their weight for months, no hay or bedding, drugging, beating, icing, treadmills, & the list goes on. The current fad while showing market lambs is slapping the crap out of the topline to tighten it up. Watching the market lamb show last nite reminded me of a Three Stooges movie only it wasn't funny. A few years back, the fad was lifting the lamb's front end off the ground as high as you could by their necks then setting them down. After the show last nite, the kid's parents were washing the market lambs that had been shown. They were then treated for club lamb fungus (ringworm). Constantly keeping the lamb shorn to the skin as they do invites the fungus to infect them. Keeping some fleece on them helps prevent that. Did I mention the ringworm is also contagious to humans? This is just a PETA feature film looking for a place to happen. Not only that, the marketplace doesn't want anything to do with those lambs anymore. They've received too many complaints that the meat is tougher than a basketball and tastes about the same. Venture to guess that most of these kids and their families have never eaten lamb. If I raised lambs that way, I wouldn't either. 

It's not only in MN, it's all over the country. However, some of the more prestigious shows are starting to crack down on the showring antics. Kudos to them. At the All American Jr. Show, the largest Jr. show in the country, where there are about 1900 kids and 4000 head of sheep between purebred and market animals, they instituted a 4-on-the-floor rule. The animal's feet must always be on the ground when you're setting them up in the showring. if you're caught lifting an animal's front feet off the ground by the neck, you get a warning. Do it again, you get tossed out of the show. Likewise if you're slapping the animal. No place for that garbage in a public exhibition.

In the meantime, the MN 4-H kid who raises & shows their own purebred stock from start to finish has no opportunity to earn big premium money from a sale or a crack at the free use of a trailer for a year. Those kids typically do chores every day, assist the ewes at birthing time, tag, vaccinate, dock the tails, help with shearing, feed the lambs as they were meant to be fed & do the work of washing, carding, fitting gaining nothing other than the satisfaction that they did the work themselves. They actually learned something besides Daddy has deep pockets. And the end product? Delicious. They know because their family actually eats it. This is what the 4-H sheep project was meant to be, not this club lamb charade that isn't representative of the US lamb and wool industry.       

[mike89]

interesting reading Dotch...  sad too....   

[roony]

Hogs and Beef ain't any better I suspect. The first beef steer i had in 4-H sold for 19 cents/pound at the county auction. Might have been a two cent premium.

[glenn57]

interesting reading Dotch...  sad too....

yea it was. and really sad.

you da man Dotch  doing it the old fashion way!!!!!1

[LPS]

Morning boys.  Cloudy and breezy here this morning.  Roony you have a good time at the wedding.  I hope you have a breeze there.  Stay out of trouble.  That goes for all of you.  LOL Have a good day.

[mike89]

mornin all, 57 this morning and going for 74 today..  and yes windy here too..  going to Sartell this morning to get the stiches out of my gums..   feels like it is healing very good to me!!   sure hope so!!  after that maybe treat myself to a mexican lunch!!  have a good day all!!!   

[Gunner55]

Mornin gang, 59 @ 1st peek & headed for 72. We ended up going to the lumberyard in Marcell to pick up some OSB along with some 2x4's for the new shed yday morning. Got a few other things done as well. Had a few sprinkles around 3:30 too, but the neighbor only had .019". Cooler & drier today, so I think I'll mow what needs it. 'Bout it here, have a good 1.

[markn]

Well the boat is done. Moved the Lowrance to the bow. Took a couple days due to the incorrect removal of the transducer wire. Must have been a union job. (Both Mike and Dotch told me to say that). For today's project I may start putting stuff on trailers that can be outside and start on the West wall of the garage, insulating and putting up OSB. Will also add a switched outlet for the furnace. Won't use the same union electricians as I did for the boat project for that. But looking at the weather forecast and the upcoming heat this may be ???????????? Have a great day everyone. Later....

[Dotch]

Mornin' comrades! 54 at choretime heading for a high in the mid-70's. .08" of rain at the ranch  from last nite & .02" in Bugtussle. Surprised it did anything although when I finished picking beans before dark, the sky looked somewhat promising. Today's agenda looks like more of the same. Looking for soybean aphids & the elusive tar spot in corn. Reading the ag media, you'd swear it was everywhere. Oddly enough only a handful of people have found any. It's getting too late to be much of a factor so they'll have to find something else to write about like Crop Tour. I leave for that Saturday. This one will make 20 years of doing that. Thinking that's enough. Pretty sure I can find something else to do that doesn't involve a week long road trip thru corn and bean fields, staying up until midnite and getting up to do it all over again at 5 a.m. Insane. Careful markn. glenn may puncture your tires when he shows up there to help out.     

[glenn57]

  he's lucky thats all i'd do!!!!

morning fellers........got done at the store by 9;30.  got me a screamin deal on turkey legs and thighs. saved 7 bucks. so i'll be firin up the smomer tomorrow!!!!!!! already in da brine.

with the heat wave coming........Glenns gonna add to the fire smoke tonight and tomorrow!!!! of course beer will be included!!!

tomorrow expecting some more cukes so i'll be doing them up also!!!!!!1 busy busy busy.....not really how i managed to work all those years!!!

[mike89]

well got a good report on healing for the surgery!!    still have to watch what I bite into for a week or two yet...  then I hit up Sanchez Burrito in Little Falls for a great burrito!!!   could only eat 1/2 so more tomorrow!!! 

[glenn57]

Good to hear Mike  before you know it you can start eating boars cooking again!!
.

[mike89]

nothing wrong with that!!!     

and thanks!!

[mike89]

mornin all, 50 here this morning..  heading to 82 today and another hazy day..   not much on the agenda today, in other words no running around to various doctors and such!  and I'm OK with that!!   not sure what I have going on but that will work itself out..   have a good day all!!

[Gunner55]

Mornin gents, 53 here early & we probably won't hit 80. Kind of nasty by mid to late afternoon here yday, so we weren't outside much. It doesn't look as bad today, so far. I did get most all my mowing done yday by lunch time though. It's a roll with it kind of day here too. No more now, have a good 1.