Tuesday, January 15, 2008

I like it hot or nasty

When the weather gets extreme I am in my glory. If it is sunny and 70 that is nice but it does not get my motor running. 90 and blistering sun and I will spend the day drenched in sweat working hard and loving it. There is nothing better to me in the summer then throwing hay bales in high heat. Diving in the swimming hole on a day like that makes life worth living. The pond on my flat farm is spring fed and ice cold. As kids we had a ritual swim every Easter. Some times we would have to break up ice to get in, but get in we did.

What prompted this post is today's weather. Cold and lots of fresh snow on the ground! I spent the night in the house and never realized how much had fallen until I went out to feed the stock. We got well over a foot of heavy powder. I got to do my favorite winter activity, fire up the snow removal equipment and make some piles! Once I got back in the phone was ringing off the hook, I have folks that needed plowed out and I gladly make the rounds and take their money! I clean driveways for 12 people close to home that I use the tractor on, and several more further away that I use my truck to push the stuff.

I am back in the house, I have $200.00 I did not have this morning and I have not even had breakfast yet! America is a great country where a guy like me can find a way to make a buck just by being available.

There is a report out that claims the northeast is 2.5 degrees warmer in the winter then it was in the fifties. Is this a sure sign of "Global Warming" or just a trend in the weather? From my experiences it seems winter around here is not as severe as I remember but maybe I'm jaded and with the equipment I have the snow is easier to handle.

42 miles away at my hill farm I am told it snowed over two feet. Tomorrow I will know for sure. The spindles for my staircase are ready to be installed and I am going to spend a day or two getting some work done inside. Besides I found my snow shoes during my recent clean-up and I have not used them in a couple of years and I got an itch!

This spring will be the first year of crops off the hill farm. I have a joint venture planned with one of my new neighbors Jim Wilson. The 35 acres I cleared over the last two years are getting planted in corn and we are planting approximately 30 acres at his while we are at it. The crop can be sold before it is harvested for ethanol , but we will see.As far as the vegetables go the flat farm still seems like it will work out better for the next growing season.

This retirement thing should make a huge difference in how much time I have to spend on my own projects. My wife accuses me of having ants in my pants.

8 comments:

MarmiteToasty said...

Wow a foot of snow, I would love to see a foot of pure white snow....

$200 aint to be sniffed at :) now you need it to snow more often and ya get to do the rounds again LOL

x

Ol' Lady said...

Retirement is worth it :)
But there is never enough time in the day.
I can't understand how some people retire and then sit in front of the boob tube and complain that there is nothin to do...

Rachel said...

I too love hot weather. My significant other cannot abide temperatures above 65 degrees (farenheit), but I glory in temps above 80. If I could I would spend the whole day basking in the heat, but I'm too pale and redheaded. :( I've been looking farward to summer since October.

heartinsanfrancisco said...

You are living the life I always wanted to. The closest I came was an unheated house on a mountain in Vermont.

I built a wood stove out of a galvanized garbage can and chopped wood in the barn every day. In the winter, I hauled a dozen plastic gallon jugs of water from town in a rope harness three miles uphill to the house so we could wash dishes, but we went to a hot tub in town to shower every day.

I learned that I could survive anything but I'm pretty sure my daughter still hates "camping."

CS said...

80 is my ideal temperature. With a bit of a breeze. I'm happy when it is hotter than that, too. But I don't care for anything below 50, unless I am ce skating, skiing, building a snowman, or sitting inside by a fire.

Kati said...

LOL Sounds like you had fun with the plowing. Our next-door neighbour is like that. He's an overgrown 5 year old with an oversized toy, the day after a good snow. He loves getting out & just pushing around all the snow he can.

Have fun with your plans for retired life. Sounds like you're not going to be one of those guys who retires only to find that he can't stand being stuck at home. You've got PLENTY of plans for retirement, from the sound of things. *grin*

As for global warming, yeah.... I'm a believer. I recall some -60 deg. days as a kid, and walking to the bus-stop in such. Now we're finding that we don't get more than a couple of days of -40 and colder (and not down to -60 since I WAS a kid!) each winter. And folks who've lived here for longer than my almost-30 years of life recall even down to the -70's and into -80's territory being a semi-regular occurance, that -40 was a much more frequent occurance when they were growing up around here. (Even my MIL says this.) Combine that with the fact that just in my 23 years here, I can definitely say I've seen a decrease in the amount of snow that regularly falls, and a major increase in the amount of rain that falls in winter.... Yep. I think Global Warming is a reality. And even those who've lived here for a long time & are very conservative (ie: think environmentalists are jerk-offs trying to control the lives of the rest of us) believe in Global Warming, but their general concensus is that a little Global Warming would do Alaska a LOT of good. (Of course, these same people don't keep in mind that Global Warming may well mean we become even drier than we already are, precipitation wise. And Alaska has always been border-line desert-land.)

Ok. Enough with the meandering thoughs on everybody else's comment pages this morning. I've gotta get my tail dressed & driving to work. Have a Blessed Week, Slip!!!!

Synchronicity said...

just stopping by to say hello. haven't seen you around lately and wondering if you are okay.

Enemy of the Republic said...

Thanks for coming by, my new friend. I have to check your state again--I wonder if you are from the midwest. I'm a Chicagoan transplanted to Philly, and yes, the weather is warmer in the winter--CONSIDERABLY. I remember Chicago winters and right now I am in Minneapolis; in Philly that kind of snow, cold and ice is rare. So you also farm--gosh, I have to get to know you; I am very urban, but in another life, I was a farmer--I'm convinced. I am very drawn to farms--it's odd. Anyway, I was happy to see you on my page. I will bookmark you and if you are okay with it, I will link you as well.