Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group discussion
Let's compare weather!
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Weather - What's YOUR weather today? (Part ONE - Started Sat., March 14, 2009) (Let's keep this going.)
WOW, Jackie, we didn't see that bad weather here. Sounds awful. We had thunder and lightening but that was all I was aware of.I didn't get any notification about your post #700. So that's why I'm replying so late.
We cleaned up for the most part, but found a lot more damage that we first thought. My plants are destroyed. I have a big beautiful jade plant on the porch and even that was in tatters. The back porch roof has about 8 holes completely through, our aluminum siding is all dented and the garage door window is gone. Randy's garden is destroyed too. A lot of money went into that garden. It's distressing.It's nice and cool now, after the monster storm.
Jackie wrote: "We cleaned up for the most part, but found a lot more damage that we first thought. My plants are destroyed. I have a big beautiful jade plant on the porch and even that was in tatters. The back..."Jackie, how awful for you. I'm sorry to hear you went through all that and had so much damage. It must have been frightening to go through. I'll have to check the newspapers and read all about it. I wonder what other damage took place around your village.
We were luckier than others on our block: people lost their windshields, some both! Windows and siding, everyone on the block experienced damage, everyone was out today cleaning up. I've seen hail but never like this. They looked like snowballs. I wasn't scared for me, but for Eric, he was just got in his car to go for an eye exam and I was on the porch ready to chase him down if he went to leave. Anthony was yelling at me to get back in the house. Yeah, not gonna happen when my kid is out there. Oh, and he turns 21 today. Not a kid anymore. But always my kid. lol
I know Beach Road was closed, downed tree across the road; phone and power lines down. Someone told me that for the span of those 3 or 4 blocks in the village on the main road, where you and I walked that time Joy, they counted 56 cars with one or both windshields broken. It's unbelievable. It's worse than the hurricane last year.
Wow! Sorry to hear you got slammed, Jackie. That's terrible. I'm really sorry to hear about the gardens, but glad no one was driving or hurt.We had a bad hail storm here a month ago, but it was after I left for the day & we didn't get anything at home. Just one person here had over $4K damage done to her car. Dents all over it.
Here's the article in the Post-Star about the storm:http://poststar.com/news/local/hail-d...
As Jim said, glad no one was hurt. The insurance companies will be paying for all those broken windshields and dents! They'll hurt! :)
What can ya do? Nature has her moments. It sucks but it's better than other weather phenomenon.Insurance won't be paying for Eric's damage. He only had liability. Which is why he pays less than $700 a year and not over $2500.
Here in KY, even with just liability, the insurance company has to pay for a broken windshield. You might double check on that.
OK, I didn't know that. I'll have Eric call. TY
Another storm is rolling in from the west. A friend in Louisville posted that it looks bad. We'll see. While they got an inch of rain per hour there the other day, 30 miles west, we got 3/8" all day. Just had light showers.
Let hope the same thing happens today. Keeping my fingers crossed for you, Jim.
Good luck with your weather, Jim.
We got an inch of rain in an hour last night, most of it coming in sideways in huge gusts. I guess I'll be spending part of the weekend cleaning up. Light rain today here in Louisville.
Cleaning up afterwards is no fun at all.
Jackie wrote: "Cleaning up afterwards is no fun at all."Yes, outdoors or indoors... it's no fun! :)
"A perfectly kept house is the sign of a mispent life." -Anonymous :)
But there ARE some things which NEED to be done! :-(
I don't know if we'll have a white Christmas here in the Bluefields, but we definitely had a white winter solstice; it snowed most of yesterday, our second big snow of the winter. They predicted possibly as much as six inches, and from what I can see from the window, I'd say that prediction was probably reached. If the temperature warms up between now and Christmas, the snow won't lie; but right now, it looks quite beautiful and Christmas-y, in a Currier and Ives sort of way!
Werner wrote: "I don't know if we'll have a white Christmas here in the Bluefields, but we definitely had a white winter solstice; it snowed most of yesterday, our second big snow of the winter. They predicted p..."Enjoy your White Christmas, Werner!
I have friends in Charlottesville, VA and Williamsburg VA. I wonder if they had snow too. We had a wet snow which disappeared the next day after some slush.
Most of our snow melted yesterday. We just had a bare covering & yesterday was sunny, without any wind. It hit 33 for a while, but that was enough to lose almost all the snow. The worst thing is the ground didn't stay frozen & it takes longer to freeze in the woods.Yesterday started out at 17 or so & it's about 27 now. I really want to get those trees that fell up & fix the fence. That's down a steep hill in the woods, though. I'm sure my truck will go up & down the hill, but I don't want to tear ruts in it. They'll just wash out. I really don't want to carry all the stuff I'll need up & down, either, though. I'd load it on Chip, if I had packs that would take it.
That's what I should ask for on my birthday; a pack saddle & pulling harness for Chip. There's a big, cool looking fossil rock & a cedar I'd love to get out of the woods, but I can't get the tractor in to them without really tearing things up. He'd fit with a narrow sled, though.
Jim, looks like Chip is in for a workout. :)
He got a bit of one yesterday, Joy. Josh & I fixed the fences & cleaned up the trees, then went riding with the girls. It was a fun morning, but wore me out. I'm feeling good this morning, though. I was a bit worried last night. Thought I might have done too much.
With temperatures at 41 degrees here, virtually all of our snow is gone, and green grass is showing everywhere. Oh well, green is a Christmas color, too.... :-)
Jim wrote: "He got a bit of one yesterday, Joy. Josh & I fixed the fences & cleaned up the trees, then went riding with the girls. It was a fun morning, but wore me out. I'm feeling good this morning, thoug..."Jim, glad you're feeling better. I'm sure you feel better about the fences being fixed and the trees cleaned up... all ready for Christmas. :) Relax and enjoy.
Werner wrote: "With temperatures at 41 degrees here, virtually all of our snow is gone, and green grass is showing everywhere. Oh well, green is a Christmas color, too.... :-)"That's right, Werner. Green is also a Christmas color. (lol) It's also safer for those who have to travel. When I was younger I liked white Christmases but now that I'm older, I prefer safe driving. :)
We're up into the 40's & wet today. Mud isn't very Christmassy...:-(
We have 25 degrees here at 2:45 AM Christmas Day. Warm and cozy inside. Christmas music and Christmas lights, the best part of Christmas.
Our temp dropped to 30 & it's supposed to stay cold with a big snow storm blowing in tonight & tomorrow morning.
We have 17 degrees here in Glens Falls at 2:30 AM.I hear there's a snow storm on its way.
It's raining here, but we're at 33 degrees. As usual, we're at a confluence of fronts & no one was quite sure what we'd get. 50 miles north or west, they could get a foot of snow. Luckily, the warm air pushed up from the Gulf just fast enough to keep the big front sweeping down & across the plains off of us. Snow might be Christmassy, but I really don't want to deal with a foot of it on top of mud. Worse would have been ice, though.
Now the snow is coming down hard. It's 31. We were up to 36 at noon. Weird.
We have snow here! Several inches and it's still coming down. Last night I swept a small area in the yard for the small dogs, our Romeo and my visiting grand-dog, Mocha.My grands are here and it looks like bad weather for them to travel back home. Worried.
PS-Temp is 27 F.
We're at 28 now, the same temperature it was when I got up about 5am. No more snow, just a bit in the grass. If we get any now, it will certainly stick. I hope the freeze lasts for a few days. I'll check with Marg. I need to transfer hay from the big barn to the horse barn. I prefer to do it when it's dry or the ground is frozen so I don't tear up the grass.
Our temperature is a balmy (for polar bears!) 24 degrees. :-) Like Jim, we just have a light skiff of snow on the grass.
We got up to 33 today, briefly. Just enough to melt most of the snow. Hopefully the ground will firm up enough tomorrow to do the hay & all. Unfortunately, I might have to go in to work for a while. So much for a full week off.grrr...
We currently have 27 degrees here. Ground is covered with snow. We recently had about 7 inches of snow.Hey Jim, that hay sounds delicious! (lol) Imagine living on a diet of hay! Poor horses! It there a "gourmet" hay that the horses prefer?
Joy H. wrote: "WOW, Jackie, we didn't see that bad weather here. Sounds awful. We had thunder and lightening but that was all I was aware of.I didn't get any notification about your post #700. So that's why I'm..."Cold, very cold; single digets and no snow,just a bit of leftover from last week and still bits of ice hanging around. My bird bath frozen to the ground. Joy, here's a poem for you:
This World is not Conclusion
A species stands beyond
Invisible as Music
But positive as Sound.
Emily Dickinson
We stayed cold enough for me to get in the hay & are about to be hit with another storm. Again we're on the line & don't know what form it will take tonight. Snow or rain is OK. Freezing rain is not. The gods of weather never seem to care much about my opinion, though.;-)
Joy, there are LOTS of different kinds of hay. There are grass hays like meadow or orchard grass & timothy. Depending on the types of grasses & when it is cut, the meadow/orchard grass hay can be better or worse. Timothy is always pretty stemmy & tough, better suited to cattle - at least according to my ladies - unless it is pelletized (ground up & turned into a feed pellet). They're pickier about their horses hay than they are about what they feed me, though.
Two of the main non-grass hays are alfalfa & clover. These are often mixed in with the grass hays since they can't be fed straight in large quantities or it throws their systems out of whack, or so I've heard.
Each type of hay grows differently, too. In our area, timothy usually only gets one good spring cutting & sometimes one late cutting, but that's usually more of a mix. It doesn't grow well during the summer. Alfalfa is similar, both doing well over the winter.
Meadow or orchard grass hays are actually a mixture of a lot of different kinds of grasses & can vary a lot even from the same field depending on the time of year. We prefer 2d cutting since it grows the fastest & with the least weeds, but most tend to cut it a bit late around here. There's a fine line as to when to cut it. Too early & it's not long enough & can take too long to dry. Too late & it's tougher, having cured on the stem.
Two or three cuttings is normal around here, depending on how wet the summer is. The first cutting is generally April/May with a second cutting June/July &, if there's enough water in August, a third cutting in October. If it can't be cut by October, the temp is too cold for much growth & there isn't enough sun & dry days anyway, so it waits until the next spring.
We need at least 3, preferably 4 or 5, dry days in a row to make hay. It should be dry when cut, then it dries on one side, is raked over to the other side & then baled on the 3d day & put up. Depending on the humidity or temperature, that can stretch a day, but much outside that timeline & the hay is usually ruined, at least for us. It will get moldy & that's never fed to the horses. Cows can often eat some mold, but horses & sheep won't even touch it.
Sheesh! There's more, but I'm tired of typing. I know hay seems simple in books, but it's no simpler than anything else on a farm. There are a lot of considerations.
Nina wrote: ""Cold, very cold; single digets and no snow,just a bit of leftover from last week and still bits of ice hanging around. My bird bath frozen to the ground. Joy, here's a poem for you:This World is not Conclusion
A species stands beyond
Invisible as Music
But positive as Sound.
Emily Dickinson "
Yes, Nina, our birdbath is frozen too. :)
Thanks for the lovely Dickinson poem. Clever similes.
Below is my favorite Dickinson poem:
======================================
"Hope" is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –
And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –
And sore must be the storm –
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm –
I've heard it in the chillest land –
And on the strangest Sea –
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of Me.
-Emily Dickinson
=============================================
Jim wrote: "... Joy, there are LOTS of different kinds of hay. ..."Never realized all the differences, Jim.
And now I realize that you even grow your own hay! Amazing!
Thanks for explaining!
Do the horses show preferences for different types of hay?
Jim, Barb and I both have worked as farmhands in our younger days, so we've had experience with haymaking. (It's hot, grueling work, but it has its satisfaction!) Do you guys do your hay in round bales, or square bales?
Joy H. wrote: "Nina wrote: ""Cold, very cold; single digets and no snow,just a bit of leftover from last week and still bits of ice hanging around. My bird bath frozen to the ground. Joy, here's a poem for you:She, Emily D. is such fun to read. Thank you for sharing. T..."
Joy H. wrote: "Nina wrote: ""Cold, very cold; single digets and no snow,just a bit of leftover from last week and still bits of ice hanging around. My bird bath frozen to the ground. Joy, here's a poem for you:T..."Joy, How do I post something on Updates from...? nina
Nina wrote: "Joy, How do I post something on Updates from...? nina"Nina, here's how I would do it:
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1. Click on the name of the book in the email update. It will take you to the book's page.
2.When you get to the book's page, scroll down and you should find your friend's review of that book.
3. Under the review, click on the word "comment".
=================================================
Hope this helps.
Joy, I do understand how to add my comment; but what I don't know how to do is to put my reccomendation on the board so others can comment. I am reading a very good book and would like to see what if any others think about it. You are always such a big help.
We don't do our own hay. We don't have enough land or the equipment for that. I have the tractor, but you also need a special mower, a rake, a baler, & a wagon or two. Then you need a shed to keep them all in, too. It would take a lot of years to make up that investment & balers are a PITA. I don't know much about keeping one working. While we usually do get the front field hayed once a year, one of the neighbors does it & keeps the hay for his cattle in roll bales.When I say 'we' I meant we're often in contact with the farmer who is doing the hay. Marg has looked at the fields & last year's yield. The farmer needs to get the hay to our barn ASAP, too. Load a wagon, bring it to our place & unload it. Otherwise it would have to be moved twice more. We always get small square bales as the horses will waste most of a round bale. Cattle aren't quite as picky & eat a little different so they don't waste as much. Sheep nibble, so will waste even less if the bale is properly contained, which can be tough.
Horses definitely have preferences in hay. They like the taste of alfalfa & clover a lot, but alfalfa can be pretty stemmy, so they'll waste more & they're too rich for our guys. Finer, softer, younger grass hay is another they love. When it gets older & tougher, they don't like it as much & tend to waste more as they pick through it. If they step on it, they usually won't try to eat it again.
As Werner said, it's a hot, hard job. Stacking hay in a barn would be considered cruel & unusual punishment for a criminal - seriously. Younger boys who can't toss bales over their heads often get the job of stacking the top rows in the barn loft. I don't know what the temperature gets to be, but it's very hot, full of dust & doesn't seem to have a breath of air since hay is done during the hot, sunny days. I've come out of lofts with my clothes so wet even my jeans could be wrung out.
One of the frustrating facts about moving hay, like putting in fiberglass insulation, is that there is a balance that everyone must find on their own in clothes. You have to wear long pants for hay or else you'll tear up your thighs on the prickly sides of the bale. Going shirtless is cooler, but chaff tends to get into your belt line & that can be itchy. Some wear long sleeves, too. I usually just wear jeans, but my belly gets poked up some & my forearms often look like I got in a bit of tussle with a cat.
Some depends on the weight of the bales & how they're tied. If the baler uses wire, the bales generally run from 45 - 75 lbs & are very tight. Then you need to use at least one hay hook to grab them & that changes angles, so I'll keep a shirt on. We don't get those thankfully. I don't even have a hay hook anymore. We generally get light bales, 35 - 40 lbs each bound with twine. Those are usually easy enough to grab & toss, although if they use plastic twine instead of sisal, they can crank up the tightness of the bale more.
With only a couple of hundred, I don't bother with gloves. Even my thin cowhide ones are just in the way & hot. The downside of that is my cuticles get torn up & sometimes get splinters in them. Not a big deal, but a bit ouchy for a couple of days. More bales than that & I will wear them. I don't have the calluses I used to so I'll start getting blisters on my fingers.
Hmmm... I got going on hay & didn't mention that we got a few inches of snow last night. I just got everything shoveled, so of course it's now blowing & snowing a bit more. I don't think we're supposed to get much, though. I put some pictures here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...
Nina wrote: "Joy, I do understand how to add my comment; but what I don't know how to do is to put my reccomendation on the board so others can comment. I am reading a very good book and would like to see what ..."Nina, the only way I know to recommend a book so that others can comment is to write a review of the book.
I notice that you haven't written any reviews to the books on your shelves.
To write a review:
=================================================
1. Go to the book which is already on your shelf and click on "edit".
2. Then write your review and save it. Then other people will see your review and your recommendations and they can make comments.
============================================
PS-To go to your shelves, click on "My Books" at the top of most screens.
Hope this helps.
PPS-Besides my instructions above for writing a review and recommendation, you might want to see below.At my group I've provided a section for book recommendations, but I don't think many people look at that section. However, if you want to post something there, go to the following section and start a new topic:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_...
I suggest that the subject-title should be the name of the book.
Jim wrote: "We don't do our own hay. We don't have enough land or the equipment for that. I have the tractor, but you also need a special mower, a rake, a baler, & a wagon or two. Then you need a shed to ke..."I never knew there was that much to know about hay!
All I ever knew was the saying: "Hay is for horses." :)
Jim wrote: "Hmmm... I got going on hay & didn't mention that we got a few inches of snow last night. ... I put some pictures here:https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s... ..."
Great pics! New snow is always so pretty.
Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group
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It's been hot and humid here, too; it rained quite a bit yesterday afternoon, but by this afternoon it was hot again. (But no hail, thankfully!)