Monday, April 20, 2020

Oh for firetruck's sake!





He said, having somehow inadvertently published an incomplete very rough post beginning...

SMH
When wally world is deserted, it's a great time to be shopping. If you must, you know, actually shop.


##########

It's been an extremely busy week. While the recent storm slowed outside ranch work, pop up tasking provided a great deal of vital inside work.

A couple of weeks ago the Big Aircrew Chief presented me with an "opportunity to excel." That's what was often said in the navy bitd when one was presented with what looked like a tough and complex job. In the navy I learned over time that whining about the impact such tasking had on my poor, persecuted self didn't help with task execution and didn't really even make me feel better. I also discovered that doing caused the tasks to be done, eventually, and that the doing of hard tasks was the reward. What a concept, what a lesson.

Now I have on my plate a tough and complex job. None of the other things on my plate have magically vanished. This is become the time for suck it up and drive on. The doing will see the tasks done, eventually, and the rewards will be, as usual satisfying and fundamentally right.

It's a grand and fulfilling thing to be alive and presented with opportunities to excel.

##########

The slow moving weather system took its time clearing the AO. It was a very cold system, when placed in perspective of April. Wednesday night the mercury tumbled down to 6 degrees, Thursday night all the way down to 4 degrees.


The snow drifts have impeded initial initial operations in the 2020 fencing campaign. Stage zero, a bit of unanticipated chicken enclosure work, needs to be completed first. It's a response to chicken scratching damage at various locations; the intent is to properly confine the birds. My rules of engagement are restrictive, so no feather clipping is allowed. Therefore the fence must go higher. I think it'll work, but I won't be surprised to find myself eventually installing an overhead containment system with additional chicken wire. However, first things first, and don't place the cart before the pig.

While waiting and confined (heh-heh) inside by weather and pop up tasking, I was able to execute a surprising but effective maneuver as I got stuck into tough and complex.


The very thing!


Tough and complex doesn't mean you can ignore routine maintenance.


Or chicken chores!


We seem to have discovered that at our place and with our chickens, oatmeal is the key to egg production.


They love their oatmeal!


They're keeping an eye on me!


As usual, increased tasking has resulted in decreased blogging. Sigh. There's lots of room to increase efficiency, but it's a tricky balance just now. It's life.









Be well and embrace the blessings of liberty.






15 comments:

  1. With our p***poor internet connection ( he laughingly joked ), I shall have to watch your videos during my wife's lunch. Have you done analysis to determine how much more egg production there is with oatmeal feed vs previous chicken feed? Do you sell eggs or just use them in your household(s)? Nosy people want to know.

    Thanks for the post.
    Paul L. Quandt

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We've done no analysis and my assumption that oatmeal is increasing egg production is based on a very squishy hypothesis and even squishier anecdote. The important thing is that mom enjoys doing it this way and we're getting lots of eggs. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

      No egg sales, it's illegal unless you jump through all the regulatory hoops. Which is not at all an appealing prospect. So we give them away. Somebody told me a long time ago that when it comes to avocations you should do them for free and/or for fun. Seems a good approach to me.

      Our ranch internet is 4G wireless from the regional cell carrier. I wonder if it's not better than yours? The advantages to living out in the sticks keep getting better and better!

      Thanks for stopping by and commenting Paul!

      Delete
  2. Watched your videos, post hole diggers sure beat digging with a shovel.

    Paul

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I tell everyone who will listen that I have a PHD and I worked hard for it. If they assume I mean Ph.D., that's on them!

      Delete
  3. I have been eating oatmeal for almost all my life... haven't laid an egg yet... must be missing something else in my diet.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So many life mysteries we'll never understand!

      Thanks for stopping by and commenting Skip!

      Delete
  4. Good luck with the emergent tasking from above. No doubt in my retired Navy mind that you will excel. And blab about it when accomplished.

    Be safe, maintain your distance, and beware props, rotors and jet blast.
    JB

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks John. It's some really serious shit, to use the correct nautical nomenclature. I'm working hard to do my part and The Chief is doing his.

      Those are very good and appropriate warnings! There are a lot of aircraft turning on this particular flight deck!

      Thanks for stopping by and commenting!

      Delete
  5. Spring in Nebraska seems a bit chilly this year. Seems the same in Little Rhody, last night when I hit my rack it was 32°, a tad brisk for this time of year. I guess with so many Canadians doing the same thing we're doing (hunkering down, working from home - which you no doubt find amusing) there's no one out there to keep the Arctic air where it belongs, like, ya know, in the Arctic.

    Those cookies look outstanding, Bravo Zulu to all hands!

    I'd tell you to stay frosty, but I'll bet you're tired of that!

    Be well!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Last week was 11 degrees cooler than the 127 year average. In that time there have been cooler Aprils, but not very many. And yeah, that Arctic air has been sharing the wealth!

      Thanks on the cookies. They were just the right thing in the right place at the right time. And I scarfed down precisely zero of them. Score!

      You're actually the first person to say that. Which seems a bit odd. Must be the coronapsychosis. Gonna leave a mark for a long time.

      Thanks for stopping by and commenting Sarge!

      Delete
  6. Saw a picture of a sign fastened to a chihicken enclosure, saying:
    DANGER
    VELOCIRAPTOR
    CONTAINMENT
    Carnivore Handlers Only
    Within 50 Feet
    Was that taken at your place?
    Frank

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, but now I want to get one!

      Thanks for stopping by and commenting Frank!

      Delete
    2. I saw a photo of that sign either at BarbaCat's or c w's site. I can find it, if you like. I immediately thought of you when I saw it.

      Paul

      Delete
    3. It was c w's site; posted at 0908 hrs. on 18 April.

      Paul

      Delete
    4. Ran a search for VELOCIRAPTOR CONTAINMENT sign, and saw where Amazon is selling the sign.
      It was listed as Jesiceny-Danger-Velociraptor-Containment-Aluminum/dp/B07S1SKBX7
      Frank

      Delete