Facebook wants me to add my coworkers at self unemployed.
How weird is that?
Snow in June
I went wading this morning.
I walk outdoors most mornings when the weather permits. This morning I could have used my barn boots instead of my sneaks. Yesterday, Jack Parent started trucking the first-cut hay down the road and neighbor Charley Smith’s Cottonwood trees began snowing. It wasn’t quite knee deep at the bottom of the hill but it is piled higher and deeper.
“The trees do that for Father’s Day each year,” Mr. Smith said.
It doesn’t appear that we can spin cottonwood seeds into yarn let alone loom a fabric and the lumber is lousy; it splits poorly, rots quickly, and offers about 12 BTUs per cord of firewood. On the other hand caterpillars love the wood as food.
Mr. Smith’s bigger issue is the chopped grass that sluices off the farm trucks. The Parent farm is divided. His new farm is about three miles north of his home farm and about half a mile north of me. I get to watch a regular parade of 8-wheel tractors and liquid manure trucks and open dump trucks.
We pick up half a bale of hay for each truck that passes but we have about 500 feet of road frontage. I don’t think Mr. Smith gets quite that much although there is a bump right in front of his land.
“There ought to be a law,” he said. “Farmers have too much power. We should have a regulation to keep the roads free of debris.”
I’m not much for rules. I googled farm bureau regulations and found about 2,230,000 results in 0.21 seconds. Regulation > Policy & Politics > Ohio Farm Bureau Federation. “Farmers fear effects of proposed child labor regulations” at the Iowa Farm Bureau. Arkansas EPA regs. Suarez on Labor Regulations. Texas Farm Bureau Commodities and Regulatory authority. Guide to Lighting Regulations for Farm Implements, Guide to Open Burning, and Women’s Food Check Out Day at the Tennessee Farm Bureau. The Stanislaus County Farm Bureau also administers the ILRP on behalf of the East San Joaquin Water Quality Coalition.
And so on.
Heck, there were about 4,290,000 hits, nearly twice as many, for Vermont farm regulations alone.
Maybe it’s time for someone without a Ph.D. to wade through this mess. There is no way on this green Earth that any farmer could comply with every reg already on the books, let alone the 1,523 new ones under consideration right now.
Meanwhile, Mr. Parent probably should think to cover his dump beds; after all, feed is even more expensive when the road gods get that sacrifice bale every day.
This farm report brought to you by the letter G.
Waguely Wordy Wordless Wednesday
BANG
Rufus jinxed me.
We had been yattering by cell about tire blowouts and how rare they are. 20 miles later, I encountered explosive decompression of the right rear tire on the (topless)(white) car. I had been driving along the Interstate near St Pauls, NC, minding my own business at about 75 mph, when I noticed a little wibble in the after end.
Hmmm, I thought; that feels like a tread separation.
Pulled off at the next exit, about a mile up the road. Observed a couple of goiter-like protuberances in the sidewall. Drove around the corner to a Mobil station.
The explosion came just past the pumps; the gas station attendant and people at the McDonald’s next door thought Armageddon.
Waited and waited and waited for AAA because I hoped they could flatbed me somewhere to get a replacement tahr (that’s the proper spelling and pronunciation). I really didn’t want to drive more than 1,000 miles on a rubber donut; I drove 1,000 miles on the (10% shorter) donut. That’s not good for the positraction rear, suspension, or the other tire but the Owner’s Manual says, “Just do it.”
I bought the tires in Wilmington on a trip to Florida six years but only 20,000 miles ago. Goodyear Eagles. New. From Sears Roebuck and Company who had a nice sale going at the time. A little Googling showed that Goodyear manufactured the Eagle T/R exclusively for Sears. Sears in Fayetteville had none in stock. Sears in Raleigh had none in stock. Sears in Wilmington had none in stock. See a pattern? Sears in Willow Grove had none in stock and the tire guy there said they hadn’t had them for years. Even Don the Fender Bender hoped he might have a used tire in my size and told me he’d “call back within the half” but he came up empty, too.
Chevrolet shipped the (topless)(white) car with Goodyear Eagle 235/55R16. That’s OK. Sears sold me Goodyear Eagle 235/55R16s knowing full well that was a discontinued size and they would be unable to replace it under warranty.
Turns out the shredded tire was still under warranty. (The full warranty is for the first 25% of tread wear with a pro-rated cost for the remaining 75% of treadwear. These tires had 8/32″ of tread left out of the original 10/32″.)
Sears didn’t want to, but the computer showed I had been a loyal customer since 2006 when I bought the tires so the manager made good on the warranty and offered me a Hankook tire. I held out for the Goodrich T/A, a tire I didn’t want less than I didn’t want the Hankook. None in stock, of course.
The shop guys jacked up both sides of the car and had started taking the left side wheel off when I blew the klaxons. It was the right side — the one with the miniature spare — they needed to change, I said. Turns out they had already mounted the (directional) Goodrich for the left side so the had to swap the existing Goodyear to the other.
So far, I don’t notice much difference in handling.
I met a lot of really nice people throughout this road trip. Jimmy Frank at the gas station and Billy Bob in his little Ford AAA van made sure I was happy and comfortable and on my way safely. Everybody looking for a replacement tire was sorry there weren’t any. And Corey at Sears absorbed my temper tantrum about orphaning my car with no tires and got me back on the road for free.
So. Who’s up for a ride to Hoboken?
Friday Foibles
Anne and I both prefer very flat pillows. In fact, the high loft, fat bahstids popularized in motels and mattress commercials are exceedingly hard on our necks so “preference” might be understatement.
She is off to Burlington for the weekend to run the Summer Games. She plans to take her own pillow.
I’m off to Hoboken for the weekend to party down with the guys in my class. Stevens was all male undergrad when we were there, so this will be boyz’ weekend out.
I’m a guy. I cannot show up with my pillow and security blanket.
“Maybe if I fold it carefully, it will fit in your carryon,” she said.
<sigh>