Tuesday, January 30,2024

Yesterday, John brought in a special dumpster in order to do some clearing away of “stuff” we think is beyond useful for us on the farm.  We have a tendency to set items back and pile them up “just in case we might need it someday”.  My dad was really adamant about not throwing out any bits of pipe, cardboard, steel, or worn-out parts or even tires.   I think that was because he began his farm life and married life in 1937, during the Great Depression.  He was affected by that experience, and often spoke of that era as when, in his words, “nobody had anything”.  The scrap piles around here were really large when he was in charge.  And I can testify that over the years,  I have gone to those piles of old steel or boards or whatever and found some items I can adapt and put to use.  But, as John and I did a walkthrough of our buildings a few weeks ago, I can say we found stuff that we are pretty certain we will never use.  The old tires will go to a neighbor who will recycle them.  We have wear parts on hand for machines we no longer have on the farm.  Some of those can be returned to the dealers’ parts counters.  But there is a lot of stuff that will merely go into this large construction dumpster for disposal.

Robinson Construction dropped off this big 40-cubic yard dumpster yesterday.  John has started to fill it already.

Another bucket of junk headed to the dumpster…

I recall a 4-H project I did when I was a kid.  It was called “home and grounds”.  In that project, you had to perform a reorganization and/or clean-up of the type we are doing again this week.  Dad had piled up used parts, like worn-out cutterbar sections and plowshares in front of our concrete-block building.   I thought it was rather unsightly, and I cleared it away.  I remember dad telling me, “Put some of that stuff where I can find it.  You never know when we might need it again.”   The poster of the project I exhibited at the county fair had the clean-up story with ‘before’ and ‘after’ pictures.  It earned me a blue ribbon.

I don’t think we will get a blue ribbon out of this week’s clean-up project, but we will get some satisfaction from the decrease of clutter!

Another clean-up… the Gator!

Brandon has been delivering some corn to GPC at Washington each day, whether in the rain or on dry days.  He is out this morning in the drizzly rain.  It has been quite cloudy for over a week.  And there has been many rainy days.  January has been a wet one, with above-average rainfall.  We are showing 5.84 inches for the month; the average is about 4 inches.  This is quite a contrast to 2023, in which brought us only about 75% of the average yearly rainfall (which is about 41 inches).  The local ponds and creeks are still noticeably low.  So, a rainy January is not a bad thing.

Trucking today!

This week brings the beginning of the Indiana high school state basketball tournament for girls.  The first round of the tourney is called a ‘sectional’, and begins tonight.  The sectional for our girls’ team is held at North Knox.  There has been unusual great interest in the sectional this year, because of the 8-school sectional field, there are two state-ranked teams.  North Knox is ranked #1 in  Class 2A with our school, South Knox ranked #2 in 2A. The draw of the sectional bracket will have NK meeting SK in a semi-final game on Friday night. (assuming they both win their games on Wednesday).  There has been a lot a buzz about how will the host school handle the crowds.  The gym at NK holds about 4400 fans, and it is a sell-out.  Parking is the problem there.  Plans are in place to have people park at area church parking lots and take buses to the game.  There is a lot of excitement, for most think that the winner of the NK-SK game will probably make it on to the state finals 3 weeks hence.  The sectional final game will be on Saturday the 3rd.  Sectional winners advance to a 1-game ‘regional’ on February 10. .  Then, the regional winners advance to a 2-game “semi-state’ on February 17.  There are two semi-states in Indiana and those winners will meet in Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on February 24 for the state championship game.  I know, I know… there’s a lot of things that have to align just right for our team to get there, but here’s hoping!

The local sectional draws reported in local paper. 1, 2 and 3A sectionals. There is also a 4A class, but no local schools are that big.

Have a great week.