We had a nice rain Thursday night with one inch to two inches recorded. Those of you who remember me saying there will be no more rain until August, well I guess I was wrong. I can only record when the hoar frost came last winter and that is usually a good chance of a rain. I cannot predict forest fires or volcanoes that put smoke or dust particles into the atmosphere that bind to the moisture up there. It condenses and comes down as rain. I have no problem accepting being wrong if it means we will get rain. To those who have enjoyed me being wrong, laugh at my expense, I don't care! I like the rain!!
From now on, barring forest fires in British Columbia or a volcano somewhere, there will be no more rain until August! Cowboys, bale like the dickens in case I am wrong. Good luck.
Many local crops have suffered a "big tired" after the heavy rain Thursday night. Lots of the heavy wheat laid down on the headlands and heavy areas of the field. That's one of the hazards of putting on 80 to 100 N. You grow a heavy crop. They still look good but harvest will be a little slower in those laid down patches.
On the home front we are down to summer fixing. We will be changing oil on the combine, swathers and trucks. There are always canvases, rollers, guards and sections needing attention. If I remember correctly one of the swathers had the knife welded more than once and I will need to look into that. Gone are the days when I would go into Keranda and take out a case of guards. We had six swathers at that time and I don't miss that. Funny thing, when I was running a swather, how I had very little guard and section trouble. Maybe it was because I was smart enough to lift the table and not to belly flop the table when cutting into a water run or down hill. If you are buying the guards, you are more careful. Sometimes I think hired men just don't care or that was their system of getting a "break." Cost me money every time.
I was really happy last week when I found a banjo bolt at Midway to attach the brake line to the caliper. The banjo bolt is installed but now it would appear that the oil is bypassing in the master brake cylinder and poor oil is going to the back shoes. Phoned Midway again and they have ordered me a master cylinder kit. Will it ever end? By the way the lotto number I got last week was worth - nothing, zippo, ziltch! Took my money again. Tax on the stupid. Yup, yup, yup.
I have some major repairing to do at my elevator. Vandals have been in and nearly destroyed everything in the office. My elevator seems to be a magnet for the local riff-raff to come and destroy nearly everything in their path. The counter I can fix and I will have to buy some windows. My little Dickey-John moisture tester appears to have had a wall smash preformed on it. I can't find the battery but I'm pretty sure he is dead and it isn't going to work anyway. A new moisture tester that is similar is worth in the neighbourhood of $1,200. Not to mention the cost of the windows and other repairs. Do these punks have nothing better to do with themselves than to destruct the property of others? And were these same punks not taught anything at home by their parents about the private property of others? How many times will these parents turn a blind eye to what their spoiled brats are doing to other people's property?
Or do they give a crap? It is an ongoing worry about how far they will go and we can only hope that the law does what it is supposed to do to useless punks like this.
We also have a bin butt of wheat to clean out. Better good luck than good management but the elevator companies have lowered their basis and the price of wheat is up. Was it a miracle or were the grain companies just embarrassed? They were taking over $2 a bushel in basis and wanting us farmers to sell it for $4. Who did all the work to grow the wheat? All they did was elevate it into a car. I used to think the Canadian Wheat Board was free and loose with the farmers' money, not giving enough back to us. That is the only source of money they have by the way, farmers' money. The other elevator companies are all robbing us worse than anything now. I'm not sure about how the Wheat Board is doing it now. They are around spending millions, buying inland terminals. Whose money are they using this time, anyways?
I also have a bin butt or two of Canola in the elevator. Canola price is down below $10 so I gained on the wheat and lost on the canola. This can go too, as I will try to clean my elevator out before harvest. Weekend warrior Cole is going to go home dirty one night.
In political news it's all about going to court! Joe Fontana, Mayor of London, Ont. has had his day in court. He is a former Liberal cabinet minister who submitted a bill for $1,700 and claimed it on his parliamentary expenses. It was to pay some of his son's wedding expense. I don't know how they caught him, but they did. He was fined $1,000 and ordered to be under house arrest for a year. My God, that didn't even cover what he swindled out of taxpayers. He still gets to collect his $122,000 a year parliamentary pension. Who says crime and fraud don't pay? The only one punished here is his wife having him under foot all day in his pyjamas!
In other news is Mike Duffy, suspended senator has the RCMP charging him with 31 counts of fraud. Court will start on Sept. 16. Duffy says he is looking forward to clear his name in court. So far what I have seen of the Mike Duffy show it will be a real circus. Also in Ottawa there is a woman going around claiming to be Duffy's illegitimate daughter. Apparently the "Duffinator" is avoiding her like she had the bubonic plague. Good Lord, what next?
Joke of the week from granddaughter Sydney (age 9).What do you call a dog with no legs? Nothing, cuz he can't come anyway. Ha ha ha
