Hum...looks like I'm a bit behind on the blogging again.  Spent this past
weekend and the one prior out on the farm.  Now with spring around, I'm able
to start doing outside things again.  Previous weekend, I got the firewood in
the shed for this coming winter.  Then on Sunday, Dad and I cleaned out the
cattle pen (hauled cow poop).  Ended up having a rough go of it with the new
used spreader that Dad bought.  In order of incident, one of the webbing bars
broke, took us over an hour to reset the chains and relink them all up and
then broke the drive shear pin, twice.  Luckily, a neighbor had spare parts
for Dad to borrow from otherwise we'd had been stuck.  Oh yeah, forgot that
the hydraulic cylinder on the gate leaked badly, so we had to leave that up
and partially load up the spreader.  With all of the breakdowns, it made for a
longer day.  On top of that, it was a very breezy day, which meant I got
covered in spray.  I smelled very "organic" the rest of the day.  

This weekend, Dad and I went out morel mushroom hunting.  Neither of us had
large amounts of success.  Between us, we came home with enough for two good
meals.  We just haven't had the heat and the ground is getting dry again.  We
are going to need some sunny days and a good storm to bring out the mushrooms.
 Most of the ones I found were out in the pasture, and almost a week old (back
when we had some warm weather).  After lunch, I took my nephew Cayden out and
had him drive the tractor to disc down the corn patch for the wildlife prior
to planting.  The little guy, for going on 6 years of age, drives really well.
 He hardly drifted and didn't need much coaching.  It was funny to watch him
jump the first time he oversteered the tractor and got the honk from the power
steering pump.  

And then today, I cleaned up the disc by scraping down the blades and then
putting a coat of used oil on them and parked it down in the shed for the
year.  Aftwards, I helped Dad check and fix fences in the pasture so Dad can
send out his small herd to graze.Then, I filled my 4 buckets of dirt for use
around the house.  Each trip to the farm, I've been loading up on farm dirt to
fill in low spots around the house that the previous owners had overlooked. 
And for the afternoon, I took a nice, long nap and enjoyed the peace and
quiet.

Looking ahead to a fast work week as I finally wrap up one project that has
been dragging itself out for months.  Well, next week it should officially
end, but there is light at the end of the tunnel, or another train.Otherwise,
the apple blossoms are out, and my tree has a good showing this year. 
Hopefully that will translate into a nice apple crop.  The candy apple tree
barely had any on the flip side.  Lilacs have been in bloom for better than a
week.  The planters are running as the corn crop is going into the ground. 
Not as fast as some years, and some farmers look to be far behind already. 
I'm sure the corn market will fly up on the predicted wet weather to start the
week.  Well, after 9:30 pm now, so I better get home.  Have a nice little
batch of fried mushrooms waiting for me at home.  mmmmm.  I'm sure my weight
crept back up again this weekend.  Weighed in at 168 after some good progress
on Thur.  Well, as long as I don't go too far beyond 170, I'll happy.  Still
trying to fight my way down to 164 as a goal before my birthday in June.  Wish
me luck!  Tonight's blog brought to you by "Sober" by Tool.