BURRRRR!!! And other things...

Detailed Local Forecast

Tonight: Windy and overcast this evening followed by mostly clear skies late. Low 34F. WNW winds at 20 to 30 mph, diminishing to 5 to 10 mph.

Tomorrow: A few clouds in the morning, but mainly sunny. High around 70F. W winds shifting to N at 10 to 15 mph.

Tomorrow night: A mostly clear sky. Low around 35F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.

Saturday: Sunny skies. High 79F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph.

Sunday: Mainly sunny. Highs in the low 80s and lows in the low 40s.

Normally, I LOVE fall! But this year, it went from HOT HOT HOT to COLD COLD COLD- WINDY WINDY WINDY!!! The wind has been blowing so HARD I feel like this house is going to lift off and fly to Kansas to be with Dorothy! I looked up the weather just now to see how cold it is supposed to get tonight and in the am when DH has to get up and leave by 6 am to change water. Poor Guy! I have been making 2 pots of coffee a day to try and keep him warm. A pot BEFORE he leaves and a pot for when he RETURNS!!!

All I know is that he will be happy when Oct 13 is here, because that is the last day water is on in the canals. I think we are pretty close to being done watering our grass fields back. Now the next task is planting garlic. I believe the company we have a contract with (out of California) will be here the beginning of next week with the seed. DH has one field all ready, and is currently (right now @ 7:15 pm) driving in the other plowing/disking. When that is done, pick the rocks out. And when that is done, hill the field. garlic has to be planted in hills like potatoes. After the seed is planted, then it has to be watered. We normally only grow 40 acres of garlic...but we got a contract for 80 acres for this coming year :o) YAY! Garlic is a good crop to make money off of...if all goes well. We haven't had a "super" year in a long time...so I hope we are due! We sold off our red wheat today...it has been in Portland for a month or so. When we decided to grow wheat this year, the price was pretty good. But of course at harvest, the proce dropped. We have patiently been sitting on it, but could wait no more! $5.45 a bushel...better than it was (5.30) when we hauled it up there. Today got some of our money from one of our grass seed crops. It is taking FOREVER this year for money to come in. Considering they (Cenex Harvest States- aka CHS) has had the product since JULY they took their sweet time in getting us any money. DH called at the beginning of the week asking for some of our money. They told him the lead accountant guy is out of the office this week...so he wanted to talk to the next guy in charge...he said we would have our money by Wed. DH called again today, and it was not ready. He told them he was NOT happy...20 minutes later they called and said they had a "partial" check for us. So off I went to get said check and go to the bank. Tomorrow I am off to Redmond to Farm Credit Services to pay on our operating loan. Hopefully the wheat check will come by the beginning of next week, then another trip to RDM and I will be feeling a lot better about the operating loan balance :o) And maybe more money will be coming in so we can get busy on the house and other things...

Finances are really on my brain right now. FIL came over yesterday very visibly upset. DH was not home. FIL started to try to talk to me about something, but was unable to because he began to tear up. This is VERY UNUSUAL for him, as he is of the "older" generation where men are not allowed to be upset and show it. For quite sometime he has been "entertaining" the idea of retiring. We all just thought "whatever." Then a few weeks ago all of the boys (farmers/ranchers too) were given an equipment list of EVERYTHING FIL owns and asked to mark what they would like to buy and put their max price next to it. It was supposed to be turned in by last Friday. So, DH took care of this, as I have no idea exactly what we needed (although I had a good idea on a lot). It seems that the beginning of this week FIL called the guy who has wanted to buy him out for years. He gave him the price he wanted (very steep indeed) and the guy didn't even bat an eye. He offered him full price and wants everything by Nov 1. FIL is having mixed feelings now. He is concerned about Wayne, Mac, Me and the unborn baby and baby after that. We lease 2 farms from him...one will be sold...but our lease allows us 2 more years. The other farm he wants us to buy-(it's not included in the sale). But with us building a house and a shop (costing us well over $200K) this is extremely difficult for us, especially with me not working (except for WM Fessler Farms (ourselves)). So he wants DH to sell his share of one of the ranches that FIL, BIL, BIL, and DH own together (all paid off). Wayne's share is 700 acres. They all run cattle on it. But since we have no cattle, we are not using it and therefore not making nay profit on the land. When DH and I first started dating, he told me just how much this property meant to him. It was the very first investment he made toward his future and he would NEVER get rid of it. So I was shocked when he talked with his Dad and now he is considering selling his share (well over $200K) to pay for our new house and shop and to buy the 170 acre farm his dad is offering us. Last night when Wayne came home and acted like it was no big deal, I just became so emotional I cried most of the night. I just feel horrible that Wayne is giving up something so important to him for Mac, me and our future kids. I don't want him to ever feel like he had no choice in the matter. I know this whole thing sounds stupid...but I feel guilty. Before he married me and girlfriend...he had extra money and nice toys, etc. Now that he has us...all he ever does is work and worry about money and what's going to happen next year with the crops. When I talked to him last night about this he said he wouldn't change anything...he disliked being a bachelor, but dealt with it. He is happy to have a family and a baby on the way and doesn't feel like he has given "up" anything, but gained. I know I should be happy (actually ecstatic) with that answer, but I just have this underlying feeling of guilt! I am not the one to make any of these decisions, it is all on DH- as everything is in his name because he has had it over 20+ years w/o me! He would never make a decision like that w/o talking with me first- but I just feel helpless. Ok, this is all starting to sound the same...so I should probably stop! LOL! It is now 7:40 and he still is not home. I need to go put his plate away so I can heat it up when he gets in! Sorry for the rambling...I was just trying to make some sense out of this...OH and Survivor is on in 15 minutes! Girlfriend is pestering me about the time every 2 minutes! Driving me bonkers!