Post Gordon ~ Thoughts, Commentary & Reflections

Cold Day Predicted for St. Louis Run Tomorrow

Wayne brushed me up on the Sunday directions for tomorrow when we change gates. It's all good and sounds like his back's a lot better. That's GOOD!!

Right now the temp's 12 degrees and forecast to drop like a rock, down to 5 degrees by 10 pm an hour from now and below zero in the early morning. Winds up to 50 mph, pretty calm, here, windier in Bloomington.

Temp was 29 degrees this morning when more cement blocks and more 2x6s arrived. These 2x6s look like 7-footers; the others that arrived yesterday were 14-footers. The cement blocks, though used, were never mudded up, so there's no need to clean them up.

It's all good. I'd rather run when the weather's crappy and have the good days here on the property where I can get something done, even if I don't get all that much done.

 

Eggs are cheap, $1.49/dozen and up. Hell, when Aldi's drops their price down around $1.25, I buy eggs myself and feed 'em to the hens and dogs (scrambled). Those come from standard, industry-practice chicken farms. Typical price for eggs like mine, $2.50/dozen from private party with cage-free hens. Free range has problems, called coyotes, raccoons and opossums.

Even skunks like eggs. Not too many skunk around here. Some...

Also hawks and owls.

~~~~~~~~~~

$6/1-1/2 dozen = $4/dozen. That's pretty reasonable if for cage-free, no pesticide, antibiotic-free eggs from a retail seller--especially if hens had a chance to forage for bugs and weeds, which really boosts the nutritive value of eggs compared to caged girls whose feet never hit the ground.

What I'm doing has more to do with my liking them. I like the eggs, too, but have more than a dozen in the fridge, getting old, while 2-4 new ones show up each day despite short winter days. Had 2 eggs from 1 of the new hens--don't know how she did that because only able to lay 1/day and she had 2 underneath her on top of doghouse--with rubbery shells, so eggs felt like small water balloons. Then I dropped them!!

Dang!! New hens need calcium and chopped egg shells for them are on my 'Maybe Do' list. Awaiting round tuit.

 

5 Degrees at 5 am

Shouldn't have taken this run and didn't have to. Happily, the car started right off and is warming up outside, took the dogs out and have chicken errands to see to, leaving a drip or more of water running to discourage pipe freezing. Apparently gonna be cold all week.

No snow, nice and dry. The wind alert until 10 am doesn't factor here, I guess.

Not feeding the dogs this morning; they'll stay inside. While they can handle the cold, I don't want them to and, I believe, healthier for them if they don't--up to a point. If there were time to run the trail in the dark, Freddy would be all bounce and eager. Tika prefers to lay back even if it's nice out, has taken up a sunny spot on the hill to sun herself while Freddy and I walk.

Not this morning, not enough time. Need to pull out in 25 minutes.

From home, that is...

 

Where's Blu??

Coming back through Ellettsville this morning the cab got so warm I had to turn things down; then, on the way out of Ellettsville, the 3 degree temp kicked in and had to turn it all up again. Decided to leave the heater and fan settings alone and crack the windows to adjust. On the yard it had turned blustery and colder--the 5 degrees at home seemed mild but the 3 degrees and windy in Bloomington had bite.

Up on I-70 it became quickly obvious that a lot of drivers went through snow Hell yesterday and showed it with dirt and ice across cabs and trailers. After seeing 3 tan IWX rigs, began wondering if Blu were east in the snow or west of here, like West Coast. So, where are ya, Blu? Okay??

Our St. Louis receiver expects 6-8 inches of cold and white tonight...

Tomorrow's Dayton and 1-3 inches predicted, so chance of cancellation like last trip which started out on Monday, canceled, and wrapped up on Tuesday. By the time I got to my St. Louis receiver I feared my tank runneth empty, or fumes. In fact, I was so concerned tried to scrounge a hose and a jug to transfer (siphon) from the reefer tank the 23-24 miles to Pilot, Okawville on I-64, until I stuck a stick in the tank and found that I had 6 inches left. Cool!!

To be safe, I put $30 (11 gal) at a nearby truckstop where our EFS card will not work but my debit card will.

Better safe than sucking air...

 

Sounds good, Blu. You may be ahead of and above the weather. Wayne said Nashville's gonna maybe get 6-8 and that's what I heard from our St. Louis receiver. I looked on Dayton's web site and they're open and sounds like might stay open. We'll see.

Looking for 1-3 inches tomorrow.

A good day is coming home and the dogs are busting to get outside. A bad day is a long day and they're so-so about going out. Haven't had a bad one of those for a long, long time, though. A week ago you could hardly see any chick poop. Now I'm having to throw out chick feed where their turds would be too much trouble to pick out. Just remove all and add new feed.

They're noisy, too!!

(But, I like it... )

 

Ohio-Ohio-Oh-hi-o-o-o!

8 or 9 trucks on the yard this cold, chilly, windy and snowy morning. Whaaaaaat are all these drivers doing home?? And why am I going to Dayton, then? Well, I know why, the facility is open, functioning as normal. The storm stayed just south although you couldn't tell it from I-70 this morning.

Tellya, days like these it'd be hard not to respect and admire this industry.

Trainer Frank was on the yard in his insulated suit like mine, said drivers headed south (including him) were told to hold off until told okay to leave. Didn't look like they were leaving, either, with a forecast of 5-9 inches or more from Nashville across to St. Louis.

That's gonna bunch things up for the rest of the week for sure.

Quite a few cars found interesting ways and places to park around Indy. The other truck left for Dayton before I arrived on the yard. Have same truck as yesterday, somewhat unusual. And the fuel gauge has been dropping like pouring diesel out of a bottle, as in quickly.

 

Heading Back from Dayton

Definitely wintry. I'm told it started to snow in Dayton around 9 am.

Tomorrow's KY at 12 noon, but likely will be waiting for a truck.

If not canceled....