Good Morning!

[WLLady]

@windwalkingwolf yep its a convenience here too.....i actually got a followup email-you better get those returned today they are closed tomorrow. sent in reply um no...not driving 2 hours to sit for 2 hours to get in to make a return. will do it next time i am in town. go buy at the drugstore that is across the street (literally).

25 birds into the freezer yesterday. much quieter here. some pullets with ptsd though....they were in the coop rafters to escape the testosterone. hopefully they will start free ranging freely today. only noise out there is the idiot squad of guineas lol

[Killerbunny]

Wondered how @Bayvistafarm is faring with the current school bus driver mess. APparently there is a shortage of drivers = who'da thunk it! I don't envy her!

[Ontario Chick]

Good morning ,
First time in years scrapped the "scare crows" end of August, seems that our resident deer have left, garden not eaten, very unusual .
judging by the coyote parties every night, I have a pretty good idea what happened to them.
Anybody else notice decline in numbers?

[Bayvistafarm]

Wondered how @Bayvistafarm is faring with the current school bus driver mess. APparently there is a shortage of drivers = who'da thunk it! I don't envy her!

Hi Everyone! To answer your question Killerbunny, NO one knows what is going on. A week ago last Wednesday, we went and picked up our bus/route copy/PPE/ and had a small workshop on how to spray down our buses twice a day. If you have a run morning and night. Seeing as how I got an elementary slapped onto the backside of my morning highschool run (67km long), I will now have to spray down at the highschool before I go do a 5 minute run from my one and only stop with 2 SK's and 1 JK student. I'm sure I will get screamed at when I'm late, for winter driving conditions, etc. Makes me mad also... when Highschool is off for P.A. days... I will still have to go do my elementary, ugh.

So... just past Thursday I went to the yard to actually get some missing PPE from our bags. I was asked if I would be interested in doing a double run. Seems we (our yard) is short 40 drivers.

Well.... doing my run and only my run allows for me to go pick up grand-daughter Grace from Daycare, (has to be before 5:30pm)... and then Sawyer at after school program (before 6pm), which I drive right by to go home anyhow. Thats finishing my run way out there at 4:10pm or so. Now (IF I do Tom's run... which me and another gal split last year, because he had a hip replacement.... and he was told hes too suspect to covid complications this year, and to NOT do bus).. it will take me 20-25 minutes to get back to the school to pick up kids around 4:30...4:40pm? Then another hour at least to get that run home, as it goes basically out my own bus run way... but a portion south of me, and way north of where I would finish for my run. Cannot apparently combine runs. I'm thinking with the way they are doing things with our boards.... half the kids will be cohort A... and go Monday/Wed/every other friday... Cohort B... Tuesday/Thurs/every other Friday... and do online when they DON'T go. When they DO go... they have teacher instruction for ONE subject.... until 10:45am. Then either stay all day for the bus, and do online work at the school, or get a ride home, and do the online portion at home. Trouble is... way out in Flamborough, internet SUCKS. The freaking parents have been petitioning and walking in protest to have the buses take kids home, for noon. Thing is... if they leave the school between 8:30 am, and 2:30pm... NO re-entry to the school.

Jess isn't going back to work until October 1. I told my manager that I could possibly do Tom's run, figuring on not as many kids, and the run would not take the full hour. Mine either. I could see if it will work for me to get the kids and babysit them when Jess is on afternoons, until Dave gets home. Like I've always done. I told the yard if they GAVE me Tom's run, and put the driver they had originally chosen for it.... on another... because the other driver would start the run from the bus yard, and that is 45 minutes to the school.... and probably 70 minutes to the first stop on that run. I'm much closer. I'm 8 minutes from the school...

Then hits the fan, and I get this message from my manager.

Hey Shirley,



We just got a message from the board after I came back from lunch saying they have cut 2500 students transportation and are condensing routes to accommodate the driver shortage. They say these changes are supposed to happen and received by us on late Saturday!?!?... to have distributed to the drivers my Monday!?!?!.... so there is a lot currently in limbo.



A lot can change by Monday. However, there will be a lot more clarity on what we can actually do. I will try to free up the 6124 Dundas Valley. I just want to wait to see what changes are coming forth before I do anything and have to switch it again.



Currently what I do know, is that if they do these changes over the weekend, there is no way transportation is going to be running Monday in the current plan. So just hang tight as we should know a lot more by tomorrow.



Please keep this info between us, I will be in touch!

So... I guess this means, that my route may be grossly changed, and probably student closer to the schools they go to, will have to find their own way. Jacob and Sawyer may now need a ride to school.

And will not know until Sunday night??? Monday morning?? Nice to NOT know where the hell I'm driving until last minute. I'm ready to give it up maybe. But I need the money. What little money it really is, for the job. But free's me to be at home for the majority of the day.

Anyhow.... garden is still late with tomatoes. I've managed to do little spurts of tomatoes, and made some salsa and stewed tomatoes. I wanted to spray BTK on my cabbage/cauliflower/broccoli today, but didn't get to it. It rained a little a few days ago, and yesterday was pizzly... not rainy, and here its going to rain on Sunday perhaps. I did see little tiny worms on them 6 days ago. Oh well. There is nothing there yet, cept a tiny cabbage head... so I will do it tomorrow, and again Monday, LOL.

Cows are all done calving. Earlier we sold 14 cow/calf pairs, and will cull another 5 older girls, to bring the cow number down to about 15. We will still have beef for us/customers, and can put the cows in the barn if weather is too cold to keep it from freezing.

The only waterline from the house to the barn sprung a leak a couple weeks ago. So friends with machines and lots of family help got the trench dug, another trench to in front of the driveshed, and a hydrant put there, to fill the sprayer and stuff. There is only ONE well on the whole property and lines to the blue house, and this brick house I'm in up the hill. I'm sure there will be problems in the future with those. They are probably roughly the same age, or material. We went way down with the barn line. Over 6 feet... plastic water line, with heat tape running thru the conduit all of its in. It will never freeze again, between the house and the barn. That is a major pain, hooking the welder up and running an electrical wire to the house and the barn.

Well, better go and do chores. Its Whiskey Friday, and every Friday a 'special' guest is invited, and we sit in the driveshed, maintaining social distancing, and drinking whatever. And play a few 'games'. One a relic from the past, and the guest trying to come up without many or few hints as to what it is... and the sound track to a movie EVERYONE has seen... and its funny to see how long people take to 'get it'. One friend who came, got it before the first song has even 10 seconds in. lol. Its Forrest Gump.

Well, have a great weekend everyone. I hope Monday is smooth, lol. Maybe another prolonged startup.

[baronrenfrew]

Well good day eh! I see you are all still doing ok. Been a messy year here. Both Carla and I have a messed up knee, plus family soap opera, and this covid lockdown suits us fine: lots to do and lots of elbow room on the farm. Long story short, I have a few birds: cochin bantams, guineas, and a few other layers.

[Ontario Chick]

Good morning,
good to hear from you @baronrenfrew sorry about your injuries, glad you have some birds to keep you company in to the winter. Looks like people who live in the country don't have anything as much of a problem physically distancing as the city people

looks like time to pick green tomatoes is here, if the temperature goes to 1C as predicted, that will be the end of them.
Bet the darn bean won't freeze though.
Have a sunny one :)

[Killerbunny]

Ugh to green tomatoes! I have tried them in so many ways and chutneys and I still don't like them.
@WLLady how easy are rutabagas to grow? i love them.

[baronrenfrew]

Ugh to green tomatoes! I have tried them in so many ways and chutneys and I still don't like them.
@WLLady how easy are rutabagas to grow? i love them.

KB! surely you can build a greenhouse of some sort - or moveable row crop cover! (says the guy with a long to do list )

[Killerbunny]

The pipe bender to make the extra hoop houses has been spotted in Kingston but we haven't got there yet. DO NOT speak to Vian! He does NOT need any more "ideas".

[Ontario Chick]

Ugh to green tomatoes! I have tried them in so many ways and chutneys and I still don't like them.
@WLLady how easy are rutabagas to grow? i love them.

Sorry I might have left an impression I use green tomatoes, not ever have I tried them, although I understand that "fried green tomatoes" is a thing, not planning to test that.

I pick fully formed green tomatoes, store single layer in tangerine crates in cold storage, covered with newsprint or brown paper bags.
They finish ripening and last until mid December.