Raining?  Yes yes it is.  Which is good because it allows me to finally have the time to write something.  Spring seeding is finally in full swing.  Well its been going on for a little now but it never feels official until you get a rain delay or finish.  However as always it is a battle, so I shall help inform all you city folk on what goes on in the spring around this farm to get the crop in the ground.  The pictures below are just stock pictures of the models of John Deere equipment I use but the farm is mine and thats what it will look like in June.  The picture is a little old and all of the flat bottoms are on hopper bottoms but that is about the only difference.  This year our farm is 100 years old.    

First things first is that the land either has to be cultivated or sprayed with an "all purpose" chemical usually glyphosate to kill the first flush of weeds that are coming up.  This is important so you can give your crop a weed free advantage with no competition to start growing and maturing in the best possible environment.  I have had some issues with this, and it has been the largest slow down this spring.  The weather has been too cold, and the days have been cold and windy.  This makes it difficult to spray because it has severely limited the time that the weeds are active and I can get at them or the weather has been good enough to do the actual work.

Our seeding takes place with what we call an air drill.  Which is pretty much big tanks that hook up to hoses, which hook up to shanks, which hook up to points, which enter the ground.  The tanks hold, the fertilizer and seed, which is then blown at speed down the tubes and into the ground.  There are some things to make it more complicated than that obviously.  Since the seed is metered out in pounds per acre, it has to be weighed, and calibrated and such.  Also depth is very important to good germination.  So we are always chcking to make sure we are allowing our crop to grow properly.  Our plow on the drill is 61ft wide, and the tanks hold 400 bushels total.  Depending on the crop I can go from 2-3 hours a tank to 6-8. 

So from there with some maintenance everyday it is pretty much filling and working as much as possible to get it done as quick as possible.  This can lead to some late nights running into early mornings.  However you do what you have to do because these operations set up how well, and easily you make things for yourself for the entire year.

There are many things I could touch on here as many things have happened since seeding has started, good things and bad.  However I think one of the most interesting things is the new law passed in Arizona allowing law enforcement to arrest people they suspect of being illegal immigrants.  I am still not convinced it is within the constitution to be allowed to do that.  I know it would be unconstitutional in Canada for sure.  Also I have heard comments from law enforcement that they can all ready do this and send people who fail to the border patrol.  Makes me wonder if there is something else going on they are either trying to sneak by or draw attention from......  Anyways hope all is well and everone is running hot right now.

Hey Hey all,

Well another week has somehow come and gone and I'm always left wondering were the time went whether I was productive in a week or not.  Its always hard to determing productivity I find especially in my business.  There are certain things you just can't put a price on or the results of what those intangibles might bring.

It has been around normal temperatures here on the farm but it has been windy as a mother.  There have also been some spring blizzards flying around with winds over 100KMPH which very windy.  Apparently in one of the cities and old man was walking with an aid and literally blew away.  The wind just picked him up and drug him around.  Not really that funny in real life however the mental image is quite an interesting one.

We are pretty much ready for seeding.  If someone said go seeding tomorrow I am sure that we could get it going and only have a few kinks along the way.  However all the big machinery is ready to go, and all the technology is were it needs to be.  So now we just have to wait for the weather to smarten up.  No sense in putting seed in the ground when it is near 0 C at all times.  Its just not going to grow.

Played a couple of interesting session this week.  One was a little bit of Rush I played at $10 PLO.  The game dynamic seems to be changing at all times with people trying out different strategies they hear about.  It seems lately that min raising in later positions to try and steal the blinds is key.  So I just started three betting my premium suited run downs more than usual.  It isn't too expensive a move, and I get lots of folds as well my hands play so well out of position it doesn't bother me.

I had a really weird session Friday though.  None of my isolation plays were working causing large pots three way, which in turn led me to getting it in more, and getting called by both players in many situations.  Usually I was ahead of both however in PLO it is tough to fade two hands like that.  However I recognized this and didn't go past my stop loss for the day so it was all good.  

In unrelated news I got a haircut.  It is much shorter than I have had it for a long time however it will be much better in the end.  Also I don't care what anyone says Linda Ronstadt was hot back in the day.

Hey guys,

Hope everyone is doing well.  It seems that spring is finally here to stay, however you never know what year will bring a nasty spring blizzard.  It seems to happen every third year or so, some years, at the beginning of seeding and some more towards the end.  In both cases one gets frustrated with not being completely done, or having started and then having it snow when waiting out a couple of days may have been a better option. 

This seems to be the always internal struggle that happens with life wondering whether or not we have timed things just the way we should have.  Did we buy at the right time, sell at the right time, say the right thing or make the right move.  However whats done is done and one can't change those things anyways so I see not much sense in worrying about it once the time has passed.  I find it much more productive to worry about the actual results and how to deal with them at the present, and in the future.

I was however able to drop my harley off at the shop the other day.  I'm getting a couple things added to give my bike a little more aggressive look.  New handlebars, bigger better and more shiny.  What else could a guy want.  As well I'm streamlining my signal lights, with bullet style ones.  These also are brighter than stock so really they make the bike look cleaner but they will also be brighter and make me more visible to cars which is a benefit because sometimes cars seem to miss seeing bikes and try to run us over.  Anyways I'll be excited to get it back.

Things are drying up pretty quickly here around the farm.  This means that it is go time on the spring work because before one knows it we will be breaking ground, and planting the seeds for the year.  The only way to end the year good is to start it good.  In my business there isn't much time for mediocre performance in season.  This leads to nothing but problems later on down the road with poor timing and poor results.  So its time to do some good work and try to make some money.

Poker has been pleasant as of late.  I think my downswing is finally over and I am able to rebuild.  I am not running amazingly hot or anything but slow and steady will win this race.  So I just have to try to keep putting in the hands I can while I have time and keep the positive results coming.  So hope everyone can keep their stacks large and keep some run good.