it's all good

Yes, I have been AWOL for quite a while. Unfortunaely, with my current schedule, it’s a given that in Spring and Fall there will be a week or so here and there that I will not have time to blog.

But I am back, and full of news. I’ll just fill you in point by point, so excuse the lack of segues.

Major is back! He came back yesterday. He was all big and loud, and has not stopped screaming, “Ladies, ‘Big M’ is back in the house!” Except that there are no ladies in the house. M took Cleo back for some training. I hope she can really work with her and get her to come around, because she is a beautiful mare. So we have two boys here now, which makes things much easier. I brought Tristan (my saddle) inside and polished him and left him there for the summer (I’ve decided that inside is better for the temperature/weather/humidity changes). So he’s all polished and ready to go—it’s suppose to be 80 degrees today and Major and I have a date for a ride!

Things at our farm have been humming along. A week or so ago we had to cut up a tree that had fallen over the fence in the bean field. It was out into the field, so the combine could not get the beans underneath. Not that they were in top shape anyway, as they had not seen the sun in a while, but we needed to get that out of the way and we did. K and F harvested our beans, and took them to the co-op. It’s quite interesting how this will all pan out.

First, K took our beans up to the co-op. They will stay there, in storage, until we decide to sell. However, they charge us storage, to the tune of 17 cents per bushel, per day. B and I have approximately 100 bushels, so it amounts to just over $5.00 per month for grain storage. Today, beans are $5.24 per bushel, so it’s about the same as giving up a bushel of beans each month. A farmer with thousands of bushels there might be okay paying storage, since they could hold out for a better price if need be. I understand that beans were $4.99 last week, and have been up as high as over $6.00 last year. So $5.24 is not the best price, but is actually the best price this year. So we pick up the phone and call the co-op when we want to sell the beans, and they will cut us a check. Our check will be approximately $500, but we have expenses to pay. We have to pay our half of the seed and the spray, which is just over $200. So, on ten acres, we will make a whopping $300.00, or $30.00 per acre, whcn it’s all said and done. And K and F did not charge us anything for diesel fuel (though they should have). Our beans did not do that well, since we put them into hay ground—the first crop is always sparse. I heard that a good average is 60 bushels of beans per acre. So, consider that we made 1/3 of what we could have, that is about $60 per acre profit. So to make a profit of $60,000, one has to farm at least 1,000 acres—and sell beans for over $5.00 a bushel (and consistently get 60 bushels per acre). Of course, it’s a bit like a gamble, as farmers can hold out for as long as they feel comfortable before selling, waiting for the top price on beans. But they are paying storage, so they are incurring costs. And they aren’t seeing any cash come in when they have expenses to pay. Oh, and remember, that the $60,000 is not considering the cost of any machinery replacement or depreciation. We did not pay them for that, but it would be a normal farming expense, I expect. I actually just sold them a few minutes ago for $5.24 a bushel.

L has decided that he wants to try a goat for a 4H project. My independent renaissance man decided that he wanted a dairy goat. We got her last weekend, from a breeder up near Dubuque (over 4 hours away!). We decided on a Sannen, since Ernie is half Saanen, and he is funny and personable. Her name is Cindi, and she is just such a little lady! I will post pictures. She had her ears tattooed when we got her, so I didn’t want to take pictures with green ink all over her ears. It’s worn off now, so I’ll post pictures.

This weekend we went on a hayrack ride with B’s work. It was at a fun park in Des Moines. It was fun, it was supposed to be haunted and scary, and the kids loved it. But it was commercial, and it made me miss our farm. B and MK joked that there should be work involved if one was on the back of a hayrack, rather than sitting around. But there was discussion of liability, and the straw was just there for effect. It was pulled by a tractor (a cool one, though) and I wished they had used horses. However, lest you think it was a bad time, it was really fun. We enjoyed the silliness under a great—and very appropriate—full moon. We then roasted marshmallows for s’mores, and called it a night. It was a great way to spend a Saturday.

Things with Eileen have been good. I have not made progress as fast as I would like to, though she assures me weekly that I am doing well and have come very, very far. It’s just not fast enough for me—Ms. Instant Gratification. However, I have looked closely at peace and contentment—what that means, and what that means for me in my life, as well as how one goes about achieving that. Of course, we’re spending the time determining why I have such a hard time finding that in my life, and that part is not fun. But we’ll get there.

Work is good. Of course, I blogged about the London meeting, and it was hectic. Then I immediately helped the staff of another group (one of my former groups) with their meeting, and got them out the door. Then the following week, I had my meeting in Cedar Rapids. That was this past week, from Tuesday-Friday. It was good—really good. I am really developing a rapport with the group, and I enjoy them. There is a professional trust there, and they respect the work that I do. It is wonderful to be appreciated and respected for your contribution. No thank you is required—it’s my job. But if an issue arises—and it’s a rare meeting that there is no issue that arises—it’s wonderful to be treated with respect and allowed to handle the situation appropriately.

In light of that, and in light of the absence of that in London with that particular client, I spoke to my boss and the company president, and explained to them that I just could not handle the stress anymore. I even told them about Eileen. It was actually quite fortuitous, because after the meeting my boss (an owner of the company) was feeling the stress as well. It’s not important that I go into that here (I am taking a lesson from Dooce), but suffice it to say that we had a long discussion about clients and our well-being and coming into work and what gets one up in the morning, etc. At the end of the day, they decided to fire the client!

When it was all said and done, however, they decided that a better option than firing the client was rearranging staff and accounts here at work. It looks as though I will see some increased responsibility, I will not report to anyone (other than the company president, of course) and I will be rid of the stressful client! I will be busy these next few months with the transition, but I am excited about the new challenges, and I will not be traveling as much. It all sounds really glamorous, I’m sure, when I tell you that I have been to Bermuda, New York, Miami, London, etc., but it is really not. It would be glamorous to vacation there, but this is no vacation. It’s a week in a great place, marked by much stress, lack of sleep, lots of work, sore feet, and being away from my family. So this is an incredible change, and I am really excited about it.

Today is M’s birthday, so I am officially the mom of a teenager. Who knew someone so young could be the mom of a 13 year old? Virtually impossible. And you should also know that now that she is 13, I am incredibly stupid, and will continue to grow stupider until she has her own children. So expect me to fall into a deep decline, culminating in my collapse into a corner, complete with drool and eyes glazed over. I will have no fashion sense, no social awareness, and no academic knowledge whatsoever.

Happy Monday!