Auction

There is an auction tomorrow I would like to attend. There is always a story behind a farm auction. By farm auction I mean machinery, not real estate.

At least half the auctions are sad stories. This one is. The dad was a real good farmer but died at my age of a heart attack. The son took over and couldn't make it so now all the chattels are being sold.

The next door neighbor was one of my students and also died suddenly at 53. That community has been hard hit.

There are three pieces which would add to our versatility here. A 1955 Oliver tractor, a Gleaner R-72 and a Rogator crop sprayer.
The 1955 would pull a notill drill to get the little fields or patch bigger fields. The R-72 is the same size as the R-75 but a little older but could be bought cheaper than renting a second combine.

Those combines are still bringing around the $100,000 area as a replacement is closer to $400,000.

That tractor is what I would call a classic tractor, over 30 years old. Still it would be new to me. They are selling for 5-10 thousand dollars but this one needs up to 5 grand of work in the transmission so I wouldn't want to bid over $5000 for it even though it is a good tractor in good condition other than the tranny.

That Waukesha engine is known for spitting connecting rods out the side and there goes another five grand if it does. Some of us know how to prevent that but many don't.

My brother traded my 2-70 White I had sold to him and dad and they got a 1955 in the deal. The first day dad was spreading manure on the 27 acre field by White Oak Creek it spit a rod out the side that went several hundred feet. That tractor is still on the old farm but it has never been the same.

The Rogator would make the most money spraying our own crops as much as possible. The entry level would be so much cheaper than buying newer. Tractorhouse has these sprayers selling in the $50,000 ballpark.

I like going to auctions but not when I am bidding on big ticket items as someone always wants to talk when you are in the middle of a thinking process and you hate to be rude but if you don't pay attention, you will be on the wrong side of the deal.

I guess auctions aren't the best places to buy big ticket items.


Ed

The Cleveland's

Eric and Tyler are direct decendants of President Grover Cleveland.

The First Democrat elected after the Civil War, Grover Cleveland was the only President to leave the White House and return for a second term four years later.

One of nine children of a Presbyterian minister, Cleveland was born in New Jersey in 1837. He was raised in upstate New York. As a lawyer in Buffalo, he became notable for his single-minded concentration upon whatever task faced him.

At 44, he emerged into a political prominence that carried him to the White House in three years. Running as a reformer, he was elected Mayor of Buffalo in 1881, and later, Governor of New York.

Cleveland won the Presidency with the combined support of Democrats and reform Republicans, the "Mugwumps," who disliked the record of his opponent James G. Blaine of Maine.

A bachelor, Cleveland was ill at ease at first with all the comforts of the White House. "I must go to dinner," he wrote a friend, "but I wish it was to eat a pickled herring a Swiss cheese and a chop at Louis' instead of the French stuff I shall find." In June 1886 Cleveland married 21-year-old Frances Folsom; he was the only President married in the White House.

Cleveland vigorously pursued a policy barring special favors to any economic group. Vetoing a bill to appropriate $10,000 to distribute seed grain among drought-stricken farmers in Texas, he wrote: "Federal aid in such cases encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the Government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character. . . . "

He also vetoed many private pension bills to Civil War veterans whose claims were fraudulent. When Congress, pressured by the Grand Army of the Republic, passed a bill granting pensions for disabilities not caused by military service, Cleveland vetoed it, too.

He angered the railroads by ordering an investigation of western lands they held by Government grant. He forced them to return 81,000,000 acres. He also signed the Interstate Commerce Act, the first law attempting Federal regulation of the railroads.

In December 1887 he called on Congress to reduce high protective tariffs. Told that he had given Republicans an effective issue for the campaign of 1888, he retorted, "What is the use of being elected or re-elected unless you stand for something?" But Cleveland was defeated in 1888; although he won a larger popular majority than the Republican candidate Benjamin Harrison, he received fewer electoral votes.

Elected again in 1892, Cleveland faced an acute depression. He dealt directly with the Treasury crisis rather than with business failures, farm mortgage foreclosures, and unemployment. He obtained repeal of the mildly inflationary Sherman Silver Purchase Act and, with the aid of Wall Street, maintained the Treasury's gold reserve.

When railroad strikers in Chicago violated an injunction, Cleveland sent Federal troops to enforce it. "If it takes the entire army and navy of the United States to deliver a post card in Chicago," he thundered, "that card will be delivered."

Cleveland's blunt treatment of the railroad strikers stirred the pride of many Americans. So did the vigorous way in which he forced Great Britain to accept arbitration of a disputed boundary in Venezuela. But his policies during the depression were generally unpopular. His party deserted him and nominated William Jennings Bryan in 1896.

After leaving the White House, Cleveland lived in retirement in Princeton, New Jersey. He died in 1908.

Learn more about Grover Cleveland's spouse, Frances Folsom Cleveland.

Wiki goes into the political details of his presidency with lots of links.

It is good reading.

Ed

Family

You know, people who have a loving family are really, really blessed. Some people don't have that, can you imagine?

Yesterday we got together and had about the most wonderful time you could ever imagine. It was nothing fancy, just a day to see each other, enjoy some food over a traditional Holiday that is very important to our country and some families.

Those Pilgrims, how did they do it? They left everything to have a chance and come and eat with perfect strangers, the native American Indians. They had to be desperate or adventurous or both as that boat ride was no picnic.

The grandchildren are growing up so fast but progressing so wonderfully. Madison brought her second letter to us. I told her she spells better than most of my friends and she is only in the second grade. She is so loving and kind and the best older sister and cousin you could imagine.

Her sister Brynne just blended in with the kids. the older three like to play and march around together and she is usually in the middle. They were all just happy as larks all day, no fusses and and no one wanted to go home.

Liam is my little buddy, he loves slapstick home grown corney humor like me and I can make him laugh in a second. He is in preschool and really advancing himself. He reminds me of myself at five and yes I do remember that.

Caolin is just the sweetest little girl I ever saw, she looks right through you with those big eyes and smile. She is quite independent and plays and sings to herself but gets along great with the others, too.

Her new little brother Finn never cried all day. He is quite a hunk, over 12 lbs at 6 weeks. He was very comfortable with the commotion going on. In a year he will be holding his own.

Tyler is speaking words but still has that Bow stamina and such stoutness for a little guy at 18 months.

You think we are proud granparents? You bet. We worked hard to get here but we are really blessed. We had our days with our kids as they grew up and made decisions. We were pretty firm with them but always did it with love and it turned out great.

So here is to our family, our most prized possession. You kids are doing a great job and we are very proud of you.

Ed and LuAnn

River Cruising

Three weeks ago we left for our first river cruise, this one on the Danube as you know now.

We chose Vantage Travel for our cruise and can highly recommend them after using them. We saw one other Nordic cruise line and those people seemed to be happy too.

I sleep really well on a ship. Of course the five I have slept on were usually on calm waters and I know I wouldn't be sleeping in a storm. That would be like me trying to sleep on a jet airplane 6 miles high going 5-600 MPH. That is what I call an out of body experience.

Sleeping on a ship on calm water is like sleeping on a giant comfy bed on top of giant waterbed. I don't wake up in the middle of the night like I often do on land.

Our bed was two small beds put together and each had its own fluffy comforter but looked like a queen sized bed.

I mention sleep because we spend 1/3 of our lives in bed and without good rest the day is pretty well shot.

Vantage really knows what it is doing. Everything is top notch and service is better than anything else you will see. You have to work together on a 5 day to two week deal or the customer isn't going to be satisfied. They do it and the customer is very satisfied.

The routine is great for me. Wake up, shower, eat, walk, read, study, eat, walk, see, experience, eat, have some entertainment and go to bed. After three days I am totally relaxed like a leaf on a tree, just blowing in the breeze.

Our ship was 170 guests, mainly couples, and 42 staff so the chef cooked 640 or so meals a day for us and crew. The kitchen was very high tech and very efficient. Every worker was at the top of his game in that kitchen to the dining room.

We got to eating on the higher deck of the Compass Dining room with the kitchen underneath us. There we met Emil, the best waiter I ever had and his able assistants Milai and Atilla. They soon knew our habits and we became friends on our short journey.

You can take one of these vacations for about $3000 each, U.S. After adding tips for crew and whatever you buy off the ship, you are probably still under $10,0000. It is well worth it to me and compares to every kind of vacation we have taken in the last ten years. It is different though as you are really being waited on and the herds are not as big as the big cruise ships. That makes it very personal and special.

The guests are all in our age group and education level. That makes for good relations and discussions at dinner. The hard part for me was seeing where I will be in 10 years as we were that much younger than most of the cruisers.

It was good to see older folks still out learning culture and seeing sights. They take their bumps and bruises from age in stride. One old german from New Jersey was 89 and his wife right behind and he was still doing his thing in retirement. Hip and knee replacements are common among passengers.

It really was a good experience and I would sure do it again.

Holland in bloom, the Christmas markets and new countries are still out there for us.

Ed

Wheat Grew Overnight

This is the most unusual thing I ever saw but yesterday's rain made the wheat grow overnight.

It has been so dry the wheat and barley barely came up. With a nice 1-2 inches of rain on it it grew overnight.

Usually it is so damp in fall the cereal crops come closer to drowning than lacking from water but this year's La Nina event is quite something different. The grain prices are so volatile because of high demand and questionable supply that the rumor of drought in South America has the markets queezy.

We are about 12 inches behind an average year's rainfall. We had one inch of rain June 12, another one Sept 17 and more than that yesterday. That's almost a half a year with 3 one inch rains, very unusual around here.

They said it was the coolest October on record in Europe but then turned record warm while we were there.

The yard greened up a little but not like most places we have been to where it is lush green. I really need to re-seed the whole thing now.

It sure has been a different year weather wise!

Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. It is amazing how affordable a home cooked meal still is.

"While the average cost of a traditional Thanksgiving meal rose by 56 cents, the price of feeding a gathering of 10 is still less than it was in 2008, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual survey of classic items found on the Thanksgiving Day dinner table.

The average price tag for a holiday meal for 10 with all the trimmings rang up at $43.47, up from $42.91 in 2009 but down by $1.14 from the 2008 average. The rise was in spite of a significantly lower average price for the centerpiece 16-pound turkey, which was down by 99 cents.

“Turkey prices are down some this year despite the fact that, according to United States Agriculture Department estimates, turkey production has been slightly lower in 2010 than in 2009 and supplies of turkey in cold storage are below last year’s level,” said American Farm Bureau Federation Economist John Anderson, who said this indicates retailers are being aggressive in featuring turkeys in special sales and promotions.

“Overall, the change in the price of this year’s Thanksgiving dinner is basically in line with the modest changes that we’ve seen in the overall price level this year. At $4.35 per person, our traditional Thanksgiving feast is still a better deal than most fast-food value meals, plus it’s a wholesome, home-cooked meal.”

The survey involved shoppers from 34 states (including one from Georgia) collecting price data on turkey, bread stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, a relish tray of carrots and celery, pumpkin pie with whipped cream and beverages of coffee and milk, all in quantities sufficient to serve a family of 10.

The cost of a 16-pound turkey, at $17.66 or roughly $1.10 per pound, reflects a decrease of 44 cents compared to the prices from the 2009 survey. A 38-cent rise in the price of a gallon of milk and a 72-cent increase for miscellaneous ingredients (coffee, onions, eggs, sugar, flour, evaporated milk and butter) offset the decrease in the price of turkey. The price for a pound of green peas also declined, by an average of 14 cents, while the cost of 12 ounces of fresh cranberries was the same as in 2009."

I am sure most of us spent more than that but food is still affordable.

Those little wheat plants won't make a dent in the cost of producing the pumpkin pie shell it could make.


Ed

Happy Turkey Day

Happy Turkey Day to you all. Turkey Day is a common slang term in the US for Happy Thanksgiving.

I am very thankful this year. So many good things happened. I had the most acres and gross and net revenue I ever had in my life. Best of all we have a new crop, our eighth grandchild.

Like the Pilgrims, we will give thanks today with a special meal. Our turkey day will be Saturday with the kids and grandkids during the Buckeye's battle with Michigan. Celebrating on an off day like this has worked well for our blended family.

I want to thank Ralph for writing while I was gone. I think a writer like him adds interest and broadens the view of a blog like mine. I have three good "ghost writers" now. Budde from the Lazy Farmer, LuAnn, and now Ralph.

It takes about 24 hours to fly from here to Europe with the layovers in Economy mode. We are rich to be able to travel but if we were really rich we could take a non stop flight pretty close to any major city.

The best deal on this trip was drive to Cleveland and use Continental to Newark, Frankfurt and to the smaller cities of Budapest and Prague. We were on the ground as much as in the air. The main leg is around 7 hours and the smaller legs are 1-2 hours each.

We saw all the commotion about security in Germany and body scans in the US. Thankfully that never bothered our trip one bit. The flight back home was roomy and many people slept across 3 seats. Me, I can't sleep in a jet going 5-600 MPH so I just watch movies and radio and think and write.

The big picture of the trip was the age of Europe compared to us. We are still an infant country and society compared to the world. The Roman Empire greatly impacted the future of man and the faith of those people.

The Christmas markets were just beginning to open and Advent is King in Europe like it used to be here. It wasn't so commercialized in advertizing like it is here but you can see the impact we have on the world.

The really neat thing we saw was at the cristkindl market we visited in Vienna, the event was social, not just for buying. Young and old visited together and they had pony and other rides for the kids so three generations could visit together. It felt very homey to us.

We walked 8-10 miles from Old Prague to Charles Bridge, across the river, up to the largest castle in Europe and back to the hotel. We still have tired bodies we jet lag but we will be fine, just need some time.

We woke up two hours early this morning so we need to keep working on getting back on schedule. We struggled to stay awake past 9 PM local the last two nights but it is working.

Happy Turkey Day to all and I hope you had a good year like we did.

Ed Winkle

Thankful For Multitude Of Ever-Ready Volunteers

Day before yesterday I talked about the Sugartree Ministry and their care of so many homeless and poor families that are left in the wake of losing 10,000+ jobs when the major employer, DHL, closed their distribution Center. Sixty Minutes came in first to report on the situation followed by Rachel Ray who came in and did a wonderful renovation of the dining room and kitchen for Sugartree But what makes our community really great are the many, many volunteers who give of themselves to serve their fellow men and women to help make their lives a little more comfortable.

Today is one our church’s two days that we fix and serve the hot meal at Sugartree. We served 655 people with the help of two different girl scout troops and a fraternity and sorority group from the Wilmington College. Keep in mind that dinner at the Sugartree Ministry is not a food line that people fill up their plates and then find a table – Everyone who comes to Sugartree is treated like a rich person. They are seated at tables and served their food on china and given stainless utensils and a drink by smiling volunteers. The dishes are then picked up and the tables cleaned off getting ready for the second seating. That is what happened today but during 4 turnovers! That is the most people I have seen eat at Sugartree! While pretty scary that there are that many people who need to find free food somewhere – it is also heart-warming to see so many people willing to donate many hours of their time for others.

We have a Homeless Shelter in Wilmington who helps people that have been evicted from their homes with up to 6 weeks of temporary housing and food. I deliver pastry products to the shelter on Saturday and Sunday. One recent Saturday I was told by the shelter manager to come see the new house that will join the original 2 once renovation is completed. I was amazed to find two prominent surgeons in jeans and work shoes tearing done the wall board in the new house getting ready to completely renovate this Home. One is an orthopedic surgeon who contributes 20-30 hours a week on top of a very ambitious surgery schedule and practice. His companion is a cardiology surgeon who also was wielding a crowbar.

Can you imagine? People who earn several hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars of funds in their careers doing the volunteer hour they do each week. They want no publicity – they feel good donating their time and efforts for those not as fortunate as they are. Humbling to say the least!

Here is wishing you and yours a great Thanksgiving tomorrow! My heart is filled with the warmth generated by the many volunteers we have here in Southwestern Ohio.

Ralph Taylor
Blogging for Ed Winkle