Advent

We cannot believe the first Sunday of Advent is here.

You, LORD, are our father,
our redeemer you are named forever.
Why do you let us wander, O LORD, from your ways,
and harden our hearts so that we fear you not?
Return for the sake of your servants,
the tribes of your heritage.
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
with the mountains quaking before you,
while you wrought awesome deeds we could not hope for,
such as they had not heard of from of old.
No ear has ever heard, no eye ever seen, any God but you
doing such deeds for those who wait for him.
Would that you might meet us doing right,
that we were mindful of you in our ways!
Behold, you are angry, and we are sinful;
all of us have become like unclean people,
all our good deeds are like polluted rags;
we have all withered like leaves,
and our guilt carries us away like the wind.
There is none who calls upon your name,
who rouses himself to cling to you;
for you have hidden your face from us
and have delivered us up to our guilt.
Yet, O LORD, you are our father;
we are the clay and you the potter:
we are all the work of your hands.

That is Old Testament.  Advent awaits the coming of Jesus who changed all of that.

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Be watchful! Be alert!
You do not know when the time will come.
It is like a man traveling abroad.
He leaves home and places his servants in charge,
each with his own work,
and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch.
Watch, therefore;
you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming,
whether in the evening, or at midnight,
or at cockcrow, or in the morning.
May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping.
What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’”

We have lost family members and neighbors this week and this year.  We watch, we truly watch.  Doing it with a great family makes it all the easier.

A blessed Sunday to you all,

Ed

Colonoscopy

Five years ago I had my first colonoscopy.  A local surgeon perfomed it at our local hospital, Clinton Memorial.  It was easy, it was quiet and serene, and I felt like a new man after the procedure.  I thought I could be the poster boy for the procedure!

I finally summoned the courage to schedule my second one as directed.  This time was a whole different experience.  The first surgeon quit doing them because he left Clinton Memorial and could practice more valuable skills in Dayton.  I almost begged him to perform this one but he said no and recommended "the best endoscope guy in Dayton."

The doctor is good but what I went through is what I would call a butt factory.  They lined up victims on gurneys and ran us through like cattle in a stockyards.  The facility was great, the people were wonderful, the doctor really knows what he is doing.  This procedure put me in the worst pain I think I've had all my life.  It's been a week from hell, not just because of the procedure.

I have concluded they pumped me too full of carbon dioxide gas so they can do the procedure quick and easy.  That gas did the same thing to me it did to LuAnn when she had her gall bladder out on September 20.  She had severe pain the week following and so did I.

Carbon dioxide kills cells and irritates the nerve endings.  I did a few Google searches and found the same sad stories we both went through.  We felt like we were going to die!

If you have not had the procedure done or its time for another one, don't let me discourage you.  Get it done.  I have lost 3 close friends because they never had it done and they died of even more painful colon cancer.  There is no sense in this.

But ask questions.  Make sure you know how they are going to do it.  I thought the prep solution made me sick at first, that big jug of PEG 3350 they have you drink the hours before the procedure.  The first time was his own recipe and I had no problems with it, just Miralax and other laxatives.  I intend to have mine done differently in 3 years as prescribed.

I am just starting to feel normal after starting this procedure a week ago.  Ask questions and make sure you can tolerate the Carbon Dioxide gas or ask for a different way of performing it.

It's an important procedure that has saved many lives but there has to be a better way of doing it.

Ed Winkle

Ohio State Vs Michigan

The third Saturday in November is reserved for the greatest rivalry in sports I have ever been part of, Ohio State versus Michigan.

This video shows many of the things I've seen and many of the things I've learned.  It's a long movie so set aside some time if you choose to view it.  It has offensive language, also.  You probably need to be a Buckeye or a Wolverine to really appreciate it but there is so much history in it I saw unfold during my life.

Basketball was the big sport in Sardinia when I was a kid. Ohio was a football state but Brown County didn't know it.   Jerry Lucas and John Havlicek probably had more influence on me than any other Buckeyes.  I don't remember that many Ohio State football games on our black and white TV as a child but there was some Ohio State basketball aired out of Cincinnati and we could catch a little Columbus TV 100 miles away.

My first real exposure to Ohio State football was in the summer of 1968 when I met team members like Timmy Fox.  I almost became a roommate in Ohio Stadium but I chose not to stay in the Stadium dorms when a "cheaper" deal arose.   I was working at the Ohio State beef barn right across the river from the stadium so I was pretty close.

W8LT, the Ohio State Amateur Radio Club was my ticket to a padlock inside a stadium gate.  That brought me very close to the weight room and Ohio State football players.  Their enthusiasm really rubbed off on me and soon I was a dedicated Buckeye fan.

I attended every year until 3 years ago when my priorities changed.  I use to live and die Ohio State wins and losses but I mellowed over time.  It's just a game, but it's a damned important game Woody taught me!

Ohio State didn't teach me what to learn but how to learn.  The Ohio State LEAD Program changed my life, 60 days of intensive study over the years of 1992-93.  I met life long friends there I would do anything for.  My Master's degree really improved my life and my ability to help myself, my family and others.

Ohio State will always be important to me, win or lose.

Ed Winkle

I Give Thanks

Today I give thanks.  I give thanks today for our children and grand children. I give thanks for all my relatives, some are very close to me but I love them all.  I give thanks to all the spouses who do their share in their relationships.

Our family is going through some very trying times right now and family makes all the difference.  I see those with no family or no caring family and it makes me sad.

It's great to see the huge food efforts put on by local charities, neighbors, friends, churches and groups.  I've followed the huge FFA campaigns to feed people today via Twitter.  I followed the huge Ohio State effort to feed thousands of people today there too.  It's wonderful to see but I hope those people who get fed find a friend with their meal.  Being alone or down is not good and not what we should do as people.

I give thanks today for everything good and the blessings we have.  I wish we could all share in them equally.  Our country has never needed more togetherness than we need today.  It starts with choosing to do good over not doing it.  It starts with not being selfish or neglectful.  I've seen both this week and I see it every day.

Our country has become divided and really needs to be together for the good of all.  I've seen great strides to bring us together this week and great divisiveness to tear us apart.

Only we can make a difference but not all people want to.  I see great need for healing in every family.  I am pretty proud of the Winkle family today because I see the love and kindness that makes me proud to be one.  Every family has challenges and problems and sometimes someone else can make a difference to that family.  Those people are treasured friends and I've seen that this week, too.

In Gratitude

Thank you, Father, for having created us and given us to each other in the human family. Thank you for being with us in all our joys and sorrows, for your comfort in our sadness, your companionship in our loneliness. Thank you for yesterday, today, tomorrow and for the whole of our lives. Thank you for friends, for health and for grace. May we live this and every day conscious of all that has been given to us.

Amen.

Happy thanksgiving to you all,

Ed Winkle

What Is Your State's Official Soil?

What is your state's official soil?  Do you even have one?  Is there one state official or recognized soil type in your state?  How do you farm it?

Kathy Voth has written a short article about state soils On Pasture.

This is a good topic as a farmer asked how to tile Zook Silt Loam on Crop Talk.  I gave him my best answer.  For any poorly drained or very poorly drained soil, you can't afford to get tile lines close enough to drain them properly if you have an outlet.  If you don't have an outlet, you are very limited in tiling and its resulting lack of production.

Miami Series was pushed as Ohio's State soil but it never got enough attention to be recognized as our state soil by law.  I guess they had better things to do and most people wouldn't know the difference anyway.

The whole point is do you know your soils?  They are difficult to study because they are so complicated and lie below our feet!  Break it down into little segments you can understand and keep adding to your knowledge.  Soil history in your lifetime is extremely important.

The best way to know your soil is dig it deep, down 5 feet or more.  That is preferably done with equipment!

Once you have the soil opened up, you need an experienced person who had studied soils most of their life to help you see what you have, what may have caused it and what you might do in the future to improve it.  I really enjoy doing that and remember the soil pit near Paul Butler's house while our new lifelong friend Chris Pellow from New Zealand was present.  It was pretty awesome!

Any soil can be saved and improved.  I always felt like that was my number one duty on earth.  Save the soil.  This leads to why I learned to no-till and add amendments that improves soil function.  Healthy soil is the root of all man's successes.

It's just ground up rock, it doesn't make that much difference, does it?

Everything that has happened to a soil dictates it's value to man today.

We need to figure out what to do with it within our budget.  The simplest things can yield the biggest results.

Ed Winkle

30 Years Ago

A farmer made this post about something big that happened in agriculture 30 years I had forgotten about.  International Harvester as we knew it was never the same.

CHICAGO, Nov. 23— Tenneco Inc. will soon conclude an agreement to buy the International Harvester Company's farm equipment division, according to a spokesman for independent dealers that market Tenneco's agricultural equipment.

Tenneco's farm equipment division is called J.I. Case, and Jim Sommer, the president of the J.I. Case and J.I. Case Canada Joint Agricultural Equipment Dealers Council, said that he had received reports that the agreement would be announced Monday.

One source at Case said Tenneco was expected to pay about $420 million for the division, of which $120 million would be in cash and $300 million in debentures.

Any agreement would have to resolve responsibility for the unfunded pension liabilities held by Harvester, and the costs of any closings of Harvester plants. 

The deal reduced the companies tractor building capacity by 40%.  The farm crash was in full swing and we lost half our farmers in this period.  Size of farms sky rocketed after this with less need for smaller tractors.

I remember one friend who I always thought wore "red underwear."  He is a businessman first and traded every piece of red equipment for green when this was announced.  He still farms with green today.

That day was as sad as the day Oliver Farm Equipment closed the doors and White picked out the profitable goodies like Tenneco did with IH.  I will never forget a farmer who didn't even use Oliver farm equipment tell me it was a sin to bury the Charles City, Iowa plant.  It would be a great museum today and more.

I guess we can say that about every old farm name that disappeared.  Each one affected us each differently when it happened.

Hats off to International Harvester, a great name in farming history.

Ed Winkle

How Do You Keep Your Pellet Stove From Squeaking?

It's cold one or two months early for grandpa this year so we have two stoves going again.  It's mid November!.  I am learning how to use a new wood stove fireplace insert that weighs 450 lbs!  It went in smooth as silk thanks to a hydraulic dolly.  It doesn't put out the heat the old Vermont Defiant did but it is much more attractive in some aspects and a whole lot safer.  The fire is inside the fireplace now and not sitting out in the dining room.

We bought a Magnum Countryside pellet stove after we bought this farm and old historic farmhouse.  We have gotten our good out of it after ten seasons and finding the right pellet and keeping them dry is really important.

Still, the stirrer in the burning pot is squeaking and squawking the day after clean out.  This Greenway oak pellet from Tennessee is one of the best I've found but the pot sounds dry and not lubed enough.  I am trying to figure out how to keep it from squeaking so I am open to any suggestions from my readers.

I think the soot needs to be cleaned off the stirrer when I clean out the stove but I don't know what to do to accomplish that.  A wire brush works pretty well but that is a lot of work a week because it is noisy so often.

I think it needs to be disassembled and cleaned from the flue to the burning pot.  If I had a corn dryer, I would be burning dry shelled corn but my corn is too wet to burn from the bin.  10-12% dry corn burns best and anything higher than that causes even more clinkers in this stove.

It's so windy today it is really too windy to be burning it with gusts up to 50 MPH right directly into the flue pipe.

There is no cheap way to heat but it's been a pretty "green" and cheap stove for us.

Ed Winkle