I am sorry about the late reply to this. I got sucked..., no correction I sucked myself into two long argumentative topics where I learnt a lot about pitbulls and the trump trial. However my level of consciousness took a significant hit. I should have known better, but that's the story of human freedom (or put more succinctly, why do I get into these arguments, God knows!?). I had a quick look around, including the previous thread that our conversation from and I couldn't locate the podcast. If you could be so kind to post it again. I can't imagine an American podcast being soothing enough to be interesting. I generally learn best when I'm a little bit relaxed. But then, I don't know where to look. I remember listening with my parents to Alistair Cooke's letter from America. I found that soothing even though I didn't really know what he was talking about. Just the recollection of the sound of his voice assures me that he belonged to a bygone era, and actually there's no point getting teary-eyed or sentimental about what has passed. I uphold that here is definitely life, love and abundance in the future of humanity. Only old farts 'know' otherwise! I'm not quite ready to relinquish my addiction to US politics but I'm getting closer. Judging by where things are heading communication between the extreme right and left is going to cease soon anyhow. Perhaps the moderates can then get on with their lives. In reality, away from the keyboard I don't bother with politics! I think audiobooks are basically the same as podcasts except it is obviously prewritten monologue. More clearly delineated ideas but obviously more (completely and technically) contrived. I do watch TED talk shows and things like that and of course there's not much to see so I just listen. But again that's a monologue. I think of podcasts as a conversation. You can dictate on the tractor I already know I prefer Nebraska to the rolling hills of Iowa, even though I've only seen the latter - which comes across as an almost completely man-made, monoculture environment. Very green though! Sounds like you're just getting some unusual weather. Yes, now I recall that you do rely upon irrigation, so the high rainfall situation subconsciously surprised me. But it sounds like even if the climate does change in that wetter direction it won't be too much for you to handle. I was just speaking to a friend in America , WV, on the phone the other day and he planted for spring 2 weeks earlier. He was describing an insane rate of growth. I will join them in a few days Germany (here) is off to a sleepy start to summer. I took some photos to show you - of the fields on my bike rides; because I'm not very good at describing things that I don't understand that well. I'll put them in another post. Oh, you're saying that the rain drowns or washes away the insects? That's very interesting I wouldn't have thought that at all. Sounds like Australia. Lol That's incredible. I am imagine, from your description, the articulate and intelligent legs of an insert constantly and rapidly negotiating and readjusting for slight unevenness in the ground as it scuttles over it? More accurate would be a spider (eight) but they don't tend to move as fast. I'm have realized far too late in life that experts are worth their weight in gold. And also that I'm not an expert on anything really. Lol. Though, I endeavour to become expert at taking advantage of expertise. I would say though, having just read the description of what an agronomist is that you're probably a pretty decent one! Maybe the equivalent of a streetwise agronomist?
LOL. Yeh, there are posts/threads you skim and say to yourself there’s nothing to gain from inserting yourself into the conversation, and then you DO anyway! I ended up doing that recently and had to discuss Hamas with an Iranian! How is that productive? I should look up the Pit Bull thread. I saw it several days ago but never read it. Sorry my friend. I don’t think I’ve ever said exactly what podcasts I listen to! I hope I didn’t waste too much of your time looking! The podcaster who warned me off wasting a lot of time on politics is Jack Spirko. His podcast is “The Survival Podcast”. https://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/ While I disagree with some of his positions, he’s pretty logical and has a lot of good content dealing with permaculture, finance, self sufficiency etc. He has one show a week where he has experts answer questions from his listeners. Maybe you’ve heard of Geoff Lawton, a permaculturist from Australia. He’s one of the experts that answers questions. There are professional asset managers, physicians, solar power designers/installers etc. as well. He also does interviews and shows that are just monologues. A lot of diverse content to keep it from getting boring. Everything from cooking to investing to healthcare. The other podcast I listen to a lot of episodes is the Joe Rogan Experience. If a guest looks interesting I’ll listen. He has a lot of experts on as well as entertainers and sometimes politicians. It’s nice because he goes 3 hours most podcasts so you get a pretty in depth interview. The last regular podcast I listen to is The We Like Shooting podcast. It’s 5 guys of diverse backgrounds sharing information on firearms along with a bunch of sophomoric humor. It’s what I listen to when I need to just laugh and not think too much. I don’t listen to anything else regularly. A friend came down with multiple myeloma a couple years ago so I try and keep up with research on that. There are a couple podcasts on Apple Podcasts concerning MM treatment I listen to once in a while. I still keep up with the political gossip here on PF. But I’ve stopped taking politics seriously enough that it impacts my happiness or eats up time. I think it’s wise of you to eschew politics in real life. I don’t see heavy involvement in politics making a lot of people happy and content. That’s true most podcasts are conversations. Never really looked at it that way. I think the last audiobook I listened to was many years ago when I was out of commission for a while with a broken collar bone. It was about Operation Anaconda in the Afghanistan “war”. I’ve had a lot of books read to me. We didn’t have TV when I was growing up so my mom read a lot of books to the family during meals or at night and traveling. Not having TV back then was embarrassing when your peers were discussing shows etc. But I’m thankful now! TED talks are good. I’ve listed to some I’ve stumbled across but I don’t seek them out regularly. Might be in the tractor for a couple days again. Been fixing fence and hauling critters to pasture, often without even cell service. That’s when self-downloading podcasts that download as soon as they are posted are really great! The Platte Valley of Nebraska is a lot like Iowa. Probably flatter. Boring. It’s good that’s most people see just Interstate 80 that follows the Platte. It’s so boring nobody wants to move here. Good! LOL. Yes it’s unusual to get this much. Our annual totals have been creeping up over time though, they say because of AGW. Same with “extreme precipitation” events as well. Sounds good to me! I’m glad it’s going good in WV. I’ve only passed through that state, never really explored it. Going from Germany to WV must be like going to another planet. I like photos. I should post some more sometime. Yep. It can be a really big deal. One example of excess precipitation having a positive impact is control of grasshoppers in pastures, especially early season. This year early we had some of the highest populations of nymphs I’ve ever seen. I was very concerned that we would lose a lot of grass to grasshoppers. But the rains have completely eradicated all the newly hatched nymphs for several weeks now. I was walking some fence today and didn’t see a single grasshopper. Those rains saved thousands of dollars worth of grass just by eliminating the young grasshoppers. Another pest often destroyed by thunderstorms is soybean aphids. In middle to late summer they can really impact soybean yield, resulting in a lot of people opting to apply an insecticide aerially. But if you get a strong thunderstorm with wind and heavy rain, the aphids are all washed off the leaves and drown. That’s where the averages climatologists cite come from. Adding up a bunch of disparate data points and dividing by the total number of disparate data points. LOL. Yep that’s pretty accurate. There’s just too much information out there and our lives have become so complicated (we have to be involved in so many complex systems). You strike me as a bit of a polymath. I’ll bet you’re an expert in a few areas and pretty knowledgeable about a lot of others. I envy your opportunities to learn just by observing things/people in so many global regions. I know the basics. But a real crop agronomist can tell you the economic threshold of applying an insecticide based on number of corn root worm beetles per plant etc. off the top of their head. They know modes of action of all the pesticides and what genes are used for every technology trait in hybrids. If I need that information I have to look it up or ask a real agronomist.
One of our cows has died. Hopefully it wasn't a mother of one of the calves. I haven't spoken to Farmer Paul yet but it's a big blow to such a small herd.
You're not missing much. I went on the desktop PC and had about 20 studies lined up with little summaries but then I thought meh, what a waste of time. They all sound interesting! I haven't thought too much why I'm drawn to politics. I hated it as a child and couldn't stand the news. Perhaps this helps me to get over my childhood trauma, lol. That's a nice thing for her to do. It's more than just the text - you're also getting her consciousness. I still remember having my parents read to me when I was in early high school. We had a terrible TV as well. Always a dusty model at least 10 years old. Ready to go! It's funny when I'm out and about I avoid any sort of music or intellectual stimulation. Probably because my work is a little more cerebral than I would like. It would definitely be flatter than Iowa. I like a distant Horizon as well. I guess everybody's different... I think Germany compared to your neck of the woods would be even more of a distinction. It is certainly a lot hotter in West Virginia, though. I suspect the middle part of Germany would be a bit more similar, topographically to WV. I haven't been there much though myself. I'm more acquainted with the flat North of Germany or the nestled near the Alps, South. Land use in Germany is a lot more managed. Small rectangles. There's not a square centimeter wasted. Fascinating. It sounds like the downpours are doing you no harm at all I'm thinking of two stochastic clouds with two completely different shapes but the same median, lol. I'm a big fan of the 'common sense check', as well as data points! I honestly feel lucky but it's also wonderful to thoroughly immerse oneself in an area, like you have. Of course, you seem to have the type of mind that can apply to any area of interest. I suspect that there are a few more farmers out there like you, but it would also be possible to be completely insular. I suspect the secret is to leave the farm for a while, ninja attack some education and then come back. Good to draw upon a manic specialist's knowledge once in a while. I find specialists intoxicating to be around in small to moderate doses
Here are photos I was talking about. The pics of interest in the fields are at the end, but I upped some bonus photos of other things I like doing to relax My cycling buddy and I were wondering whether the little wooden towers were for watching birds or for hunting. I didn't think hunting would be possible in such a closed-in and populated area, but the signage finally solved that dilemma. 'hunting facility, trespass forbidden!'
That's why you have towers. That way, if you miss the round goes harmlessly into the ground rather than into a populated area.
I never knew that. I guess that's why it's a tower and not just a hideout at ground level. Probably particularly important since you're allowed to walk across any field in Germany. Not really any such thing as truly private land.
Yup. Even though our county is predominantly farmland and forests, the only time you're allowed to hunt with a rifle is from a tree stand. If you're on the ground, it's strictly shotguns and bows. Because of that hunting accidents are exceptionally rare in these parts despite the considerable amount of hunting that goes on.
No that was just a cultural event in Wolfsburg. I find goofing around at these events is more fun than drinking beer in a local discotech.
Agree if you are going to travel you just as well experience what the place is really like. I never really thought much about falconry until several years ago at an ag trade show an international falconry association had a booth set up. I think mostly to proposition farmers for a place to hunt their birds. We had a group come out for a few hours. If I remember right there was a lady from Brazil, a guy from Kazakhstan, a guy from the UK, and couple others I can’t remember. I went out with the guy from Kazakhstan so didn’t talk to the others much. They got one rabbit and missed a couple. Most of them had pretty large hawks. It was pretty fascinating. Not something I’d want to do but fascinating. The red tailed hawks here are notorious for using farm equipment to flush prey. I get to watch them catch a lot of rodents and snakes without having to house and care for them. Looks like a beautiful place. Thanks for sharing, I think my traveling days are over so enjoy living vicariously through other’s travels.
It was fascinating to watch, I agree. I never would have guessed that an owl would be a tameable daytime hunting animal. The whole show is on the grounds beside a castle which was fun too. It sounds like the radius of your jaunts might be limited; that is, unless you're able to find a very specialized babysitter. Or perhaps you have no desire to travel?
Yeh, about the castle….that makes it way cooler. Alas, I have no castle. I did watch one being built over the years as a kid/teen/young adult. This dude that’s crazier than a bed bug built his own castle not too far from where I grew up. https://www.bishopcastle.org/ Met the guy for the first time when he was still collecting rocks for the base. Wish I were that ambitious. LOL. If you ever end up in the Canon City, Colorado area let me know and I’ll advise you on the fun stuff to see. That’s a very interesting question about travel. You get the long winded answer! The older I get the less desire I have to travel. Airport BS would drive me nuts and probably land my wife in the slammer. She has no patience for searches and the like. If we had the means for a G5 we’d use 2-3 times a year maybe….but neither of us would abide the wastefulness and squandered resources of that lifestyle anyway. We seldom go anywhere overnight together. Since her parents retired and moved away there is nobody around capable of caring for the place and animals. My wife wants to be home every night anyway. If she’s gone she worries about her critters. I feel like I did “enough” traveling I guess. I’ve only taken one major international trip—when I was 18 I spent a little over two weeks in Russia and Ukraine with a short stop in Finland. It was a pretty educational experience as it was December 1991/January 1992. It would take a LOT of other travel to get that much “life experience”. I’d have to say it had a PROFOUND impact on me that continues to this day. I used to say I wish I had been older, that it would have been even more educational. But now that I know the older me, I’m not sure. If I had not been young and naive I would not have been so open to just experiencing it. I would have taken it too seriously and missed not only pure enjoyment but the ability to observe without fear or anxiety. If I had known then what I know about historical collapses of empires I probably would have been too hyper vigilant to enjoy or be in the moment. Looking back it’s crazy to think I was IN THE KREMLIN as the USSR was being dissolved. Wasn’t a big deal to me then. It was amusing but not concerning at all. I know I would learn and grow by doing more travel. But I really don’t have the desire at this point. I’m too into experiencing what I have. If I lived in a two room flat and rode the light rail to a cubicle every day I’m sure I would have a different perspective on travel. But I get pleasure and learn a lot by taking a different cow path over the ridge into the back “40” of “Marilyn’s” pasture—where nobody but me ever goes, and me only once a year on average. I have a few square miles of my own to explore and observe. Sounds nuts, but I get the same feeling of discovery taking a new route on my hands and knees through the cedars of my pasture chasing a calf as if I drive to a part of Tennessee I’ve never seen to buy a donkey and chat with the locals. I travel the US still. Not as much as I used to. But it’s not uncommon for my wife to buy a horse up on the Canadian border, one in Illinois, and a couple in Iowa, and I get to go pick them up! My brother used to try and get me to come see him on Maui. I told him I’m not going somewhere I can’t drive for a couple days without ending up in the ocean, that such a tiny island would make me claustrophobic! I regret I didn’t go. Just never seemed like I could get away…. I’ve always liked to drive/ride to travel. When I was around 10 or 11 my dad got the idea we should move from south central Colorado to Newfoundland Island. So we drove there to check it out. Took the scenic route. Saw Washington DC, New York City, Boston, etc. Saw Newfound Island. Went home. My dad never said another word about moving. LOL. Around that same age I spent a lot of time underground. Most every weekend of one winter going places no human had ever been in a huge area of cave my family discovered and opened up enough skinny folk could squeeze into the opening of. There’s no analog to that feeling that I’ve discovered in any travel above ground. My dad tricked my brother and I into back-packing all the ropes, climbing equipment, lights, and food needed for him to see what was at the bottom of one of the most dangerous caves in the US. As a reward we got to see what was down there as well. My point I guess is I feel so blessed to have had so many amazing experiences. I don’t need to chase more. Overall I’m very content with the experiences I’ve been blessed with in the past, and just don’t feel compelled to attempt to eclipse them or even re-create them. I’m happy. I’m content right here where I’ve grown roots.
Wow, that castle is the definition of eclectic! Who says the US doesn't have castles Invincibility of youth! There's no reason why you can't reinterpret those memories as you get older. The infinite micro variety of every day. Travel is really all about spiritual growth and it sounds like you have everything you need close at hand. Travel is also about escaping the grind which doesn't seem relevant in the case of you and your wife. Also, importantly there's the internet. Perhaps you would sing a different tune if you only had a black and white TV, encyclopedia Britannica and wireless radio
