Well, being that I am at home furloughed I have no excuse to blog.  I got twisted up farming last year and completely neglected my blog and promoting it.  To make light of the current situation, I decided to do a sarcastic blog post…..

To delve off into recent happenings, unless you were under a rock then you know that the government has been shutdown for a record shattering shutdown.  As I write this post, the government has been shutdown for 24 days.  I normally try to keep money stashed away for situations like this and it’s actually coming in handy.

I guess I probably should precede this with a life update post, but. if you follow me on social media you will know about the career advancement, new house, and new girlfriend to summarize…..Butttt this isn’t what this is about.  It’s about my government shutdown chronicles!!! lol I’m going to offer you a few things to do during your shutdown.

To start the shutdown, I already had 2 weeks of use or lose annual leave scheduled for 2 weeks in December.  After being apart of the team that sold the most timber in the nation on the NF in MS it was a well deserved vacation, but instead those 2 weeks were interrupted by a furlough.  The first two weeks felt like a vacation because that’s what originally was scheduled.  I’m usually off this time of the year to spend time with family.

During the first couple weeks, I joked about becoming a full time farmer, but I’ve actually done quite of bit of odds and ends on the farm as of late.  I started out digging ditches on the farm to drain one of our fields.  Here’s a few of the things that you can sarcastically do for comic relief.

1.) Become a Ditch Digger to Improve Field Drainage

Well the first thing that you can do during the shutdown is become a ditch digger.  No matter how high on the GS scale you are, ditch digging as a farmer will never be beneath you.  Below you can find a video of me draining water holes on one of our fields.

 

2.) Take Photos of Your Dog…Well Because My Dog is the Coolest Dog Ever!!!!!

 

If you’re a pet owner you can make up that loss time that you miss out on when you’re at work and your dog/cat is stuck at home waiting on your return.

3.) You Can Fix That Howling Wheel Bearing on Your Daily Driver.

Being that I was ripping and running during Harvest ’18, I had been neglecting the roaring wheel bearing on my Honda Accord.  Being that I had to press the bearing and etc, etc, …I was more focused on getting our crop out…But here’s to getting that maintenance done.  If doing this job you may say a few expletives and have to break out the big hot wrench.  Catch up with all of that needed vehicle maintenance.

 

4.) You Can Continue to Teach Your Girlfriend the Basics of Driving a Tractor.

I somewhat let her drive the 4850 last spring but the fan belt was slipping, so I brought it back to the shop to remedy the issue.  Also pulling a 28′ disc in moist conditions takes some experience so we had to cut the coaching experience short last spring.  Fast forward to this year, we were able to get some seat time in. Spend some quality time with the GF

 

 

5.) You Can Fix that Atrocious oil leak on the 1680 Combine

We needed to fix our 1680 but during harvest I was going back and forth with Case IH about the part existing.  Couple that with rain threaten in every day seemingly, I did something I hate doing.  “We just fucking sent it.”- a phrase made famous by Larry Enticer.  Anyway, after fixing it, we were able to clean it out and get it tucked under the shed from the elements. Again catch up on some of that vehicle maintenance

 

 

6.) Stop to Admire the Power of the Neighbor’s 9870 STS Combine

A lot of farmers were/are still attempting to get their crops out of the field here in January.  The weather has been relentless for some with larger acres.  To watch this machine mud bog through adverse conditions is quite impressive.  We may have one-one day, but until our trusty 1680 gives out it will get us through the day. Thank a farmer when you see one.  It’s a hard profession that you have to love to endure.  Also nothing runs like a Deere.

7.) Fly the Drone That You Bought

I’ve been able to get some sunset pictures with my drone here in Lee County that came out better than I expected.  I can actually see my grandfather’s property from this pic.

 

 

In all seriousness the shutdown is no laughing matter, while some of us are blessed to have savings, support systems, and alternative methods of income, others do not.

This is not a fucking  vacation, retirement, or anything else.  It’s a furlough/layoff.

I’ve seen people joke about the fact that federal workers are sent home, but in the same breath a lot of those same individuals wouldn’t even make it a week on one of our timber marking crews or on a fire crew in the United States.  I’ve seen high paid media anchors mock federal workers, who I believe wouldn’t be able to work a week in the role of a southern forester for a morning in South MS.

It is sad that individuals bask in the misfortunes of others.  One thing that I’ve learned is to never put bad energy out there against anyone because it’s like a boomerang. It will come right back at you!

People are being to asked to work without pay for an extended period of time, and most of the individuals I know besides farmers will not work a week without proper compensation before they’re ready to kick the front door in to an establishment.

I want to express that I am writing this as a citizen and not a representative of the agency that I am employed with as the normal disclaimer