Redneck Investing

I was talking to my cousin the other day and bragging to him about how I own part of Tata Motors so I decided to check in on my investments...

...steel yourself against the shock you are bound to experience after witnessing the magnitude of this portfolio!

Sorry about the small image - the original is legible, but Blogger seems to have "adjusted" this one for me : (

Turns out those two shares of Tata have done quite well. Tomorrow marks the period of one year of ownership of the Indian Auto Manufacturer and they've done quite well in that time. Even more impressive, that fraction of a share of Magna has really been a cash cow. If only I would have invested some more in these guys back then. I suspected it was a low-point in the market and my suspicions have been confirmed by a 75% increase in value over a one-year period.

The lowly farmer is now accepting offers to become a wealth manager. Send in your requests (and money) fast - space is going quickly. I charge only 5% per year.

Texas Blackberries

What a surprise! I was out cleaning up the fenceline in the pastures with Ginger and Winter this evening and saw a bit of red down in the grass. At first I thought they were wild raspberries. Then I saw the black ones and the memories came flooding back of picking bucket-full after bucket-full of wild Washington blackberries with the family and eating blackberry jam sandwiches until blackberry was more of a drudgery than a delight (what a shame! And what an ungrateful kid was I to fail to recognize that blessing!)

Anyway, this pitiful little bowl was the full extent of the 'ripe' ones that we could find before it got dark (of course we had to eat some straight off the vine too, so there were actually a few more than this.) The good news is that there were quite a few more red ones on the bushes, so we should be able to go back and get some more in a few days. Strange that I have never seen these on our property before...maybe the wet spring weather of the previous few years has affected the growing season?

Farmer Joe's B-day Recommendation of the Day

OK, this is a limited-time offer folks. You have until the end of today only to buy this:

For the princely sum of $2.99 you get a

Digital Blue Disney Mix Micro Blue Chrome MP3 Player

At that price, wouldn't the 8 year old girl in your family have a very merry christmas and a happy birthday? Buy one here today only: www.woot.com

One caveat: You must buy your own SD card and load your own MP3 files on it

The good news? I can send you free MP3 files of my kids singing original compositions consisting of scriptures sung by kids and relatives and recorded in a completely unprofessional manner - all completely free of charge!

Random Photos

A friend and I went out pig-hunting tonight. We were stymied when we discovered the land was already being hunted when we arrived, but we stuck around till after dark anyway. Despite my better judgement, Sterling trapped me into coming with us when he actually sat still in a corner for 5 minutes (a feat I didn't think he could accomplish) This photo documents the success of the hunt. Somebodies daddy cares enough about him to bring him a sleeping bag...

A rabbit came up to within about 5 feet from Sterling and that was the highlight of the hunt. As you can see below - he was very excited about that.
We stopped in to visit unkigiash on the way home from Florida. Ginger refused to pose with him. Dapper haircut though huh? He's livin' large right on the bayou in a cozy little 3 bedroom home.
We actually ran into the Allreds on the way home from FL. They had to stop for a potty-break as William demonstrates below. :)

Bonfire

Tonight we combined one of Jessica's chores (getting rid of some boxes) with a bit of fun for the kids. A "cold front" is moving through, so Saturday's 60 degree weather is gone and it is downright cold outside. This mini-bonfire warmed us up a bit.

While the kids were getting warmed up, I gassed up the tractor, mounted my new bale spike and went and moved a big round bale out to the cows. Wow! It was much easier than rolling it to them by hand! I think I like this new system.

General Farm Work Saturday

Fantastic T-shirt weather and I was able to get a lot done.

1. Planted another 50 lbs of rye grass seed (I planted 50 lbs the other day right before the snow storm) out in the pasture.
2. Finished the wood floor trim in our family room
3. Installed the wheel on the tractor
4. Removed the tainted oil from the tractor (the gas tank had used gravity to empty itself into the oil - see the results below)
5. Installed a manual fuel shut-off valve on the gas line (to prevent a recurrence of number 4 above)
6. Welded up the hay-ring where the cattle had broken and then bent it up - then I hauled it up to the cattle and put it over a round bale
7. Finished my homemade 3-pt round bale mover thingymabobber

This is the "oil" that came out of my engine today. Yikes. I am hoping the grey color is not my cylinder walls and bearings ground into a fine powder...

This is the grey schmeg dripping out where the oil filter was

See the farm jack that is holding up the tractor? Not the jackstand under the rear axle, the farm jack just to the front of the rear axle. As I jacked it up, the jack went into the ground more than the tractor went up. By the time I got it to stop sinking, it had gone under ground.

Ginger found the hole from the jack and was very intrigued by it. Here she samples the depth.

The Girls Bowl

Wii Bowling - It's not about winning the game, it is about:

1. Cool poses on one leg


2. Hip shades and coordinated outfits