Iran War Has U.S. Farmers Worried About the Cost and Availability of Fertilizer – Morning Ag Clips
Like a Teenager-Stinks-a-Lot Retailer 👃
So yeah, I filled my apartment with acrid smoke last night frying up some onions and shrimp, and decided to light up some of that Dragon Breath’s incense I got last summer camping, after seeing it real cheap at Wally World, reading about incense in a book about cabin building and smelling it up at Cornell Campus. Shit stinks, but it was better then the acrid smell, says the boy who hangs out with people who post on their Facebook, “The Smell of Manure Reminds Me of Home”, and those who are like hell yes I burn my trash on my homestead – everything but the cans and glass which dont’ burn real well. Dirty real shit unlike the incense which is much more pungent in then the marijuana smoke.
I had low tire pressure on my bike yesterday, 🚲 after riding past the South Pearl Ghetto Apartments again yesterday, but I pumped it up at the end of day at work and made it home but it still felt soft. Looks like I poked a hole in the tube on front tires, but the fix-a-flat sealed it back up. Pumped it up harder when I got home, and it looks fine this morning. There is a big protest downtown ✊ and I’d much rather avoid that on my bike today then take the Yokel Local Bus, 🚌 you know Pay Your Fare!! 💰 and we stop every 5 feet and inch along downtown as you become morbidly obese. 🌥️ Looks like a pretty cloudy and gray this morning. Did I mention I am glad I am in the Tier 4 Pension System, so I have nothing to protest about, and I’ve been maxing out my Roth IRA for a decade and half, and in past decade maxing otu the 457k. I am a solder in poverty, but some day I’ll have that off-grid cabin with the stinky old trash burner and cows and hogs out back. And then I can I say, home smell like manure and burnt plastic. And probably incense and cannabis smoke. Grow your own on all that hog shit. 💩
Slept in a bit this morning until about a quarter before six o’clock. 🛏️ Eggs this morning 🥚 with lots of spinach, broccoli, onions and turmeric. Interesting mix of yellows and greens. Too many cups of coffee, ☕ and I am moving along, once I shower 🚿 it’s will be off to work. 💾 Shit is always still broken in the world of Data Services, but yeah, we are making progress at updating the database and I’m keeping the programmers busy fixing shit. Some of the stuff gets a lot of use by clients and members, others not so much, 🖥️ but you offer it and see what people bite onto. I turned the heat on last night, though if I don’t think it actually got cold enough for the thermostat to kick on. Still haven’t gotten the February bill from National Gird, 🔌 I should look and see as it should have arrived soon. Should be less then January, as I have had my heat off most of the time since early March or turned way down. Bills have been up this year due to higher rates, and simply because I’m home more not having a operating truck. The dealership tried calling me yesterday, probably to ask if I was still looking and push inventory, I didn’t take the call. I should think more about summer and buying a new truck, but yeah, I’m busy and I’m hardly inspired to rush out to buy a Godzilla 🐲 with a 48-gallon tank or maybe 34-gallon when Crude Oil is topping $120 a barrel this morning. 🛢️ That and social media is always reminding me the money on the truck today is not money to invest and spend eventually on buying hogs, that burn barrel for the garbage and cabin in the woods. Do you want to be separating out your plastic forever for recycling and landfill? Or do you to want to fires 🔥 in wilderness and dream of grunting hogs? 🐖 I don’t know, I should get in the shower 🚿 and building data frames and running SQL in the office. 🏢
Oil Rises After Israel Strikes Iran Gas Field and Tehran Hits Qatar Fuel Hub
Oil soared past $115 and European natural-gas prices surged more than 20% as attacks on Middle Eastern energy infrastructure fueled anxiety over supply.
Qatar said early Thursday that Iranian ballistic missiles caused extensive damage at its Ras Laffan industrial area, which houses a major hub for liquefied-natural gas. Those strikes came in response to an Israeli attack on a large Iranian gas field, South Pars, which prompted Iran’s president to warn of “uncontrollable consequences, the scope of which could engulf the entire world.”
The Spring Empheral
In late March, the woods of Upstate New York exist in a fleeting, high-stakes transition known as the “spring ephemeral” window. As the iron grip of winter loosens, the forest floor—still matted with the skeletal remains of last year’s leaves—becomes the stage for a rapid biological sprint.
The hallmark of this season is the arrival of sunlight. Before the heavy hardwood canopy can leaf out and cast its summer shade, tiny, resilient wildflowers like Hepatica, Bloodroot, and Trout Lily race to bloom. They are joined in the wetlands by the prehistoric-looking Skunk Cabbage, which generates its own heat to melt through the lingering frost. This “green-up” is subtle at first, appearing more as a hazy wash of red and gold in the budding maples than a true forest coat.
The silence of winter is replaced by a restless energy. The woods grow loud with the rhythmic “drumming” of Ruffed Grouse and the nasal “peent” of American Woodcocks performing their dusk courtship flights. High above, the “V” formations of migrating geese signal a shifting hemisphere, while on the ground, the “spring freshet”—the massive runoff of melting snow—turns quiet creeks into roaring torrents and fills vernal pools for awakening amphibians.
However, this beauty comes with the practical realities of the “mud season.” The earth is saturated and fragile, and the dry, dead debris of winter creates a brief but dangerous window for wildfires before the new growth takes hold. To walk the woods in late March is to witness a landscape caught between breaths—no longer dormant, yet not quite reborn.
Hartsfield Ferry Coal Plant
Hatfield's Ferry Power Station was a 1.7-gigawatt (1,700 MW), coal power plant located in Greene County, Pennsylvania. The plant was operated by FirstEnergy. It began operations in 1969 and was shut down in 2013. Left, shows an image of the plant in 1993 and right is an image from 2019.
“That fall he showed us a magic leaf, That he could change to snow” 🍁 ❄️
Yesterday was cold and blustery but I ended up riding my bike to work after starting out to catch the bus. Some black ice on the Rail Trail and a few bone chilling bursts of air but it was manageable. Today is much colder but no wind, so I guess I’ll continue to riding in, though I want to air up the rear tire, which I should think about replacing this weekend as it completely is stripped of tread. I also should see if I can true that wheel up better after a winter of pounding it through the ice and snow.
Finally started making progress on the database update in the office, 💾 after months and months of things being broken and too many hours just twiddling my thumbs. Rode both ways to work, got into the office fairly early before the busy day, then stopped at Hannaford on way home for milk, eggs, flour and frozen corn. Made pinto beans up yesterday which I used for both lunch and with cornmeal pancakes 🥞 I had for dinner. More pancakes this morning, apple cinnamon with lemon 🍋 for a change as lately it’s been a lot of blueberry pancakes. I just like my mornings sweet with lots of stevia plus it’s an excuse to eat up more carrots. Headphones 🎧 died on Monday which made for a sucky day, but I had a replacement set at home, so Tuesday wasn’t so bad. Saint Patrick’s Day 🍀 was pretty ordinary otherwise, just the usual ride back and forth to work. Topped off the back tire on the bike, but I really should true up wheel and replace the tire, especially as the bike trail seems to have more and more broken glass on it every day as I ride through the ghetto. Riding still beats driving or taking the Yokel Local Bus that stops every five feet as the winos bang on the windows and yell, “let me out!” 👀
I haven’t made any progress or decision since deciding not to buy the Godzilla Holstein, 🛻 even though I do see another truck I kind of like at another dealer but I’m kind of busy and undecided if I should reach out. Honestly, I just kind of like having the extra money and not the hassle and stress of driving. 🫦 And who knows about gas prices ⛽ with the whole Iran situation. 🇮🇷 And honestly, I am just busy especially now with the database update undeerway. Maybe this isn’t a good year to buy a truck, or maybe that should just be another goal for retirement. I don’t think it’s that hard to learn to drive again, and if my insurance is higher because of years not driivng, it becomes a wash because you haven’t been paying insurance over all that time. 🔥 Plus without a truck, it makes it much more difficult to participate in illicit activities, so yeah, that’s good. I am well aware, there are driving alternatives to buying a new Ford F-350, but yeah, they suck unless the only think you care about is driving to Teenage-Stinks-a-Lot at the Maul every weekend. 🚙 I know 25-year old Honda Civics are so cheap and reliable. I guess I could look at reviving Big Red, but I just like have that extra money. Maybe my views will change when the weather gets nicer, but I am increasingly bored with just another summer in woods, burning shit and smoking weed. That and all those social media posts, which seem to remind you if you buy a car, you’ll be forever impoverished, and shouldn’t you put that money into retirement? Well except I’ve been and plan to continue to maximize my 457B and Roth IRAs to federal limits. And keep buying stocks and bonds each weeks. And aren’t you worried about running out of money in retirement, and they not give you extra good flavor jello in the Styrofoam dish at old folks house?🍧 Then I remember my advanced age plans involve a 30-06 and a big fire turning that cabin into a pile of ash, an celebrating the life and legacy of Hunter S. Thompson. Oh, not allowed to say such things, just buy more plastic houses. 🏡
