Air November 8, 2000

Thank you Mark, and good morning everyone. Well, now that the elections are over, we can hopefully start to get our lives back to normal. We know how the die is cast for the next two or four years. The postal carriers can get a short break before the Christmas card season starts up, we can get back to the normal radio and television advertising drivel and we can get all the unwanted vegetation out of our yards. To all of you who voted in that chilly November weather yesterday, thank you for participating in our democracy. To all of you who didn’t vote in this election - I don’t want to hear a single complaint out of any of you over the next four years!

It is turning into a very interesting fall and the winter could be equally interesting. The past couple of days have been a good reminder that it is November. We are halfway through autumn and the official start of winter is just six weeks away. Are you ready? With the last vestiges of harvest winding down have you started your fall farmyard cleanup? This is where you start cleaning up all the equipment, preparing it for winter and storing it out of the way. I think we all know that we are way overdue for a snowy winter. The fewer obstacles you have to work around, the easier your life will be. Get all those weeds and tall grass mowed down. It doesn’t take much of a stand of vegetation to create a snowdrift right where you don’t need one. Gather up all your pesticide containers. Triple rinse the empty ones and appropriately dispose of them, inventory your remaining supplies and store them in a locked location. Do the same with fuel and lubricant containers. Clean up, combine were possible, and properly dispose of waste oil and containers. If you aren’t sure how to properly dispose of any of these items, give me a call. Get all your winter gear ready. Clean the shop area up so you can quickly and easily move stubborn vehicles in where you can get them warmed up and started. Check over your jumper cables, tire chains, tow ropes, snow shovels etc. Have them where you can get to them easily. Bad weather is enough of a frustration, you don’t need to make matters worse by not being able to find what you need. Once again, we may not have a bad winter. But if this turns out to be that catch up year, won’t it be easier to tolerate if you are ready for it?

This is Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook 2000.

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