Dear Dave,
By the time you read this, I will be a country music disc jockey, for a third time. I think I am supposed to refer to myself as an announcer, however disc jockey better connects me to the time I first realized I wanted to be the voice emanating from the box. We’ll cover that later, Dave. The warm fall has created a harvest of completed projects, Dave. Two big projects included moving all of the tree branch clippings I have stacked over time to a central location to be burned. I did leave one pile in place to allow the birds a place to shelter. I also do not plan to burn the central pile until early spring when there is still snow cover. A second project has been to use up my collection of t-posts. I have done this by pounding these posts in between standing posts along the yard pasture fence line. T-posts hold up the wire but also provide support when the wire is used as a physical cattle barrier. A third function of t posts is that they provide a visual cue to cattle who have not become used to where the perimeter of the fence is located. The fields are getting quiet around here, Dave. All that’s left in the field at this point is a little combining then the retired guy who does the chisel plowing. Whenever I see that lone tractor moving up and down the field, it reminds me of Carol Burnette when her character mopped the stage after the show was complete. It seems every farm has one of these folks who quietly prepares the field for next spring, then fuels up the tractor before they head home for the night. I even had a future offer for one of these positions so apparently my gray sideburns have attracted some interest on the employment front. We began “Project Feederwatch” this past Friday, Dave. This is part of a survey that takes place from November to April, at bird feeders across the nation. The purpose of this survey is “ to understand the distribution and abundance of birds, as well as long-term trends in their population.” It’s pretty easy and so far we have seen Blackcapped Chickadees, Dark-eyed Juncos, Magpies, a White-breasted Nuthatch and a Blue jay. It was odd that they didn’t have a choice for “magpies” which leads me to believe that the survey doesn’t want to hear from this noisy bird any more than I do. In November of 2022, I decided I wanted to become a country-music DJ, Dave. This isn’t the story of a realized dream as I had already spent a few years at this task in the 1980s. The dream was more involved than I had imagined. I was given the opportunity to program a new radio station with the music I thought appropriate. Two years later, I went back on the air. It was the music of my youth and the work of my youth, it almost made me believe in time travel, Dave. Tell everyone hello, you’re little bro.
