11/18/19
(Above: A sizeable wolf-spider I found this evening when straightening out the silage bag plastic.)
Active Summary: This morning began with almost an hour of creative writing followed by the early-day beef pasture check. The bovines appeared to be doing well excepting the little hollow-gutted Wagyu calf that Padre and I ended up feeding a bottle of milk. After that, I continued with the task of cleaning out the Master Blend freezer room. This consisted of moving out some large tires, an electric turkey fryer, silage bag plastic, an old (bread?) scale, a table of unknown function*, a rat, a table saw, and some gargantuan spiders. During this time, I had to find places for the non-trash items, so I subsequently neatened up the old grain room despite placing some of the larger items in there (namely, the turkey fryer). Morning outdoor activities ended with another ride around the beef pasture.
(5:37 PM Update:) This afternoon consisted of cattle activities**, stretching out some of the spider-infested plastic from this morning to prompt the arachnids out of hiding, making a trash can out of an old cyrogenic shipping canister***, and performing the nightly beef pasture check.
TIL: Today I learned that it is best to thin Aurugula when it reaches 1 inch in height, and it is best to thin sweet peas when they reach 3-4 inches in height. What with the garden’s current enthusiastic growth, I believe this will need to take place tomorrow. I used to think it best to pull the extra seedlings at the roots so they would not grow back, but apparently it is better to use scissors so as not to disturb the soil for the little plants left behind.
Commentary: The sun showed itself early this morning and has remained visible ever since. As thus, the day has warmed from a frigid 45 degrees F to a very pleasant 70 F. This has made the outdoors a much more enjoyable place. However, it has also awoken the spiders – a fact that I discovered while cleaning out the freezer room. Between the combination of increased temperatures and of my reducing the number of places they could hide, I observed arachnids of incredible plenitude and magnitude – the latter meaning that I saw some spiders with legspans larger than the size of my palm and some with abdomens so distended with eggs that they looked akin to ping-pong balls wandering about on eight spindly legs.
As for highlights, one of the best for today occurred just before the morning beef pasture check. Usually, Padre and I drink some form of sugar-free carbonated beverage as we ride, but yesterday evening we had run out. I was not expecting a refreshment this morning, but apparently Padre had taken an early ride down to the jiffy-store to procure us some ‘bubbly’. It was a pleasant surprise and much appreciated.
This is the same spider from the feature image. I placed my foot beside it for scale. Keep in mind that I have some rather large feet. 
(Center) A garbage can fashioned from an old cyrogenic tank shipping canister. 
A sunny end to a sunny day. 
This is the Master Blend freezer room after today’s miscellany of objects were removed. 
More belated Halloween decor. 
An even more sizeable piece of Halloween decor. Hand for scale. 
Jacobhouse on a cool autumn evening.
Final Note: I reckon there will be more Freezer Room cleaning tomorrow – part of which will likely include my finding a place to set up the Charbroil Digital Smoker.
*Had myriad levers down by the wheels and a hinged flap on one of the sides.
** Feeding a couple young calves milk-replacer and tending to some full grown cattle.
*** The shipping vessel used to carry tanks which were themselves filled with Holstein embryos / bull semen for artificial insemination purposes.