Archive for June 2023
Alexandria
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day off
already
don’t have to ride
get to sleep in
eat wherever looks good
explore Alexandria
hang out with friends
laugh till we cry
don’t get too crazy
gotta pack in the morning
and ride again
early
need to get back
in the groove
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Albany to Alexandria
Okay, so this morning is when it feels a little tender to climb back on the bike and sit. Like so many things in life, you get used to it soon enough and pedal away without a care in the world. It’s Juneteenth today!
We ride some on the Lake Wobegon Regional Trail today. I wonder how many new friends I will have made by the end of the day. The biking is great but it’s the people on the trip that make it so dang much fun that I keep returning year after year.
I sure hope the wildfire smoke isn’t as bad today as it was at the end of last week.
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Albany Loop
We leave Albany this morning and ride a loop that reaches St. Cloud and then returns to Albany. It is a bonus that we don’t need to take down our tents and pack everything up before we ride. A second night of sleeping in Albany might mean I will be used to all the sounds of the area and snooze solidly straight through this time. Not likely.
My butt won’t feel sore until I get back on the seat tomorrow morning.
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Touring Minnesota
It’s that time of year again. The middle of June and here I go again, getting back on my bike touring Minnesota with friends. I have modified the chorus of this song I wrote about the trip so it fits the current version of the weeklong adventure of biking and camping that has been happening for 49 years. The original song celebrated the founder of the “Jaunt with Jim” ride, Jim Klobuchar.
I haven’t committed to a firm blogging plan for the week ahead but as a backup in case I decide to do nothing more, I have programmed posts that will, at the very least, point out the towns where the scheduled camping sights are located. You can then check the weather and find out if massively dangerous thunderstorms have formed directly over our heads each night.
Not that such calamities occur every night. Last year it was more like every other night. I have a new rainfly for my tent this year so I’m ready for whatever nature decides to dish out.
I am meeting Gary Larson in Minnetonka this afternoon and we will travel together to the check-in at Albany, MN. Riding begins tomorrow morning.
MY VACATION STARTS TODAY!
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Asher’s Lineage
We received the DNA results for Asher. Our initial information was that he was a Shepherd Mix. In our estimation, primarily based on appearance, we guessed German Shepherd and Labrador. We didn’t for the life of us figure he was part Chihuahua.
Asher is almost a quarter Siberian Husky. Cool! Followed closely by Great Pyrenees. Then comes the Lab and Shepherd we anticipated.
I should probably look into getting a sled for him to pull during the snow season. Hoping we will still have such a thing as a snow season during winter. Do you think we could train the Pyrenees in him to guard chickens if we try again with birds?
Birds would be friends, not food. Asher is rather inclined to chew into shreds the things he really likes.
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Maybe that’s the Chihuahua in him.
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Farming Versions
We started our morning at Walker Farms with George and Anneliese. I joined George for his morning chores. We fed chicks, checked on cattle, tossed feed to pigs, and moved chicken pens.
Cyndie and I departed after a luscious crepes breakfast and headed toward home. On the way, we stopped to visit the farm of my niece, Liz, and her husband, Nick, and their kids. We met their new dog, and their pigs, and toured their garden. The strawberry patch was loaded with a thrilling amount of ripe berries.
We came home with a rich bounty. Cyndie was wondering if her strawberry patch might also have berries ready to be picked.
Nope. But almost!
Our place, with only 4 horses for livestock, seems less farm-like except for one fact. Our hay field has been cut in preparation for getting baled.
The guy who leases farmland south of us grazes cattle there in the summer and cuts some grass fields to be round-baled. It helps us to have our field cut so they generously include our irregular-shaped acres in their cutting and baling. We generously charge them very little for the hay they get off it.
It almost feels like farming.
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Visiting Walkers
Asher is home with a dog sitter and we are up in Princeton visiting George and Anneliese and getting a chance to spend some time sharing fencing chores, good food, and fun games.
Cattle grazing is on some leased land where temporary fencing is installed to allow moving the herd frequently for maximum health of land and animals. We tagged along and helped a little to run a new line encircling a fresh plot of grass.
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We got a close look at what weed control via goats looks like.
I was most impressed by the way the goats tip down tall young saplings so that others can reach the leaves which sets off a feeding frenzy.
In the evening after dinner with George’s parents, we were introduced to the yard game, Kubb.
The turf of the playing field provided a vivid example of the drought conditions area farmers are enduring.
Coping with weather extremes is not for the faint of heart.
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Hedge Trimming
I have talked for years about trimming the random growth along our north property line to turn it into a hedge fence but it wasn’t until yesterday that I finally made visually satisfying progress. The secret weapon that enabled me to reach this milestone is the Greenworks hedge trimmer that Cyndie’s mom gave me for Christmas last year. I have tested this impressive tool on multiple trees and bushes and on every occasion the performance has exceeded my expectations.
What a fabulous addition to my collection of yard and garden tools.
It chewed up everything I asked it to while hardly sipping from the energy of the battery. I couldn’t be more pleased about how well it worked. This beast is going to become a very handy resource for controlling the explosion of growth that happens at this time every year.
The northern border of our property is identified by a rusty old barbed wire fence. On the east half of that border, a short width of random growth separates us from a neighbor’s plowed field.
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I’m really pleased to have my vision finally taking shape. It took me years to get to this point and it will take a few more years for the “wall” of growth to fill in, but I take yesterday’s progress as a successful proof of concept. It should be easier every year now that I’ve established the first cut.
Progress stalled in the middle of the afternoon when our co-op propane tank inspector arrived but that was perfectly timed with a passing rain shower so I would have needed to take a break from trimming anyway. We got two out-of-date regulators replaced at no cost. Safety first!
After that work was completed, I went back to the trimming and worked until dinnertime to get it done. I didn’t want to leave it unfinished because we are headed up to Princeton, MN today for an overnight visit with George and Anneliese. Asher will be staying home with a pet sitter.
From this point on, if any new growth dares to reach beyond the line of my new hedge wall, it will get snipped.
Hah! What do I mean, if? We all know the correct word is, “when.”
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River Valley
There are some hills to contend with on the roads close to home and I frequently plot my route to limit my exposure to them when jaunting off on random bicycle excursions. It becomes a trick to avoid crossing the Rush River valley if traveling very far to our east. Early on Saturday morning, I decided to make the valley my destination. After the fabulous ride with Paul the day before, my goal was to see how I would feel sitting on the saddle for a couple hours right away again.
Before reaching the valley, a lot of the terrain is pretty flat and the roads pass through miles of plowed farm fields. I chose to drop down into the valley to ride the beautiful pavement past picturesque scenery to a specific bridge where I could pause for a snack. From there, I would backtrack my way to climb up the very same hill I had come down.
The speed on the way down is in the 40mph range. More like single digits on the way back up. The graphic of the elevation of my ride clearly represents the mirror image of my progress.
When I got to the bridge, two fly fishermen were preparing their equipment to cast bait that would match whatever was currently hatching. One fig bar later, it had become six guys seeking a sweet pool where they could ply their skill out of reach from one another. My snack time was abbreviated by my inability to escape clouds of annoyingly persistent gnats.
Every time I have been down to this spot I have seen deer somewhere along the road next to the river. Every time. I figured the early hour would guarantee the streak would continue but I began to worry as I started to get close to this bridge and hadn’t seen any. Oh, ye of little faith. The record remains intact. The first sighting was on the far side of a field and not right in the river like so often before, but it counts just the same.
Then I came upon another deer, and another, and when I pulled over to pee, there was one standing just a few feet away I hadn’t noticed until getting off my bike. He seemed a little flummoxed by my stopping but with little commotion, made his way out of sight in a blink.
Just before I reached the bottom of the hill on my way out of the valley, a big, fat woodchuck that I surprised reversed his direction and ambled off away from the road.
Although my butt was definitely aware I had been riding just the day before, I felt comfortable enough to decide I am ready for a week of riding next week. No testing will be required to find out if sleeping on the ground will cause any discomfort. My latest sleeping pad works wonderfully, even if my habit of sleeping on my side presents a challenge.
The physical challenges are more than offset by the gush of endorphins I get from hanging out for a week with really great like-minded folks who love to laugh while pedaling bikes all day and camping in tents overnight.
Counting down the days to the Tour of Minnesota 2023!
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Contrary Evidence
“Where’s the dog?” I asked.
“He’s loose in the house but I’ve been checking on him through the window from out here and he is watching me the whole time.” was Cyndie’s reply. She seemed impressively confident in her assessment.
We have noticed that Asher gets upset when left alone and resorts to chomping on anything within reach. In his crate, that has meant ripping the beautiful tapestry draped over the top, annihilating the foam pad and its cover, and shredding parts of a sheet that replaced the tapestry. Our reaction for some time has been to limit the minutes he is left in isolation. Letting him roam free while she stepped outside for a few minutes was Cyndie’s experiment in helping him become comfortable with our comings and goings.
Another thing Cyndie has put a good amount of energy toward is teaching Asher he is not allowed in the kitchen. I was surprised by how quickly he showed an understanding of the boundary. After starting with baby gates, Cyndie put down a strip of duct tape to create a line not to be crossed.
Asher obediently lays down just outside the line. He is in the phase of regularly testing to find out if the virtual barrier still is in enforcement but quickly steps back when reminded. I don’t know if Cyndie consciously left the kitchen gates to the side when she walked out the door.
The first thing I noticed upon coming inside was a dish rag on the floor in the middle of the kitchen. The second thing that caught my eye was the gate NOT blocking access. I questioned whether he truly had been looking out for her the WHOLE time.
A minute or two later, a clearer picture of things became evident. Asher obviously doesn’t grasp that the kitchen boundary applies whether or not we are present.
He obviously proved his ability to reach anything left in the sink. I count it lucky that he wasn’t able to chew the soap brush and scrubby to bits because he had to run to the window often enough to fool Cyndie that he was being perfectly well-behaved.
Gosh, I hope he never gets so cunning that he starts hiding the evidence of his transgressions.
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Relative Something 