Eyes On The Pretty Girl

They were out early this morning before sunrise early, just eating.....or pretending to be eating....

Little Log House and Antique Power Show - 2014

Ben and I arrived fairly early at the event north of Miesville this morning; the breezes and cooler, drier air very welcoming to us both, especially so to someone fresh from North Carolina.  There early enough not long after opening, we had most of the grounds to ourselves; the site is huge and there's plenty of room for many.

It has been a number of years since Ben had been there and I was pleased that he was interested in going along.

We saw smoke and heard steam so that was to be our first attraction visited.....

From there we headed over to the small engine building.  I never got the memo warning me that this Operator was going to bend over to make adjustments.......

At the other end of the building, this larger engine was making power with all sorts of things spinning.......

Wheels.......there were things spinning everywhere, machines and mechanisms on wheels even when or where they may not even be needed......

 This is one of only a handful of these ever built.  Always interested in technology, I was fascinated by the carbon fiber visor attachment thing.........

High powered garden tractors.......V6's here.....

 

The Big 8 here......

This was in the Flea Market area though I saw no actual Royal Enfields associated with this trailer.

We saw old cars and things related to old automobiles.......

 

We visited this old General Store, initially built in 1897 and located in nearby Vermillion, Minnesota....

 

We visited the Bordello......well, we didn't really visit it but we were in its vicinity and saw these ladies of the night rushing away......business may truly be that poor but that's only speculation on our part, Ben and I have no real idea.

Down to the blacksmith area, these roses were for sale.  I'm still not sure what they really were or how they were made.....they were very pretty though.

The little pup was there again, waiting for customers.......

This couple was more than willing to play......she's going to catch the ball (never missed) that almost appears as a tail light on the distant golf cart.

Sylvia's gardens, the work of her Master Gardener experience and of those of her friends......one more wheel in motion.

We walked down to the quarry where real work was on the cusp of getting started......

A license plate I've not seen before.......

Smoooooth..........and no, this is not a Volkswagen.

Back up to Small Engine Hill where we saw this Ferris Wheel getting adjusted........

Cutting and 'burning' cedar shingles.......they were slicing with too much effort......

So the tractor on the belt was stopped, the guard went up and the file came up to give the big saw blade a sharpening touch-up.

 

When this crowd gathers, it's a sure sign of an upcoming 'incident' that will almost assuredly involve some sort of gun play.......

On our way out......

Note:  This is a historical photo, taken in the mostly recent past and has nothing whatsoever to do with our visit to the Little Log House and Antique Power Show.

The Best Surprise

I'm way over quota for Posts this week but this one just has to be published.

Our daughter Lauren is home this summer after completing her Masters from USC last spring.  She's been auditioning all over our country and an adjacent one, hoping to land a symphony orchestra seat soon while looking for part time work here in Minnesota.  In the meantime, she and Peg have been sharing kitchen expertise almost daily and I've been the richer for it. 

The Triple Berry pie has been made public, so has last night's partial cherry harvest.  When Lauren texted Peg and I today at work that we'd come home to a surprise, we both expected a warm cherry pie to go along with the now-frozen  homemade ice cream that was whipped up last night.

This evening's surprise was warm but it wasn't a cherry pie........

Our little 6'5" Marine is home from North Carolina.  We knew that Ben was being discharged "around the first of August" but full details have been sketchy; it now seems that was on purpose.  Ben's sisters all knew, only mom and dad were in the dark.

There will be enough pie for 4 whenever one gets oven'd and my goodness is it wonderful to have him home!!

This Evening's Harvest

We were home from work on time (traffic was acceptable) and even though we've got a heat index at or near 100 this evening, the overcast conditions made me decide to get a lawn mowing in.  Out to the cherry trees to unplug the extension cord that's powering the electric fencer and I noticed that there were an abundance of deep red fruit on the tree. 

Since this might be the evening when the 'coon's declare war on the trees, fencer or no, I decided to postpone lawn care and do some harvesting instead.  Of course, once I started, the sun popped out and we once again were hot and tropical.  Even though I carried the step ladder out, I told myself that tonight at least, I'd harvest only what I could reach from the ground.

There is some focal point distortion here but for reference, that's our 12 cup coffee maker in the background.  These from 2 trees, as high as I could reach (with juice running down my arm) and that's after the deer have been reaching for any of the not-so-low hangers. Using the ladder will bring multiples of this batch.

We told ourselves last year that we need a pitter.  We still do.

The Entire Family

Every evening, it's the same thing; I'm eating dinner and can look out to see this family doing likewise.  Pop comes out, mom shows up a bit later with the twins; the soybeans are that good!  This family shares dinner together more often than most of us do.  Tonight the dinner party was small.  The last few evenings this family has been inviting the entire neighborhood over.

This view from our dining room table........

Hopefully there will still be something for Delmar to harvest come September.

A Sow's Ear Into Lemonade

If anyone is going to mix metaphors, let it be me.

Today's Post was supposed to be about Lorem Ipsum 2014 but it will not be.  Things went wrong but then again, some other things went quite right.

I was excited to go this morning, Lorem Ipsum has been growing and I was sure that this year's gathering would be the best yet.

Daughter Lauren was excited to go.

I invited others that hadn't been there before and I was very pleased that they decided to go.

Things started out well, Lauren and I were on the Helix at 7:30, headed for breakfast in Alma at Pier 4.  That happened as planned, breakfast was good, Carol was back and served us our breakfast and that was a good thing too; nice to see her again.  I didn't ask if she'd repaired her Ninja but I did find out that she's still in school and that was actually the more important.

Off we went with great gusto and full bellies.......and then I started to feel what I thought was more vibration than normal.  I wanted to blame the road surface.  I wanted to blame the fact that it's been so long since I'd been on the Helix that it was my imagination.

It was not.

We pulled over just south of Fountain City, I got off and looked down, very disappointed to see gear lube weeping out the rear end.  Those 'bumps' I was feeling over the last mile were not bumps but internal mechanisms fighting with each other and resisting rotation.

We limped back to the park in Fountain City (did NOT want the rear end to lock up) where we got off and did only a rudimentary inspection.  Lots of clunking and more leaking gear oil.  Luckily Peg was at home, able to answer the phone AND able to jump in the car to head south for an emergency Save.

We were at least an hour away from home and it took Peg all of that and a bit more to get down to Fountain City.  Lauren and I climbed on the playground equipment, tried out several benches, watched traffic go by and studied our watches which seemed especially slow today.

So far this was my Sow's Ear part of the metaphor.

Peg was busy at home working, she's got two gigantic monitors with so many columns of spreadsheets that they are almost uncountable.  Keeping track of and reporting various quantities, dollars, totals, etc. was  what she was busy with when we called.

We interrupted real honest work; other than for rescuing us, little else would have.

The rest of my broken metaphor, Today's Lemonade, is that as long as Peg was out of the house and away from those columns, we stopped in Nelson at the Cheese Factory for lunch on our way back home.

My "Mr. T. Sandwich", my standard.......sprouts, turkey, swiss, guacamole and a pickle.  We always share the sweet potato chips........

 

Lauren's "Hot Hoagie Sandwich"......

Peg's "Barbecue Pork Sandwich".......

We all brought half of our sandwiches home.  Once there, I put the trailer on the van and headed right back to Fountain City to retrieve the broken scooter.

What we left behind.....

Not so BIZZIE for the foreseeable future......

I don't remember having to ever haul anything home before but maybe I'm just conveniently leaving an incident out.  If anyone knows otherwise, please correct me.  Peg noted that quite possibly, based on past trips to Viroqua for this eclectic event, that just maybe, there's a chance that I should find something else or somewhere else to go on this weekend in future July's.  My luck has been less than stellar.

The scooter is now parked back in the corner and will stay there until cooler, wetter weather.  I've got so many projects lined up for next winter I'll soon be wishing for that season to grow in length.

Maybe I'll just need to be more efficient at getting things accomplished on those dark, cold evenings.

And....

One more good thing this afternoon.  Our own blackberries but the blueberries and strawberries were from somewhere else.  Even though they may seem so, those bubbled out portions are definitely not problems and will cause no hardship, I can assure you of that.

Iowa National Moto Guzzi Rally - 2014

Rather than post up each day's happenings, I'm going to fill one post, if not to the brim, full enough that you may want to come and visit in more than one session :)  It was once again a really great time; George, his wife, club members with numerous volunteers work long and hard so that we can play, eat well and enjoy ourselves.  Anyone that didn't accomplish all three simply wasn't paying attention.

Thursday morning, the official start of the 4 day rally and riders would be arriving all day.  Dave had set up not far from me but only my tracks were in the morning dew after I'd gone up for my coffee.  I wanted to include this struggling "tree".  I'd taken a photo of it last year, then just a sprig growing from the stump.  Persistence is paying off......

 

 They came from both coasts (403 I heard)......and from the Canary Islands...or was it Belgium....or?? (you'll see Jahn in a bit).

 Dan's become an expert at hammock over-nighting.

I headed east on Thursday to Guttenberg, anxious to check out the Mississippi and make sure that the benches were still worth sitting on to enjoy the river views (everything is OK).

Another pond.......

I noticed the rather large drop to the shoulder from pavement when I stopped for the above photo.  There are many rural roads of concrete in the state, wise construction for the millions of tons of cash corn and soybeans that get transported over them.

Not so bad to drive off from, but a rider wants to have a care when getting back up and on......I did and I did.

 

There's almost 3" of drop right here, definitely qualifying for "Low Shoulder"

On my way east, between Elkport and Garber you'll find Impala Road.  It says "Caution - Minimum Maintenance Road, Level B Service Road, Use At Your Own Risk".  The region's Adventure Riders know this one well.  This weekend I only parked at the south end.

Four years ago, Dave and I got to know it pretty well, starting up on the hill, the north end.  Too much of it looked like this.  You can see my track, Dave wanted to make his own......

Sometimes a Helix will do it......sometimes it won't.  Back in July '10 there was success.

The new viewing platform in Guttenberg and one of what must be 100 benches spaced the entire 'length' of town along the river.  I can attest that this bench is a very good one.

A better view of the dam (lock just off to the left).  The gates are all open, there's no need to maintain a 9' channel depth during high water since each of the pools is far deeper than 9'.

 

 Old limestone construction made new here next to the Marina and Launch access road.

Back to Elkader, the Guzzi's rolling in.......

This couple from Vermont on one of those 'other' Italian jobs.

 

 It appears that John's new camper is a keeper......

 Our Moto Guzzi weekend's aren't ALL about moving.......

The Good People of Elkader put on a variety show for the Rally folks in their newly refurbished Opera House.  Mike dressed for the occasion in his Tuxedo T, here (offering) to provide valet parking for the next Corvette or Porsche to arrive.

Looking down Main Street as we waited on a busy Friday evening......

 

Have you ever watched the Muppets??

I think I'm very safe in reporting that the Synchronized Swimming skit was the hands-down winning performance though there was some amazing voice work too.

Diana was at the rally with her Quota/sidecar setup.  Good luck in this fall's election Diana!!

Jim explaining (once more and proudly) the virtues of his classy TU250.

Tim and Rod covering a discussion on pre-'40 Moto Guzzi machines.......

One of the big ones..........the building in the background houses the County Historical Museum.

Early morning, still sleeping Guzzi's......

Some of the first cups of morning coffee.......

Rod and I rode down the narrow valley into Clayton which quite literally hugs the banks of the river.

The river still high though finally receding.......

Rod and I were on our way to Balltown for lunch at Breitbach's on the bluff.  We met Colleen, Mike and Jim there for lunch.  This view from the Lookout on the edge of town.  Wisconsin river bluffs make up the fuzzier hills in the background, the Mississippi River in the valley between these trees and those bluffs.  I believe that Jim read the eventual drop to the river is over 500 feet.

On the way back we stopped along the river in North Buena Vista, another small village right at the bluff and river's edge.  We crossed the tracks and parked in this small turn around spot, the river not more than 30 feet behind the blue Tene're

Back to Elkader for the Saturday evening Pork Dinner, provided by the local pork producers.  Here behind the pavilion the thick chops are on the grill.  I did not take a photo of my plate as I sat down at the table and for that I'm very sorry.

The Pork Princess was in attendance; there was a stand-in for the missing Dairy Princess.  The D.P. wasn't able to make it due to other commitments.  Our very young replacement princess did a great job of handing out the ice cream though so we barely missed the official princess.

The line was long and seemed to never go down, only get longer.

This young couple's very pretty V65 was a hit with the crowd......

I believe that this Breva belonged to a gentleman named Jahn.  We (all) asked where he was from when we saw the plate and it sounded like so many places that I'm still not really sure.  He was VERY interesting, I'm sure of that.

Our only real rain occurred around Saturday's dinner time and was over with by 9PM.  It was the only real rain I'd encountered the entire week that I was in Iowa.

Paul's bike with the elevator as a backdrop......

I happened to notice the reflection.....

Sunday morning was cooler and foggy, turned into a perfect summer day for our ride home.  Hopefully no matter the direction, all rally goers at least had a day of nice weather to start what must be for some of them, a long trip home.

Colleen had mentioned the other morning to the rest of us (Mike had already heard about it) that is sounded like creatures were outside around their tent, or at least very close.  When the tent came up this morning, this was what the padded down grass looked like.  This is one corner, it looked like this around the entire periphery.

Trails........lots of little trails.......made by little feets........

 
We, everyone I spoke with, had a great time; I certainly did.  Our little group had 2 people that had never been to a brand-based rally before, 2 of my other friends with lots of rally experience had yet to be at the Iowa Guzzi version, so it was great to finally have them attend this one.  A fine place and an excellent event.

Mike got a couple of shots that were much better than mine......

Our Dairy Princess stand-in......

The very official Clayton County Pork Princess.......

The meal they helped serve......